An Investor’s Plan to Transplant Private Health Care in Africa

Tuesday, October 11, 2016

The eyes of the private equity investor lit up as he strode across the empty floor of a recently built hospital here. There was not much to see: a stretch of unfinished concrete, and steel bars pushed into a corner.

But Khawar Mann of the Abraaj Group, an investment firm based in Dubai that specializes in developing markets, saw something else.

Room for more patients — and a nice return on his investment.

“You could squeeze another 50 beds in here, easy,” he said. “That will really improve profits.”

Abraaj is trying to do something that hasn’t been tried before: build a global network of hospitals across cultures and in some of the poorest parts of the world — including India, Pakistan, Ethiopia and here in Kenya. Mr. Mann’s new fund has just bought a fast-growing hospital in India and is now trying to export its business model to Africa.

Source: The New York Times (link opens in a new window)

Categories
Health Care, Investing
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impact investing