AVCA appoints two board members

Both are African private equity veterans. An experienced infrastructure specialist, Johnstone is responsible for all aspects of AIIM's business, with over USD1bn in funds under management, spanning four Africa-focused funds. Oueslati co-founded AfricInvest-TunInvest Group in 1994, a private equity firm operating in north and sub-Saharan Africa, and led the arrangement and placement of over USD750m across its thirteen funds.

Need for investment

"AVCA has done a fantastic job of galvanising private sector investment across the African continent," Johnstone said. "Given its size and stage of development, Africa faces a very real need for further infrastructure investment over the near term. I look forward to being able to provide unique insights to support the association's efforts to connect sources of capital with these investment opportunities."

Oueslati said that he and Johnstone shared a panel at AVCA's conference in April this year on the exceptional growth and outstanding returns that can be found from private equity investments in Africa. "The AfricInvest-TunInvest Group was one of the founding members of AVCA nearly twelve years ago, and we have always shared the industry's and AVCA's view that private sector investment in Africa adds real value to companies and contributes to the development of the local economies and communities, while generating attractive returns to investors."