John Mauldin is one of the US's top investment advisors -
recently voted second only to Warren Buffet as an investment guru
has this to say about investing in South Africa:
It has been an altogether marvellous 11 days in South Africa,speaking
to over 1,000 people at 12 venues,giving a half dozen media interviews,
and meeting with many individuals.
This week, I want to give you some impressions of South Africa:
Finding Value in South Africa
I realized about halfway through my recent tript hat it had been sometime since I was
in an emerging-market country.I have been to over 50 countries over the past 20 years,
but recently most of my travels have been to Europe and Canada, with the occasional vacation trip to Mexico.
As I observed South Africa, it was forcefully brought home to me that there
is more to the emerging-market story than China, India, and Brazil.
First, there are construction cranes everywhere in the four cities I visited:
Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban, and Cape Town.Twelve years ago the thirty miles
from Johannesburg to Pretoria was mostly agricultural land.Today it is one big city,
with offices, malls, and homes lining the freeway.There was a significant number of rather nice new housing developments,many if not most being built on speculation all along the freeway.
Johannesburg is a world-class city, on a par with New York or London or any major city in terms of facilities, shops, infrastructure...and traffic. There were new shopping malls all over, and the stores were busy. The restaurants were excellent.
The hotels I stayed in and spoke at were excellent and modern.
The Sandton area is particularly pleasant. Durban is a tropical jewel on the Indian Ocean.
Again, there was construction everywhere -a green, verdant city of 1,000,000 people,
with modern roads and great weather.
There is much to like about emerging markets.That is where a great deal of the real potential growth in the coming decades will be. And South Africa will be on eof the better stories.
If you are not doing business there already,you should ask yourself, why not?
