Hi EB, you have brought up the importance of governance in the water industry. That is the biggest impediment to this sector growing, not technology, not finance. As we have seen in the recent disaster in Beirut, if the governement is not doing its job properly, the rot will be left undealt with for years.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/behind-the-beirut-explosion-seven-years-of-official-neglect-11596842032?mod=hp_lead_pos8.
FLC does its best work in emerging economies which are revamping their derelict infrastructure. Ethiopia is a case in point, now Ivory Coast. South Africa is a two steps forward, one step backwards type of country. SA is moving forward, albeit slowly.
China for all its human rights abuses has moved 250m out of poverty in 20 years. Other recent market penetrations are Cambodia, Vietnam and Philippines. I think FLC's best chances are in Asia, China included. They have seen China's example, and they all want to raise the living standards of their people with a mixture of socialist democratic principles. Those principles may not sit well with the West. But it is what it is. It has always been top led. I should know. Singapore came up along the same path. Governance is now more important than ever.
), but that I hoped to not see our portfolio become unbalanced as a result.
(20min delay)