KEY POINTS:
Christopher Gardner, the stockbroker who was the inspiration for last year's Will Smith film The Pursuit of Happyness, is planning a US$500 million ($619 million) private equity fund aimed at rehabilitating South Africa as a destination for US investment.
Gardner began his career in San Francisco in 1981, at night sleeping in homeless shelters and train station bathrooms with his young son and impressing bosses as an intern at Morgan Stanley during the day.
Since 1987 he has run his own stockbroking business in Chicago, Gardner Rich, advising public-sector and union pension funds on their investments, and the company is now expanding into asset management with its project in South Africa.
Gardner alighted on the opportunities in the country at the start of the decade, inspired in part by his hero Nelson Mandela.
"South Africa is about to become the Hong Kong of Africa and it's all about opportunity," he told ABC television this year.
Gardner Rich would not comment on rumours that Mandela was backing the project, saying only that it had assembled "political allies" in South Africa. The aim is to encourage inward investment in the country, in a bid to raise living standards.
Salvador Guerrero, head of marketing for public funds at Gardner Rich, said that union and public-sector funds had given South Africa short shrift since pulling their money out amid the protests against apartheid in the Eighties.
"The possibilities are enormous, but the lack of confidence and the lack of attention that the country has had is causing a lot of the difficulty," he said.
South Africa is engaged in a black empowerment programme aimed at transferring economic power from whites to the black community, often through worker ownership schemes.
Gardner Rich was working with local unions to evaluate investment opportunities, Guerrero said, although neither he nor Gardner were keen to give more details on potential deal activity.
Prospectuses have been sent to Gardner Rich clients, and the company hopes to close the fund at US$500 million. Consultants are carrying out due-diligence work on some of the potential early investor ventures and on the local partners.
Gardner is unapologetic about capitalising on the fame that the movie of his life story has brought. Based on his autobiography, The Pursuit of Happyness, it showed how a passion to succeed can overcome terrible odds. Will Smith was nominated for an Oscar for the role of Gardner. Smith's son Jaden played Gardner's son, Christopher, in the film.
- INDEPENDENT
