The Portico Podcast

In this edition, I speak with Amee Parbhoo, Managing Partner of Accion Venture Lab, a leading global seed-stage investor in inclusive fintech startups. Accion Venture Lab is part of Accion, the pioneering nonprofit that has been investing in financial inclusion for the last six decades.I was excited to speak with Amee because she’s on the front lines of identifying technologies that expand access to capital and financial services.In addition to getting an update on the fintech landscape, I was particularly keen to hear Amee’s thoughts on how she sees the sector evolving — from one in which fintechs enabled the provision of traditional financial services, to one where startups are developing vertical-specific solutions with embedded finance. Amee shares a few of the verticals and themes she’s particularly excited about, as well as a superb book recommendation … one of my favorites, in fact.Thanks, as always, for listening. I hope you enjoy this episode — and if you do, you should share it with friends, and if you feel so inclined, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts so that more listeners can discover this type of content.This podcast was recorded in April 2023.---Learn more about Accion Venture LabRead the Center for Financial Inclusion’s report Green Inclusive FinanceGrab a copy of Katherine Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers---Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; one of his Sound collector profiles is available here).

In this edition, I speak with Arash Massoudi, Corporate Finance and Deals editor with the Financial Times in London, and also the co-creator of the FT’s must-read newsletter on deal-making: Due Diligence.I wanted to bring Arash on to get a sense of how the world’s most voracious deal-makers are viewing the global landscape: who wins and loses in a world of rising rates, deglobalization, and climate concerns.I also wanted to chat with Arash about some of the phenomenal scoops he’s generated over the last decade, including Masa Son and SoftBank’s Vision Fund, Elon Musk and the “funding secured” fiasco, the rise of sports as an investment vertical, and many others. With his eye for a scoop, I wanted to see if we might get a bead on where the next big story might pop.Given his role launching Due Diligence and Scoreboard — the FT’s newsletter focused on the business of sport — I wanted get into the topic of newsletters and the rise of Substack, the significant businesses that newsletters have become in their own right, and how the medium itself shapes the production and consumption of journalistic content.Thanks, as always, for listening. I hope you enjoy this episode — and if you do, you should subscribe to the FT and the Due Diligence newsletter, and give Arash a follow on Twitter (@ArashMassoudi). And don’t forget to share it with friends and colleagues.This podcast was recorded in February 2023.---Read Arash’s latest stories with the FT.Sign up for FT’s premium newsletter Due Diligence and Scoreboard.Follow Arash on Twitter (@ArashMassoudi).---Follow Mike on Farcaster or Twitter---Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

I was recently invited to give a lightning talk on a topic that’s been capturing much of my mindspace of late: whether crypto can be a better technology for capital formation than legacy options, such as banks, capital markets, and non-bank financial intermediaries. I’ve spent most of my adult life working on the problem of access to capital in the so-called ‘emerging’ and ‘developing’ economies. So, I focused my presentation on the $4 trillion financing gap besetting small and medium-sized enterprises ( — or SMEs — ) in these markets.That said, I think an open, permissionless protocol for capital formation would be a boon to innovation and entrepreneurship everywhere.This episode re-records my presentation for an audio-first audience, and it hits four topics:The problem — what it is, where it is, and why it existsThe shortcomings of existing non-bank intermediaries (i.e., PE funds)Crypto's potential solutionThe challenges with implementing a crypto solutionIf you find this interesting / inspiring, then send Mike an email at [email protected].——— Watch the presentation on YouTubeDownload a copy of the deckWatch The Evolution of Private Equity in Emerging Markets on YouTubeRead Mike’s post TrillionsListen to Roger Leeds on Private Equity & DevelopmentFollow Mike on Farcaster or Twitter———Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

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In today’s episode, I speak with Aleem Remtula, a Partner on the private equity team at Developing World Markets.DWM is an impact investing firm that has invested debt and equity in over 200 companies across 70 countries over the last two decades.While this experience provides a broad canvas for discussion topics, the focus of my conversation with Aleem is DWM’s investments amongst refugees and displaced communities — a population that now exceeds 100 million people worldwide.I’m passionate about this topic — and the dignity of displaced persons — for many reasons, including the fact that my maternal grandparents were refugees. By the end of this show, I hope that you will be, too.In our discussion, Aleem shares some astonishing statistics and details that upend the conventional wisdom on what constitutes a displaced community. He discusses the roles that investment can play in assisting these communities, the unique challenges they face with respect to financial inclusion, the role of gender equity in DWM’s Displaced Communities Fund, and much more.Like me, some listeners may wonder whether investing in refugees might result in predatory lending to some of the world’s most vulnerable populations. Aleem addresses this question head-on and he enumerates the safeguards DWM employs to ensure that it’s a responsible investor. So, listen in for a very thoughtful conversation.Aleem also provides some book recommendations — one of which I’ve already scooped up. You can find links to the books and other resources in the show notes.With that, I hope you enjoy this episode. And if you do, please share it with friends and colleagues.This podcast was recorded in September 2022.—————Learn more about Developing World Markets.UNHCR: Global displacement hits another record, capping decade-long rising trend.World Bank, Forcibly Displaced: Toward a Development Approach Supporting Refugees, the Internally Displaced, and Their HostsAleem’s book recommendations:·       Christine Mahoney, Failure and Hope: Fighting for the Rights of the Forcibly Displaced·       Dina Nayeri, The Ungrateful Refugee: What Immigrants Never Tell You—————Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

What are the most important dynamics shaping the global private markets industry today?I would highlight four:Primary fundraising is extremely challenging Consolidation is transforming the strategic landscape The difficult macro environment is necessitating novel liquidity solutions Crypto is emerging as an institutional asset classThese four dynamics present urgent and existential risks to fund managers, and they demand immediate action.This episode shares the Portico house view.—————Download the report The Four Dynamics Shaping Global Private Markets here.Download the data-rich slides on the four dynamics here.Download the Insider's Guide to Raising a Fund at www.porticoadvisers.com/pitchbook.—————Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

In today’s episode I speak with Ben Fanger, the Managing Partner and Founder of ShoreVest Partners, an investment firm that specializes in Chinese distressed debt and opportunistic credit. Ben is a pioneer in China’s distressed debt markets, having worked on the country’s first non-performing loan (“NPL”), as well as the first foreign-invested NPL deal 20 years ago. Since then, he has managed roughly $2 billion in Chinese distressed debt and special situations investments — and as you’ll hear in this conversation, never lost money on an NPL.I encourage you to have your pen and paper at hand because you are going to want to take notes — this conversation is both broad and deep.In our discussion, Ben provides a clear overview of China’s credit markets — which are the second-largest in the world — and lays out the ways that foreign investors can access them, including the spaces where ShoreVest plays.We discuss how the market has evolved over the last two decades. This includes the role of the country’s Asset Management Companies (“AMCs”) in the NPL market, the treatment of creditor rights, and his experience working through the Chinese legal & bankruptcy system to attain enforcements.Ben shares why he thinks there are so few international investors in China’s distressed debt markets, the ways that ShoreVest exits its investments, and how the firm converts and repatriates exit proceeds to U.S. dollar investors.We also get into developments with Evergrande and the country’s overleveraged property developers and the risks that keep Ben up at night — among other topics. I hope you enjoy this conversation.This podcast was recorded in July 2022.—————Learn more about ShoreVest Partners.The World Economic Forum index on investor protections referenced in the discussion is available freely at this link.PwC’s “The Chinese NPL market in 2020” report is available here.Ben’s book recommendation: Dinny McMahon’s "The Great Wall of Debt".—————Mike's book recommendation on historical context:Loren Brandt & Thomas Rawski, "China's Great Economic Transformation".—————Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

In today’s episode, Mike Casey interviews Howard French, the author of the urgent and essential book Born in Blackness: Africa, Africans, and the Making of the Modern World, 1471 to the Second World War.  It is, simply, one of the most important books I’ve read. I encourage you to read it and wrestle with its implications.Howard is a professor of journalism at Columbia University and a former New York Times bureau chief for the Caribbean and Central America, West and Central Africa, Tokyo, and Shanghai.In our discussion, we explore the role his career as a reporter in the Atlantic basin played in inspiring him to write Born in Blackness, several of the themes in his book, the findings that most surprised him during his research, and the role Africa and Africans might play in the 21st Century.Speaking with Howard was a genuine privilege.I hope that you enjoy our conversation and that you come away with a yearning to learn more.This podcast was recorded in June 2022.—————Learn more about the book.Learn more about Howard.Follow Howard on Twitter.Read Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò’s superb review of Born in Blackness in Foreign Affairs.On the inadequacy of the word “plantation” to describe the conditions of slavery, see, for example, chapter 1 (“The Property”) in C.L.R. James’s The Black Jacobins.—————Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

In today’s episode I speak with Nnennia Ejebe, a Partner with Adenia who is based in the firm’s office in Accra, Ghana. Adenia has been investing across Africa since 2002, and it is a pioneer of control deals in mid-market African companies. Nnennia provides an amazing overview of private equity investing in Africa, not only of the compelling macro and micro trends that are fostering a richer investable market, but also the variety of benefits that percolate down from the pursuit of a control strategy.We also get into the entrepreneurial pedigree of Adenia, and how this pedigree impacts the investment philosophy, strategy, and value creation initiatives of the firm.As I share during the discussion, I am consistently energized by the work we’ve been doing in Africa — whether that’s with funds, transactions, or advising start-up founders. I am keen to spread my enthusiasm for the continent, and I can think of few better resources to inculcate a drive to learn more than Nnennia’s masterclass. She also offered up some great reading and viewing recommendations, so be sure to check the show notes for links to additional content.With that, I hope you enjoy this conversation. This podcast was recorded in March 2022.—————Learn more about Adenia Partners.Follow Adenia on LinkedIn.Listen to Adenia's Alexis Caude on the AVCA podcast.—————Nnennia's reading / viewing recommendations:Books by Chimamanda Ngozi AdichieDiana Chapman, Jim Dethmer & Kaley Klemp, The 15 Commitments of Conscious LeadershipMichaela Coel, I May Destroy You | BBC / HBO—————Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as many other music NFTs; his Sound collector profile is available here).

I’m really excited to share today’s episode, which features an interview with Karim Hussein, a Managing Partner of Algebra Ventures, Egypt’s leading institutional-quality venture capital firm. I was thrilled to speak with Karim for several reasons. First, I find Egypt to be one of the most captivating countries in the world, not only because of its rich history, but also because of its energy and potential. It’s the largest market in the Arab world, with a population of 100 million people — one in five of whom live in Cairo.Second, Egypt’s startup scene is vibrant — with more than 80 venture investments inked last year — and it’s approaching another inflection point of growth.Third, Karim’s background in deep tech — and his bona fides as a successful entrepreneur — enable him to provide high-fidelity insights on the depth of the country’s technical talent and the quality of its entrepreneurs. Karim does a masterful job covering the landscape of Egypt’s startup and venture ecosystem. He also shares some great book recommendations at the end for those who are keen to learn more.With that, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Karim Hussein.This podcast was recorded in January 2022.—————Learn more about Algebra Ventures.Follow Algebra Ventures on LinkedIn.—————Karim’s Book Recommendations:·       Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince·       Naguib Mahfouz, The Cairo Trilogy·       Max Rodenbeck, Cairo: The City Victorious·       P.J. Vatikiotis, The History of Modern Egypt—————Music credit: Daniel Allan, “Too Close” released on Sound. You can learn more about Daniel’s community-owned DAO that underwrote his latest EP here. (Disclosure: In addition to the “Too Close” NFT, Portico’s founder Michael Casey owns $OVERSTIM tokens, as well as NFTs of Pat Lok’s “Over U” and Aluna’s “Forget About Me”).