This morning we ran a Google Insight search for ‘Africa Private Equity’ and these were the results.
Google on the website explains, ‘The numbers on the graph reflect how many searches have been done for a particular term, relative to the total number of searches done on Google over time. They don’t represent absolute search volume numbers, because the data is normalized and presented on a scale from 0-100. Each point on the graph is divided by the highest point, or 100. When we don’t have enough data, 0 is shown. The numbers next to the search terms above the graph are summaries, or totals.’
From this description we could conclude that the second half of 2007 was the first time Google was collecting enough search queries on ‘Africa Private Equity’ needed to generate such a report. Looking at data like this over time we see fluctuations in interest, very much in tandem with the status of international financial markets and changing political situations, but the continued interest in the subject is clear.
The VC4Africa group on Linkedin (originally called the Venture Capital and Private Equity in Africa Group) was started on June 12, 2008. The growth of the network very much runs in tandem with these results found using the Google Insight product.