LenderHawk analysis. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Search Funded: The ETA Podcast.
Andrew Locke explains how Ambit Partners backs search funds across emerging and frontier markets, including first-time search ecosystems in Africa and other regions. He contrasts the search process, talent pool, business sourcing, and financing constraints in emerging markets with more established search geographies, and lays out why he thinks many of these countries are primed for ETA.
Aspiring searchers, ETA investors, and operators interested in how search funds work outside the US and Western Europe, especially in emerging markets.
Ambit Partners backs search funds globally but only as one part of a broader cap table, because geography-specific investors are still needed to underwrite local market risk.
In emerging markets, solo searchers are more common than pairs because the pool of interested candidates is smaller and the profile required to partner up is narrower.
The most attractive searcher profiles combine elite professional training, strong values alignment, and credible local or regional connection to the target geography.
Emerging-market searchers often need to rely more on personal networks, cold outreach, and direct owner contact because broker coverage and searchable databases are thinner than in the US.
Debt availability is a core constraint in emerging markets, so targets with recurring cash flow, contracts, or hard assets are more financeable.
Ambit is industry-agnostic but business-model selective: recurring revenue, modest capex, healthy margins, and low professionalization matter more than the sector label.
Emerging markets can offer a playbook advantage because lagged industries let searchers study how similar businesses evolved in the US, Canada, or Europe and adapt that roadmap locally.
Andrew evaluates searchers on resume pedigree, value alignment, and geographic knowledge. He treats the third pillar as essential because Ambit cannot supply local market credibility on its own.
When to use: Useful when screening searchers for cross-border or unfamiliar-market acquisitions.
Andrew frames emerging-market search around four variables: the acquisition model, talent availability, business availability, and capital availability. The model becomes feasible only when all four categories are workable in a given country.
When to use: Useful for deciding whether a country is investable for ETA or search-fund activity.
Ambit had invested in 24 search funds across 16 countries after about one year of operation.
Andrew describes the firm’s first fund and its international portfolio footprint.
Traditional search-fund investors usually number around 10 to 20 people.
He defines the basic search-fund structure at the start of the episode.
Search-fund lifetimes are typically five to 10 years.
Andrew explains the medium-to-long-term ownership horizon searchers target.
He says many established search funds finance acquisitions with roughly one-third debt, one-third equity, and one-third seller note.
This is used to explain why debt access matters so much in emerging markets.
He notes that the top 10 fastest-growing economies include about six or seven African countries.
This supports his view that many African markets have strong macro tailwinds for ETA.
Ambit looked to launch the first acquisition in Ivory Coast, with earlier search efforts mentioned in Kenya and Morocco not yet resulting in a traditional acquisition.
He uses these examples to show how early the ecosystem still is on the continent.
Emerging-market investors often need country-specific backers on the cap table, such as Brazil-specific or South Korea-specific investors, to feel comfortable.
Andrew explains how international capital is assembled around geography risk.
Build an investor syndicate that includes geography-specific backers when you search in a market you do not know well.
Why: Local investors reduce underwriting risk and help fill knowledge gaps that a foreign investor cannot cover alone.
Prioritize targets with recurring revenue and strong cash flow if debt is needed to close the acquisition.
Why: Debt is harder to source in emerging markets, so financeability should shape the deal screen from the start.
Use direct outreach tactics like handwritten letters, cold calls, and in-person visits when public deal databases are thin.
Why: In many emerging markets, sourcing is still relationship-heavy and manual outreach can uncover opportunities that platforms miss.
Screen for geographic credibility, not just resume pedigree, when evaluating cross-border searchers.
Why: Local networks and market familiarity are essential for sourcing, hiring, and operating in a new country.
Teach the search-fund model locally through business schools and seminars to widen the future searcher pipeline.
Why: Awareness is still low in many emerging markets, so ecosystem building requires education before capital formation scales.
Before founding Ambit Partners, Andrew and his partners worked in a social enterprise private-equity fund that acquired 26 South African small businesses and brought young black principals into executive equity roles under B-BBEE legislation. The work looked a lot like search in practice, even though it was not branded as search funds at the time.
Lesson: Operational experience in small-company ownership can translate directly into search-fund investing, especially in markets with ownership-transition policy goals.
Andrew cites a searcher in Ivory Coast with unusually strong local connections and a narrow funnel of only dozens of businesses, not hundreds. The searcher’s familiarity with key players produced a much higher hit rate than a typical U.S.-style volume approach.
Lesson: In thin markets, a smaller but better-informed funnel can outperform broad, database-driven sourcing.