NOVA’S MARK ALLEGRETTI ADDRESSES AFRICAN MICROFINANCE TOPICS AT RECENT WHARTON BUSINESS SCHOOL FORUM

New York, NY – November 13, 2009 – Nova Capital Partners, LLC was represented during the 17th  Annual Wharton Africa Business Forum held at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania on November 6 – 8, 2009.

This year’s forum was centered around the theme Seizing and Sustaining Growth in a New Global Economy and brought together hundreds of investors, businesspeople, students, economists and other industry leaders to discuss today and tomorrow’s business and investment climate in the African continent.

Mark Allegretti, Managing Director at Nova Capital Partners, participated in the Forum’s panel entitled “Alternative Funding – the Evolving Growth Catalyst”. The panel included professionals from a variety of backgrounds and was moderated by Peter Tropper of the International Finance Corporation (IFC).

The panel focused its discussion on microfinance and small-and-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Africa. Several topics were examined, such as how the private equity market examines microfinance, alternative investments into SME’s, financial and strategic initiatives being undertaken by the market leaders, and the impact of the global financial crisis on the microfinance industry.

Following the conference, Mr. Allegretti stated, “It was an honor to speak at the Wharton Africa Business Forum. Our panel sought to address many timely issues regarding the microfinance industry in Africa. Overall, microfinance faces several challenges but we believe the market is a highly compelling one and hopefully our discussion offering some interesting and helpful perspectives.”

Nova Capital Partners is a leading investment bank to companies throughout Africa and other growth markets. For more information, please visit Nova’s website at www.novacapitalpartners.com.

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