We spoke with the COO of AfricInvest, a leading private equity investor in Africa, to understand how Quantium’s software helped them automate routine functions, minimize time spent on managing large volumes of data, and improve their investor response times.
THE CHALLENGE
Founded in 1994, AfricInvest has evolved into one of the largest private equity investors on the African continent. Over its 30+ years of operation, AfricInvest has transformed from a modest $10 million Tunisian fund into a formidable regional powerhouse, raising $2 billion since inception and now managing $1.2 billion in assets across 10 active funds. The firm’s investment portfolio spans over 200 companies, (half of which were realized) establishing AfricInvest as a prominent leader in the region’s private equity sector.
As a result of AfricInvest’s rapid growth, the volume of their data and the complexity of their fund structures has significantly increased over the years. This expansion brought operational challenges that required an innovative software solution to manage their investments efficiently. Seeking to overcome these hurdles, and after trying to outsource their fund accounting to third parties, AfricInvest turned to Quantium to streamline their operations and continue their trajectory of success. We sat down with Selim Hassani, COO at AfricInvest, to learn how Quantium’s software helped their Finance and Investor Relations teams by:
- Enhancing data accessibility through centralized investor data and portfolio metrics
- Saving time and minimizing the risk of human error by automating AfricInvest’s critical financial processes
- Strengthening AfricInvest’s stakeholder relationships through quicker report generation and improved responsiveness to investor requests
THE SEARCH FOR A SOLUTION
AfricInvest previously had an in-house system used for record keeping, but were heavily reliant on Excel and other non-specialized software for their fund accounting, fund management, portfolio monitoring and investor reporting. However, in 2022, working without the right tools was becoming increasingly difficult and the team decided it was time to revisit the quest for fit-for-purpose solution. AfricInvest’s Finance and Operations team was in charge of the process of selecting and implementing a solution that would address the firm’s pain points.
“The biggest challenge we faced was the lack of a unified database across our funds and intermediate / parallel vehicles with bookkeeping per investor, as per ILPA standards. This led to excessive manual, repetitive work that consumed far too much of our team’s time, and an increasing risk of human error,” explained Selim Hassani, AfricInvest’s COO. “We knew that our workflows and processes were unsustainable as our AUM and investments grew, and that we needed to find a better way.”
Quantium’s solution piqued his interest though the case studies published on their website as they looked like a good fit for AfricInvest’s biggest operational pain points, so Selim scheduled an introductory call with their team.
“Our team had a very good impression of Quantium’s expertise and software from our first interaction with them. They have designed a modern, user-friendly product, backed by a knowledgeable and responsive team. Over subsequent calls and demos where we discussed complex use cases specific to AfricInvest, in relation to allocation rules, we were happy to put our trust in Quantium in helping us optimize our investment operations.”
HOW QUANTIUM BENEFITS AFRICINVEST
The Finance team had clear and ambitious objectives for AfricInvest regarding what they wanted to achieve by implementing a software solution. Their vision was to improve their middle- and back-office teams’ operational efficiency and accuracy, and build a unified database across all funds and investors by capitalizing on the bookkeeping journal entries.
“Our overarching goal post-implementation was to achieve better control and oversight of all our funds and portfolio data, and to streamline our investor reporting,” said Selim. “With Quantium, we have been able to put all data in one centralized source, enhancing our reporting processes to improve efficiency, while providing secure and easy access to fund, portfolio, and investor information for our cross-team functions, management team, and LPs.”
Below is a summary of how Quantium increased AfricInvest’s operational productivity and improved the quality of their output:
1. Enhanced data accessibility through centralized investor data and portfolio metrics
Quantium has made it easier for AfricInvest to process and manage large volumes of data, by implementing a well-organized data library with centralized fund and investor data across fund vehicles and portfolio metrics (such as Investor Group Summary) in one single place. Managing LP cash flow updates and generating the track record as per the ILPA standards was previously a complex, manual process, involving multiple NAV exports and non-streamlined login and viewing for investors. This made it impossible to get a unified view of investments. For instance, extracting an investor’s contributions and aggregated NAV changes required manually searching for accurate contribution dates and amounts for each fund vehicle, combining data in Excel, and creating pivot tables with manual edits.
Now, post Quantium’s implementation, the software automatically consolidates investment information, providing a unified and easily accessible overview for investors, with streamlined log-in and viewing processes. Thus, Quantium has significantly improved AfricInvest’s data accessibility, and enhanced the overall user experience for investors.
2. Strengthened stakeholder relationships through quicker investor response times
Quantium significantly reduces the time and effort AfricInvest spent on manual data entry. This streamlined approach, capitalizing on one-time data entry through accounting, not only minimizes the risk of human error but also ensures that financial records are always up-to-date and accurate.
Furthermore, it allows AfricInvest to generate reports and conduct advanced analytics quickly, easily and at any time. Through Quantium, AfricInvest’s Investor Relations team now has easy access to breadth and depth of data at the investor, fund and portfolio company levels, and allowing them to generate fund and asset one-pagers (with required information from the ILPA-compliant Due Diligence Questionnaire pack) with ease. Consequently, AfricInvest can respond swiftly to data requests from investors and fundraising teams, increasing transparency and resulting in stronger relationships with stakeholders.
3. Saving time and minimizing risk of errors by automating routine tasks and critical financial processes
Before Quantium, AfricInvest’s individual fund information was stored in separate siloes, requiring manual data collection and export, with inconsistent design across funds and assets when producing fund and asset one-pagers. Locating journal entries and generating financial statements was also a challenge. Post the Quantium rollout, users now enjoy one-click access to well-organized funds’ financial statement and portfolio information presented page by page. This provides a user-friendly experience, replacing the previously manual and fragmented approach and ensuring consistent branding and layout across all funds and assets.
Prior to implementing Quantium, generating AfricInvest’s funds’ financial accounts and capital account per LP along with their underlying SPVs (in look-through or non-look-through mode) involved a significant amount of manual work. Quantium was able to streamline these routine but complex processes, thereby saving time and minimizing errors. This allows AfricInvest to generate their financial statements efficiently, as well as exporting complex capital accounts per shareholder – taking into account any opt-outs and fund structures composed of more than one vehicle.
“After a comprehensive evaluation, we selected Quantium as our investment management system mainly due to its modern, user-friendly interface – it is an all-in-one solution that perfectly meets our needs. The ability to accommodate an unlimited number of users and their fund-based pricing were also significant factors in our decision-making. We look forward to collaborating more with Quantium as they continuously enhance their product offerings.” – Selim Hassani, COO at AfricInvest
“We are very pleased with Quantium’s excellent customer service and account management post-implementation, which have been outstanding,” says Selim. “We also appreciate Quantium’s collaborative approach – we can rely on their team to give us the best advice, with quick responsiveness. It’s clear that they prioritize their customers, making us feel valued and at the center of their focus.”