Talking at the Global Corporate Venturing Symposium last year, Charles Searle, who runs internet investments for South Africa-based media company Naspers, spoke of “the halo effect” created for the business’s corporate venturing operations when it backed runaway success story, China-based internet company Tencent.
Naspers owns large stakes in Tencent, and in London Stock Exchange-listed internet company Mail.ru Group, which is Russia’s largest internet company. Naspers direct continues to look to pick the best companies in emerging markets, such as sub-Saharan Africa, south-east Asia, Latin America and India.
Searle joined Naspers in 1997 and has been instrumental not just in the initial deals but the strategy of holding on to the winning investments and reaping returns through dividends and joining up portfolio companies through Naspers’ strategy days so lessons can be learned and applied across borders.
He joined Naspers after working at communications company Cable & Wireless in corporate finance from 1994 to 1997 and at accountancy firm Touche Ross, which merged to become part of what is now Deloitte, from 1989 to 1994. He studied management at Harvard University and economics at University of Cape Town.
What is the future of your sector?
Searle said: “The future of the Internet sector looks as bright as ever. A few general global themes and observations that might impact investment decisions over the next few years – smartphones and mobile becoming the primary work and play device and method of accessing the internet, e-commerce taking an increasingly large share of overall retail, and the need to achieve scale, which may drive consolidation among internet businesses, especially in e-commerce.”
