Unlocking an African country’s economic potential with plans to turn resources into riches

The fortunes of countless countries have risen and fallen with their ability to generate economic prosperity from the natural resources at their disposal. While scarcity is said to breed creativity, abundance has been proven in many cases to create opportunities for leaders, governments and entire populations. 

However, possessing a wealth of natural resources is not the same as possessing real wealth. Identifying and even extracting resources are early steps in the process of maximising the value of these precious supplies; refining these resources is what really drives economic transformation. Failing to do so ultimately means missing out on the bulk of those potentially transformational revenues. 

Africa represents that dichotomy more clearly than most. It is a continent with several significant mining success stories, ones that have changed the economic outlooks of entire nations by giving residents new opportunities. However, there are tales of exploitation and unfulfilled potential, where the infrastructure development needed to properly harness these assets has failed to materialise and with it, countries and the people within them are left to rue what might have been. 

In one African country, an ambitious and experienced entrepreneur wanted to address this missed opportunity through a massive plan with wide-ranging benefits. The nation was one of the world leaders when it came to exporting a particular mineral but due to skilled labour shortages, insufficient infrastructure and high levels of perceived risk, it was not making the most of its bountiful resources. 

Thinking about a project that would rank among the biggest ever undertaken in the country, the businessman’s interests were twofold: making a return on his investment was important but he also envisaged a plan that could attract external investment, create jobs and lead his homeland into an era of greater prosperity. 

Persuading others – most notably the country’s own government – to support and invest in that vision of future prosperity required a data-driven, story-centred roadmap. That would require input from individuals with real-world experience in the mining and investment sectors. This engagement fitted Hyphen’s engagement approach to a tee, with one of our senior leadership team particularly well placed to contribute. 

Our Executive Advisor Dr. Heinz Pley has more than three decades of experience working at the highest levels of the mining industry. His myriad roles have seen him work closely with some of the world’s leading companies, providing invaluable input on some of the sector’s biggest and most ambitious projects. That level of insight made him the ideal person to work alongside our client on a teaser document, a briefing paper designed to stimulate initial interest in this investment opportunity. 

Alongside him was an external consultant with considerable talent and experience in identifying investment opportunities, conducting financial analysis and making a case to proceed with complex projects. Brought in via one of our flexible engagement models, his involvement was brief but impactful. 

Through the building of a financial model, high-level numbers were generated to give real-world context to the client’s vision and aid stakeholders in weighing up the opportunity being put to them. Key figures, such as expected operating costs, volumes of refined materials, predicted revenues, and other essential investment metrics were all produced to explain how such an investment would make financial sense for investors, the government and the country at large. 

The consideration of that latter group was also evident in further data collated for the document – after all, such a potentially massive investment must bring with it direct benefits in terms of job opportunities and a sizeable uplift in national GDP. 

Between the two of them, they provided the financial modelling at the heart of the teaser document but the work on this engagement extended far beyond that. A cold, hard look at the numbers would not be enough to win over key stakeholders; structured thinking and a degree of personable persuasion were also needed as data tells but stories sell. To help create an engaging narrative, our Design team got involved by creating resources that were compelling and captivating as well as clean and concise. 

By the time the teaser document was ready, the items contained included: 

• A clear description of the project’s purpose as well as some information on technical and capital requirements. 
• An initial financial breakdown that could provide decision-makers with the numbers needed to make an informed decision. 
• A benchmarking exercise detailing the impacts generated by similar initiatives that have taken place and transformed the economic outlook of countries across Africa. 
• A summary explaining why such a project would be in the national interest, laying out the positives that could make a difference to the lives of ordinary citizens in the country. 
• A breakdown of the next steps for stakeholders interested in making this most enticing of initiatives a reality. 

Through the combined efforts of Heinz, our Design team and the engaged external consultant, our client was armed with the statistics and storyline needed to capture the interest of prominent stakeholders. 

The output from this cross-functional endeavour was a document not more than 20 pages in length; the outcome of it could eventually be a multi-billion-dollar project that could repay that investment by substantially increasing the country’s annual GDP.

In this instance, the end is really just the beginning; the biggest rewards may not come for years yet. Further work will be required as senior civil servants and government figures inspect the opportunity in minute detail, ensuring it offers the right return for the country as a whole. However, this teaser document has already been shared with key stakeholders, with efforts underway to get the national government sufficiently interested to fund a scoping study.

The document essentially lays out the benefits of moving beyond mere resource extraction and looks to illustrate the immense economic opportunities that could come with refining raw materials within the country prior to export. At a time when there is significant global demand for the material produced further along the value chain, the impacts of such an initiative progressing could be huge.

As such, if the project is pursued, it would not be unreasonable to say Hyphen has made an important contribution not just to the progression of our client’s ambitions but to the economic fate of a whole country. This is another example of the versatility of Hyphen’s philosophy which uses flexible engagement models to combine sector-specific experts and create cross-functional teams.

As our entrepreneur client progresses through the investment cycle, we are ready to provide further support. With Heinz’s exceptional level of knowledge on call, our Design team ready if further assets are required, and the ability to source additional professionals, there are plenty more ways Hyphen can add value to this exciting project.