WB, Intel plan to invest in technology firms in developing countriesNovember 15, 2011 - 10:32 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - The World Bank's private-sector lender plans to work more closely with Intel, the world's top chipmaker, to invest in technology firms in developing countries, a senior World Bank official said on Monday, November 14. The World Bank's International Finance Corp and Intel Capital, the chip company's investment fund, will work more closely to identify opportunities in the still underdeveloped IT sector in Africa and elsewhere, said Kent Lupberger, global head of technology, media and telecoms at IFC. "What we're looking at is venture and growth capital investment, primarily with equity, so companies grow without being concerned about having immediate pay-back," Lupberger said. "One of the key reasons for the Intel partnership is we're looking for those markets that don't have that much venture and growth capital yet," he added. Most of the investments would take place in the broadband infrastructure, data center and IT services sector, said Lupberger. He pointed at the huge success of mobile phone technology in Africa where the market has grown to about 5 billion users, including the very poor, over the past decade. The booming cell phone industry has created jobs and infrastructure, and Lupberger said IFC is hoping for a similar result from investments in IT. IFC, which invested about $19 billion in developing countries in fiscal year 2011, is planning to spend up to $700 million over the next two years increasing its stake in new African telecoms projects. See story at . With many developing economies growing at more than 5 percent a year and new markets opening up, there is increasing interest in more affordable high-tech goods and services. While China and India are still considered lucrative technology markets, Lupberger said secondary and tertiary countries in Africa and elsewhere are of increasing interest and potentially could prove more profitable than Asia, Reuters reported. The tie-up with Intel is not new. Intel and the IFC have completed joint financings in a Ukraine data center company, an Internet firm in Russia, a technology company in Chile, and a television technology and service company in China. Top stories Yerevan has dismissed Turkey’s demand to shut down the Armenian nuclear power plant as “inappropriate”. Armenia will loan 2.9 billion drams to Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh), according to a draft government decision. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan has “strongly condemned” Armenia’s decision. Kerobyan has said that for the first time in the history of Armenia, the volume of foreign direct investments amounted to about $1 billion. Partner news | Concept to complete Yerevan Cascade discussed at city hall A conceptual proposal to complete the Cascade complex in downtown Yerevan has been presented by Jean-Michel Wilmotte. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State to travel to Armenia Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs James C. O’Brien will travel to Yerevan on June 10-12. Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life, Strong Mind IDBank and Idram summarize the results of the May program of “The Power of One Dram”. Yerevan State University, Ucom sign Memorandum of Cooperation Rector of Yerevan State University Hovhannes Hovhannisyan and General Director of Ucom Ralph Yirikian signed the memorandum. |