Unlocking Investment Opportunities in Africa’s Congo | Insights from Nathan Tshintu

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Show Summary

The conversation delves into the vast economic potential of the Congo, highlighting its estimated market value of 24 trillion US dollars. It discusses the willingness of investors to take risks in emerging markets due to the significant growth opportunities that remain untapped.

Resources and Links from this show:

• • • Investor Fuel Real Estate Mastermind
    • Investor Machine Real Estate Lead Generation
    • Mike on Facebook
    • Mike on Instagram
    • Mike on LinkedIn
    • Nathan Tshintu’s Website
    • Nathan Tshintu on Instagram
    • Nathan Tshintu on LinkedIn
    • Nathan Tshintu’s Company LinkedIn
    • Nathan Tshintu’s Phone No: (443) 531-7516
    • Nathan Tshintu’s Email: [email protected]

  Listen to the Audio Version of this Episode

  Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

  Nathan Tshintu (00:00)
  It’s an amazing opportunity for investors that are willing to take risks because even the growth ratio is so high. This is to say that the potential is so huge and the competition is low. It’s not that much, you know. So when you go out there, you find yourself one of the only operators in those markets and you realize that there is so much resource.

  Like there are so much resource and if we have to talk specifically about the Congo, if you know a market with a potential of 24 trillion US dollars, that’s, that is so much, you know, and most of that potential hasn’t been explored yet.

  Michelle Kesil (02:12)
  Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros Podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. And today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Nathan Tshintu, who is a rising global thinker and investment strategist who’s founded Congo Investment Group and New DIL Investments. So excited to have you here today, Nathan.

  Nathan Tshintu (02:35)
  to have me.

  Michelle Kesil (02:35)
  Of course, I think our listeners are really going to take something away from how you’re approaching connecting emerging markets and international markets with US opportunities. So lots to dive into.

  Nathan Tshintu (02:49)
  sounds good. My name is Nathan Tshintu. I’m the founder and CEO of Kong Investment Group. And this is an investment and advisory company that focuses on emerging markets. And also, I’ve been working with different international and global organizations like the World Bank. I’ve also worked with Fidelity Investments in the past. And I’ve also attended a few research programs at Harvard Business School.

  I’m happy to be here today to talk about investment strategies around the world.

  Michelle Kesil (03:19)
  Awesome. Yeah, first off, can you share what your main focus is?

  Nathan Tshintu (03:25)
  So my current main focus is on emerging market because I believe that is where there is untapped potential. They are so huge and the competition is not that much. So we believe that is a very big opportunity for investors that are interested in emerging markets.

  Michelle Kesil (03:44)
  What are some examples of emerging markets that you work with?

  Nathan Tshintu (03:48)
  We are currently focusing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which is a country with, like I said, untapped potential. The wealth of the country is estimated around 24 trillion US dollars. And ⁓ I believe the assets that that country has are ⁓ underpriced. So that is a huge potential for investors that will be able to that risk.

  how they can explore the potential.

  Michelle Kesil (04:19)
  Awesome. How did you get started connecting with these emerging markets?

  Nathan Tshintu (04:24)
  That’s a very good question. I’m originally from the Congo and I moved to the US a little over eight years now. And I was living in Maryland and then I moved to Boston, Massachusetts when I came to do my masters in international business, where I got to meet different people from all over the world. And we really looked deeper into the potentials from around the world. And surprisingly enough,

  I went to realize that the Congo itself is a huge, huge market with huge potential, unlike many other countries. But also we went through different other countries around the world. And ⁓ the ones that I was more familiar with was, of course, the Congo and different other countries that I’ve visited in the past. So that’s how I ended up on focusing on the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

  Michelle Kesil (05:17)
  Yeah, so cool. That’s very unique

  Nathan Tshintu (05:20)
  Appreciate that.

  Michelle Kesil (05:21)
  Yeah, what have been some of the main keys that have allowed your business to grow and to be able to run smoothly?

  Nathan Tshintu (06:17)
  ⁓ that’s a great question too. One of the main keys that helps me grow as a business is the fact that I was surrounded by very interesting people, smart ones, amazing. The ones that are actually willing to take a risk and the ones that could see through things the way I see through things, you know, they could identify potential where I would say many people are not willing to. And.

  take that extra risk, you know, with a leap of faith. So the team has been very, very productive and it’s been one of the key factors as to why we are actually growing fast.

  Michelle Kesil (06:55)
  Absolutely. So what do some of your investment strategies look like? Can you expand more on how you’re approaching these new markets?

  Nathan Tshintu (07:05)
  Yes, so first off, we identify deals. If this is a business that’s like a small or medium sized business, and we look closer to see if they are seeking funds to expand or just are trying to exit the business. And we see the potential that the business has. If the owner knows what they’ve been doing for a long time or just someone who has been attempting.

  on leading or managing this business, but then, you know, it needs to go far, but we can actually identify the potential the business has. Then we check if that is a match for our investment ⁓ philosophy, and then go ahead. like if I have to be concrete, there is this ⁓ chocolate business, how we call it, based off Congo. The owner owns around 80

  hectares of land and they actually produce chocolate and its derivatives. So back then, like I think we got to know about this business around 2023 August, I believe. And back then the business was still very small. know, they were a small company, but with huge potential, high demand.

  And different supermarkets were actually looking to see if they could provide such products and see how they can sign partnership agreements. So we identified that business and the owner was willing to jump on a call with us. We talked to them. They told us about what they needed at that time. And ⁓ that was one of the businesses that up to now consistently showed big growth rates.

  And that is one of the philosophy we actually use in approaching such operations.

  Michelle Kesil (08:55)
  Yeah, amazing. So how does your business combine the US opportunities with the international markets? Where is that? Yeah, how does that work?

  Nathan Tshintu (09:08)
  Yes, so we have different partners whose risk level are pretty high and that are willing to take such risks because they know and recognize the potential that emerging markets have. And we go to those, talk with them and introduce our different deals, the ones we’re working on, and we show them the potential that’s, you know, the growth potential, but also the

  return on their potential return on their investments. And, you know, if they are interested, if they’re interested in, you know, taking that risk, that’s how we actually go about it. But like more often, the investors that are interested in emerging markets are interested in three specific aspects of emerging markets. They want to make sure that it gets the investment back, you know, they also want to make sure the time is as short as possible.

  because for most, they believe that the longer the time is, the higher the risk is, especially in a non-market. And the third thing, they want to make sure they are willing to exit if they can’t get their money back as soon as possible. They want to make sure if they want to exit, then there is a guarantee that they will actually get their money back, but also some growth on that. So one other thing they really

  Pay attention to is the management. How is the business being managed? Where is the environment? You know, how is the team? Do they really like what they do? Do they understand what they do? So those are like different aspects that investors focus on.

  Michelle Kesil (10:44)
  Yeah, absolutely that’s important. Are there other markets that you’re focusing on besides Congo?

  Nathan Tshintu (11:26)
  Yes, we do focus on different other emerging markets, but ⁓ there is a deal that we actually worked on here in the US and the investor was based in the US and the business owner was also based in Michigan in the US. So I wouldn’t say we only work in the Congo. We work wherever there is opportunity and wherever there is potential and

  Like everybody knows, the US market is the most stable one and the ones that is more dynamic. So it happens for us to work in the US as well.

  Michelle Kesil (12:03)
  Yeah, of course that makes sense. What are you most focused on solving or scaling to next in your business?

  Nathan Tshintu (12:13)
  So ⁓ we have a team that is expanding rapidly and we are just trying to get more deals on board and see how we can get more investors into emerging markets. That’s the goal we are trying to focus on next year.

  Michelle Kesil (12:29)
  Yeah, absolutely. Go ahead.

  Nathan Tshintu (12:31)
  So

  yes, we see, we hope to actually grow by 40 % next year because the opportunity is so large and we want to go all in and explore that opportunity.

  Michelle Kesil (12:43)
  Amazing. In order to achieve that goal, what are some of the action steps that you need to take?

  Nathan Tshintu (12:49)
  That’s another good question. we’ve, of course, I can’t lay out all these strategies because most of them are internal. But if I have to respond to that question, ⁓ we, of course, we have a team that is amazing and we are trying to add more people because the more we are, you know, the more productive we tend to be, especially if the team is great and there is that connection between us.

  Another thing is ⁓ we are aiming for more investors that are willing to take that risk, especially in emerging markets because the potential is so large, the labor is not that much. And ⁓ one last thing that we are trying to really focus on is to build a strong investment ecosystem that guarantees

  investors that their investments are safe and there is a level of growth that they should be able and they should actually be ⁓ optimistic about. So that’s one thing we are really trying to focus on by next year, by the third quarter of next year.

  Michelle Kesil (14:03)
  Yeah, that’s amazing. That makes sense. So what are some of the ways that you invest? Because there’s, you know, short term investing, buy and hold, flicks and flip. Is there a certain direction that your firm works with?

  Nathan Tshintu (14:23)
  Yes, ⁓ I’ll say we focus more on short-term investing only because of the risk factor. And most investors don’t feel comfortable with buy and hold in emerging markets. You don’t feel safe with investing in companies in specific areas that have historically been unstable. So they want to make sure they invest ⁓ for a short-term period.

  but also they measure the risks in that specific area and see if they’re going to take the longest routes. They want to make sure it’s safe enough to guarantee their return, but also that there is a growth potential.

  So ⁓ we look at it as a private equity where we either buy equity there or we just buy for business and see if there is a potential exit in a very short term. And then we decide on going or not going on that.

  Michelle Kesil (15:07)
  Yeah.

  Yeah, absolutely. How has it been so far investing in these new markets? What have you learned?

  Nathan Tshintu (16:16)
  Yes, ⁓ it’s been challenging and very fun, you because you end up realizing the competition is not very much, you know, ⁓ and the challenge of course are still there because there are different risk factors, know, like political risk, you know, business risks, liquidity risk sometimes. And that gives you a

  you know, some type of wisdom to actually age on those risks, you know. One other thing that I learned since I started this business, since we started this business, it actually helped me to be more resilient, you know, and to keep pushing whenever, you know, there is a huge obstacle and you don’t see the results, you know, as soon as you wanted to see them.

  But ⁓ you get to understand that you have to keep going. You have to be patient enough. You have to be consistent. And ⁓ people are actually willing to do business with you as long as they see value in you. That’s one of the key lessons I learned.

  Michelle Kesil (17:23)
  Yes, that’s important. So what has supported your growth in the business? Maybe certain networking strategies or certain connections? What has been the biggest difference for you?

  Nathan Tshintu (17:38)
  Yes, I actually do network a lot. You know, I’d say I am very comfortable with meeting new people, talking about the objectives, hearing from them, hearing from their strategies, hearing, you know, what’s made them successful. What are the obstacles they faced? That’s those are have been big, you know, factors in helping me grow and helping the business grow as well.

  And I get to be invited to podcasts to different events like this one. And I actually thank you guys for inviting me here. So ⁓ we get to talk with more people, put ourselves out there, get people to learn more about what we do, and open up to listen to people. Because it’s very important to get people to listen to you, but to also listen to what people have to tell you.

  So those have been very helpful in helping me build that network, but also, you know, getting to know, to get more deals on words, thanks to that.

  Michelle Kesil (18:42)
  Absolutely. What would you say is the biggest factor that makes investing in these other markets outside of the US a good opportunity for people?

  Nathan Tshintu (18:56)
  It’s an amazing opportunity for investors that are willing to take risks because even the growth ratio is so high. This is to say that the potential is so huge and the competition is low. It’s not that much, you know. So when you go out there, you find yourself one of the only operators in those markets and you realize that there is so much resource.

  Like there are so much resource and if we have to talk specifically about the Congo, if you know a market with a potential of 24 trillion US dollars, that’s, that is so much, you know, and most of that potential hasn’t been explored yet.

  So, ⁓ when you get investors in those markets and they realize that’s the growth potential is so large, they actually willing to take, you know, more risks and see how they can pour more funds into those markets.

  because the return is pretty much. And we focus on three specific sectors, the energy, the agriculture and the mining sector. With the mining sector, the country has some of the largest and most interesting products, largest reserves. And ⁓ the Congo has huge reserves of copper, which are high grades, 3%.

  versus 1 % globally. 1 % is the average around the world, but the Congo has up to 3 % of high grades in copper. They have huge reserves of lithium that are used for ⁓ electric vehicle, battery manufacturing, and they have huge reserves of cobalt used for smartphone, in the manufacturing of smartphone. So those are high demand minerals.

  high demand minerals and there will be high demand for the next 40 years, the next four decades. And so that is a huge opportunity. One of the biggest opportunity, I’ll say opportunities I’ll mention is the fact that those products are undervalued. So when you go into that market with undervalued product, yet the demand is so large around the world.

  You know, that is a huge growth potential.

  Michelle Kesil (21:12)
  Yeah, absolutely. What an exciting opportunity to be a part of.

  Nathan Tshintu (21:16)
  Yeah, it’s amazing. And if I have to mention about agriculture as well, ⁓ the Congo owns around 905,000 square miles of land, you know, and that is around 8,000 square kilometers of arable soil. So that’s huge for agriculture. And we’ve been working with different farmers as well, like the one I mentioned.

  You know, and they have huge opportunity for growth, but they are also looking for and is realizing, you know, ways to industrialize their, you know, their, their operations. So it’s a, it’s been a very interesting and pretty challenging experience.

  Michelle Kesil (21:59)
  Yeah, amazing. So powerful what you’re doing. So before we wrap up here, if somebody wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you?

  Nathan Tshintu (22:09)
  Yes, will typically find us. They have a website www.congoinvestmentgroup.com. Same for LinkedIn, same name, congoinvestmentgroup.com . ⁓ Our phone number is 443-531-7516. And our email address is [email protected]

  Michelle Kesil (22:32)
  Perfect. Well, I appreciate your time, your story, your perspective. Thank you for being here.

  Nathan Tshintu (22:37)
  It’s a pleasure. Thank you so much.

  Michelle Kesil (22:38)
  And for those tuning into the show, if you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We have more conversations with operators like Nathan who are building real businesses. We’ll see you on the next episode.