More and more we get the opportunity to pay our respect to African off-spring who have made a success in first-world countries. A new snapshot of success is that flavoured with individuals who have not only made a success of ‘giving’, but in turn has aided others to make such a difference as well.

We introduce Eric-Vincent Guichard, a son through blood and experience of the African soil. Eric’s background makes for a fine read, but is nothing compared to the impact and difference he is making for others, through others!

Armed with stints at the World Bank as a portfolio manager and technical adviser to sovereign and multilateral institutions worldwide, Eric is also an alumnus of the venerated Harvard Business School.

We chat to Eric about Homestrings, a successful investment avenue for making a difference.

The world needs more of this, especially Africa.

VA: Eric, paint a realistic yet pragmatic picture of life in rural Guinea during the 20 years you spent growing up?

EVG: My parents met in the 60s – during the heyday of the African political independence movement. We lived in Fria, a bauxite exploitation town run by the French. Seku Ture, the leader who led Guinea to independence, emphasized Africanism and education in a rural setting for all. I walked 2-3 miles to Tige, a rural school with an aluminum roof and benches that were holdovers from the colonial period. The roof leaked heavily during the extended rainy season and we spent a third of our time cultivating maize, tapioca and corn; later, in Boke, making mud bricks from an open fire stove. At the time these experiences seemed normal. As I got to Senegal and exposed to more modern education I realized the disparity of my experience.

VA: Besides our new found resources that the rest of the world all of a sudden has become interested in, what is your experience of how people (in developed countries) view Africa and its people?

EVG: I think that Africans, especially in the Diaspora, are taking control of the image. You are starting to see a migration in Western perceptions that is similar to what happened to Asians in the 70s and 80s when we went from derogatory images to more modern and progressive projections. Key to that transformation was economic performance. Africa, writ large, is at the inflection point of this transition in perception.

VA: What are some of the things you can remember, that you thought of after leaving Guinea for the USA to study?

EVG: Well, my mother, an amazing woman who probably deserves her own column, made that transition easy for my brother and I, by making sure we were exposed to the African-American realities through books, stories and letters. Also keep in mind that I was born in Brooklyn and began living in Guinea at the age of 6. The move to the US for school presented its own cultural adjustments. I was most impressed with the accessibility to knowledge and the “can do” attitude that permeates the American culture – very liberating.

VA: What keeps you busy at the moment?

EVG: Growing Homestrings is my key priority. We have some exciting branded products we will be rolling out this year – so stay tuned and connect with us on Twitter @Homestrings and on our Facebook and LinkedIn pages! I also manage institutional funds at Gravitas Capital in Washington, DC – that presents its own challenges, but I am happy with how that is going. We just published our 2012 performance, and we are pleased.

VA: You are making continued success of Homestrings. Tell us how the concept came about?

EVG: Thank you. Before starting Homestrings, I worked for 6 years at the World Bank and a further 16 for a boutique asset management and advisory firm I founded, called Gravitas Capital. Over that time I found that I could not find a way for people like me to invest in projects back home while still benefitting from the returns made in the institutional asset management space, by private equity fund for example.

So, I created a web portal to allow African Diaspora experienced investors to make a difference back home while also making the 20-30 percent+ returns that before now were only available to institutional investors (Homestrings catalog 2012 annualized returns net of fees nears this). But the thing is that while I was creating it, enough of my non-African friends mentioned that they had been looking for a way to personally invest in this way that I realised that it was not just something that the Diaspora would use, and Homestrings is now marketing more widely to any investor with US$1000 plus to invest in emerging markets.

VA: So Homestrings is an investment vehicle to make a difference while earning a return?

EVG: Absolutely. Our investments aim to focus on the “productive sectors” of the economy, in other words, the sectors and organisations that will help to generate long term sustainable development for the community and wider country as well as generating financial returns. However, we are a user-driven vehicle and therefore will respond to requests for regions for investment. We always love to hear the views of members and interested parties so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us on Twitter (@Homestrings), Facebook or through our LinkedIn group.

VA: What is the best sort of return one can expect, granted that each product in the portfolio is different?

EVG: The Homestrings catalog 2012 annualized returns net of fees nears the 20-30% returns that until now were only available to institutional investors. We identify investment opportunities that are well vetted, structured and transparent so that the investors which are using the platform can have access to those due diligence elements. We go beyond the call of duty to provide the same level as institutions the kind of due diligence information that people want to have access to.

VA: Has Homestrings become even more relevant among the international investor audience given turbulent economic conditions in the developed markets?

EVG: I think it’s true, given the current economic climate in developed markets, that international investors are increasingly looking further afield to achieve outsized returns. The World Bank and other international organizations and media outlets are championing Africa’s increasing stability and resilient growth as a potential counter to the malaise that had settled over developed economies. The continent’s economy grew around 4.5% last year, according to the African Development Bank, and hosts an emerging consumer class that the bank said was already as large as one-third of Africa’s one billion people, comparable with China and India.

The continent provides a wealth of opportunity and we are increasingly seeing interest from a broad range of investors using Homestrings to gain access to that potential.

VA: Any other developments you see for the African continent?

EVG: Based on current trends, I predict a growing number of African professionals returning to Africa and participating actively in investments and businesses in their home country or region to build growth there. Good news for the continent.