Agnes Beri-Jousselin

Head of Private Equity & VC at Axian Group

Speaker

I head PE and VC for Axian Group and manage the single family office of the acting shareholders of the group.

Axian Group is a pan-African holding company based in Madagascar and operating across 5 business lines present in 15 African countries. It follows a unique business model based on inclusion, solid south-south partnerships, and knowledge-sharing. At Axian Group, we strive to be responsible partners in the economic transformation of the markets we operate, and this across our functional business lines namely; Energy, Real Estate, Innovation & Fintech, Financial Services and Telecoms. Today, Axian is the 6^th telco operator and 1st to develop commercial 5G on the continent. It’s microcredit and mobile money operation, the most active in the Indian Ocean, has fostered financial inclusion and job creation. Axian Energy’s focus on renewable energy today connects isolated communities from Mali to Madagascar where it operates the largest solar farm and a future hydro power dam will bring critical power to support the national grid.

Axian strongly believes bringing together knowledge, resources and best practices can create cross-fertilization opportunities across south-south economies. For this, we have been investing in private markets to support entrepreneurs with disruptive/innovative solutions everyday needs in Africa but not only. Our family office practice is a platform to create strategic partnerships across emerging and frontier markets to explore new opportunities, all the while taking advantage of the significant upside available in investing our capital with GPs we trust. The appeal is surely simple.

I started my career in Montreal at RBC Dominion Securities as an Associate Portfolio Manager investing for HNW in listed assets. Wealth management took we across a number of other outfits within Canada before I joined Axian Group in Madagascar. I have a master’s degree in financial engineering from UQAM in Montreal. I don’t like travelling but am passionate about meeting new people and learning.