Insight

Investing in Africa, explained plainly.

Market notes, company breakdowns and practical guides for anyone building a portfolio across African and global markets.

Why an emergency fund comes before your first share

The most common way new investors lose money is not a bad pick. It is being forced to sell a good one at the worst possible moment.

The early years look almost flat, which is exactly when most people give up. Here is what the curve is doing while nothing appears to happen.

Most explanations start with charts. This one starts with what you own, who holds it for you, and where the money goes.

The hardest part is rarely choosing what to buy. It is proving who you are, and arranging the paperwork that lets you take money out again.

Four dates, one register, and a piece of paperwork that decides whether money you are owed ever reaches your account.

Five numbers worth finding, where to find them, and the sections you can honestly skip on a first pass.

Holding ten companies in one market is not ten bets. It is one bet, made ten times, on the same currency and the same economy.

Sometimes it is generosity. More often it is a falling price, and the two look identical until you check.

Manual tracking fails in a specific, predictable way. Here is where the error creeps in, and what a broker connection actually changes.