CAPE TOWN - Paul Lamontagne, newly appointed chief executive of Sagarmatha Technologies, impressed global markets yesterday with the announcement of some of the world’s most influential business leaders, investors, and technology futurists from the US, China, Singapore, Netherlands, India, Japan, Germany, South Africa and Nigeria on Sagarmatha’s International Advisory Board (IAB).
“The IAB will put its weight behind Sagarmatha and advise on the company’s African and global expansion of its technology platforms,” said Lamontagne.
The Sagarmatha IAB board consists of: Ambassador Harold E Doley Jr, founder of Investment Bank, Doley Securities in the US; Dr Julius Akinyemi, entrepreneur-in-residence at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) Media Lab; Marcel Boekhoorn, a Dutch (US$) billionaire investor with a wide array of business interests; Dr (Hon) Dak Chung, a renowned Chinese (US$) billionaire and philanthropist who serves as chairperson of the Chung Hon Dak Foundation and Zhou Guang Zhao Foundation; Dirk Hoke, the chief executive of Airbus Defence and Space; Yoshito Hori, one of Japan’s most successful businessmen serving as a managing partner at Globis Capital Partners and president of Globis University; Dr Makaziwe (Maki) Mandela, the chairperson of House of Mandela; Jim Rogers, a Singapore-based visionary investor, commentator and author who co-founded the Quantum Fund, a global-investment partnership; Vikramjit Singh Sahney, an Indian (US$) billionaire, founder and chairperson of Sun Group - a business conglomerate specialising in fertilisers, minerals, agriculture and offsets; Jaidev (Jai) Shroff, an Indian (US$) billionaire, the Global chief executive of UPL Limited.
Sagarmatha’s objective is to leverage technology to create platforms that connect Africans to each other and the world.
Lamontagne’s Africa First vision is to become the dominant platform player on the continent. It consists of a partnership approach, a commitment to strengthen its distribution platforms, a determination to build a broad products and technology offering for both the consumer and business markets, and to arm African entrepreneurs with the information, the content and the technology tools “to make choices and fully access opportunities of the digital economy”.
Sagarmatha Technologies business solutions include B2B content distribution, B2C applications, enterprise technology solutions such as data storage, cloud computing and digital automation, and a propriety digital video and entertainment platform.
Other areas of focus are in fintech, healthtech, edutech, artificial intelligence, virtual reality and augmented virtual reality.
“It is right to invest in Africa now. And it is even better to do so with the backing of some of the world’s most fearless investors, but crucially, to invest where the impact and returns are both high”, said Sagarmatha Technologies IAB chairperson, Ambassador Harold E Doley Jr.