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Invest in emerging markets like China, India, Indonesia, South America and Sub-Saharan Africa at your peril, the pros will tell you. There is a laundry list of risks one has to deal in such places – be they corruption, political instability, difficulties of enforcing contract law, nepotism, poor infrastructure or corporate governance issues. The trade-off for taking on the added risk has always been the potential for gangbusters growth. Double-digit stuff. That can be enticing.

But if you think that it's "over for Bozo" for growth in places like North America, think again. Two high ranking executives from two very different, long-lived, multi-national firms pooh-poohed that notion Monday at an event called "Competing for Capital: Redefining Strategies for Growth," part of the "The International Economic Forum of the Americas," which was held in Toronto.

Michael Dolan, CEO of Bacardi Ltd, said that one of the fastest growth spots for the beverages industry is in, get this, staid old North America. The chief executive of the company, which is the largest privately-held spirits company in the world and is active in the usual cadre of high growth, developing countries, said there has been an "explosion of growth in American produced whiskey," he said. Anything with the word "craft" in it is hot right now, said Mr. Dolan. There are pockets within slow growth countries that are "very high growth." His message: Multi-nationals can't afford to ignore their native markets. Otherwise, they might be missing out on sectors that are "very, very attractive."

Manulife Financial Corp. knows a thing or two about the importance of establishing a foothold early in a developing market, and being exposed to high octane growth in China, the Philippines and Indonesia – Manulife now gets one third of its earnings from Asia.

Manulife's chief financial officer Steve Roder, a 20 year veteran of Asia's financial services sector, pointed out that while Asia is an important market for the company, and that it is great for diversification purposes, the company is absolutely not resting on its laurels in North America. Mr. Roder points out that there has been a shift in the U.S. and Canada over the last 10 years, for "do it yourself" investors to buy asset allocation and/or target date products instead of "micro-manging their own portfolios and running their own spreadsheets to make sure they have enough money to retire on." If you're wondering why the DIYers are calling in the professionals, instead of putting up their own financial drywall, Mr. Roder says it's simply because investors don't have the time anymore, due to the dizzying pace of change in the digital age, i.e we are all too busy updating our Twitter feeds and have no time to fish around for a dividend growth stock that we won't get burned on.

While growth in North America is "different" from Asia, "there's still a lot of opportunity" in the U.S. and Canada, he said.

A private beverages company and a public financial services company may appear on the surface to be wildly different animals, but Mr. Dolan and Mr. Roder are on the same page (to use the most horrid phrase in corporate-speak) when it comes to their philosophies on growth. They seem keenly attuned to the argument that while North America may be a mature market, scratch just beneath the surface and there's growth to uncover -- if you know where to look for it.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
C-N
Citigroup Inc
+0.78%63.24
FC-N
Franklin Covey Company
+2.51%39.26
MFC-N
Manulife Financial Corp
+1.34%24.99
MFC-T
Manulife Fin
+1.2%33.83

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