Investing in Frontier Markets: Opportunity, Risk and Role in an Investment Portfolio

Foreword

Throughout history, frontiers have represented unexplored opportunities, untapped potential, the promise of riches and the lure of discovery.

For today's investors, frontier markets can offer all that and more. They can offer the chance to invest in some of the fastest-growing economies in the world, most with young, vibrant populations and substantial natural resources. They can open a window to new cultures and new industries. And they can help diversify a portfolio and offer the opportunity for enhanced returns.

In this book, authors Gavin Graham and Al Emid outline the potential that investing in frontier markets can hold for investors. Graham, a noted expert on emerging markets, and Emid, one of Canada's foremost writers on investing, have created a comprehensive study on how investors can benefit from gaining exposure to this new market segment.

They conclude, and Russell Investments agrees, that frontier markets are a logical next step for investors who have already discovered how investments in emerging markets can enhance returns and potentially lower a portfolio's overall risk. They believe that since globalization has had numerous economic benefits for emerging markets, it will likely have the same impact on frontier markets over time.

True, investing in frontier markets also holds risks—many of the countries considered frontier markets are politically unstable, can be influenced by strong governmental control over natural resources and industries, and have ...