Everyday Kenyans Taking Stock In a Growing African Economy

[Chemosi]

Everyday Kenyans Taking Stock In a Growing African Economy but are Biikabkutit among them?

By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, August 26, 2007
Read this article and please comeback and give us your views in relation to our Biikabkutit community on this topic
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/25/AR2007082501291.html?hpid=moreheadlines
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Great spirits have always encountered opposition from mediocre minds.' Einstein. biikabkutit.com

[altoo]

Great business article right there........seems like it's a free for all economy for all who have the resources in Kenya these days as most companies go public and do their IPOs..........the only thing i am worried about though, is you that you only read about wangai, omariba, onyongo waithaka, wangari and so forth...where are biikabkutit in all this? I guess biikabkutit in Nai & especially those of us in the diaspora are obligated to educate our folks that the days of investing in cows, sheep, goats and mbarenik are long gone and warn them that unless they diversify their investments by buying shares in common stock, they gonna get left behind and won't be able to compete or take advantage of business opportunities in a globalized economy and/or flat world we all live in now
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a CITIZEN without POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE is a VIRTUAL CRIMINAL....when the POWER of LOVE overcomes the LOVE of POWER, the WORLD will know PEACE....I would rather be HATED for WHO I am than LOVED for WHAT I am not....LIVE FREE or DIE HARD!!!

[preciousA]

Kweli knowledge is everything.... its kinda uplifting reading that. Cheki part farmers asking what shows that i bought stock.... ati atleast u can see the cow . but i don't blame them we all want security in our investments.

[Werit ab Sonoiya]

The article sure sounds uplifting but the problem with our folks back home is that they believe in cold hard cash, never want to risk and they just don't have trust in the market. That's why kenyans operate in basic simple interest loans and short term financing. The stock exchange is a whole different story though. Its dominated by the rich and smart people, mostly foreigners. This is a secret they do not want to share to the public. Stocks are a good way to invest, but only if you are guaranteed a return and if you are positive that the company will not go belly up. Otherwise I think investing in stocks wold be a good way to build cash flow. Over time in good stocks you can earn returns in excess of 10% annually! (Thanks Chemosi) very educative article.
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[bahrmasa]

Take solace you guys, biik?ab kuti alak komi ak ichek activities of the NSE.It is not yet a problem as such, but rather a new window of opportunity that we can sell to those who haven?t heard or know little about how it works. Let?s not jump into conclusions like the one above because stocks are not always a win-win situation. It is not unreasonable to expect any folk to tread cautiously in embracing a new idea. It is logical and quite sensible to probe several times over before one falls for it. What, with scary stories of fraudsters in the digital realm can you expect from ?our folks back home?than a nonchalant attitude to a ?fad?such as the one for the stocks at NSE. Among the few people who?ve struck some quick bucks in the recent past at the bourse are people who did it out of luck rather than wit. I bet many future investors (the one?s someone has labelled ?folks back home? might think or have formed the impression that the winning formula to apply, get allotted and sell the very first day of trading of the same as opposed to the longer term approach where you reap (if the company grows) dividends, bonuses etc year in year out. Well, it isn?t as simple as it seems-there is quite a lot one needs to get exposed to before venturing into it. There are great losses just as much as there are great gains. Leiye, ongechwechin kei kimnote siketorit kei.

[altoo]

classic example of this NSE & IPO brouhaha is the current stalement on safaricom going public & though ODM has gone to court to try & stop it, (which btw I agree with coz investors have the right & ought to know who are the real owners of a company doing it's initial public offering, (rumor has it it's Moi and his family), I still think our folks need to take advantage of such opportunities and invest for the future benefit of our young generation.....work smarter not harder and your money will work ya
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a CITIZEN without POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE is a VIRTUAL CRIMINAL....when the POWER of LOVE overcomes the LOVE of POWER, the WORLD will know PEACE....I would rather be HATED for WHO I am than LOVED for WHAT I am not....LIVE FREE or DIE HARD!!!

[TARKOK]

its true that most kenyans are into stocks business and most of biikabkutit may not be among them but iam glad that at least they are taking part and a number are really interested which is encouraging but what i want to say is that investing in stocks is very good for all of us and i can assure you that stocks are secure in that if the price comes down you hold your stocks and wait for the opportune time to sell also you can use to ask for a loan instead of selling them when they are down you just allow them to be freezed then get the money from loans to pay fro your expenses, in the mean time the price will come up and your money will be save otherwise i 100% believe in the stock market and i want people to have a little more trust in it just as they trust that there cow will survive the East coast fever. In todays world seeing is not believing but knowing and having the positive drive is owning the power

[Rokiha]

Let us encourage our people to invest in the stocks doesn't matter whether long or short term. Kudos to those wazees who bought shares for EABL, KPLC or SCB when they were selling for 5/= you can imagine someone who had a reasonable no. of shares then. I have said (separately somewhere) and i will want to repeat it here that unless you are ready to take risks then you shouldn't expect much gains.

As much as we would want our people to understand the risks involve, we should come out clearly and shade more light on the advantages and gains that goes with it and more so the long term investments. And for your information I will want biikabkitit to log onto www.financialpost.co.ke to see for yourselves... si onai ole nomungoo keebet ab emooni...

[altoo]

yeah, just read the statistics, portfolios & articles on (www.financialpost.co.ke), what a discrepancy ......biikabkutit simply need to get up and compete folks....seeing that list of the millionaires, courtesy of simple investing on the NSE send a cold chill down my spine, not to mention that the who is who doesn't even feature our folks.....wtf is going on down there rokiha?.......that article really pissed me off ........let me just say this, what do our so called politicians say about this? I for one think that our folks need a wake up call & they need it right here & right now for crying out loud
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a CITIZEN without POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE is a VIRTUAL CRIMINAL....when the POWER of LOVE overcomes the LOVE of POWER, the WORLD will know PEACE....I would rather be HATED for WHO I am than LOVED for WHAT I am not....LIVE FREE or DIE HARD!!!

[TARKOK]

The question is are we part of the equation that invests in the stocks?
Yes we are but how zealous are we or competitive are we in investing?
i have afew suggestions which may contradict a few but ope it will assist a great deal


To be wealthy you need to have some kind of advantage.I know its hard to predict success of a person or even a company.But to be successful in every investment begin with the premise i might be wrong setting a mental or actual stop- loss point before investing gives you an advantage over know it alls and wishful thinking.

You can not control outside market forces like interest rates,the rate of inflation the political climate but make an assumption that every market will go up and down in the short term but over the long term will be positive so you need to practice value oriented, long term investing.

To invest recognise the fear, plan(think you hit on a key element of a means to encourage that action is taken: accountability,make a commitment.
You may not change your programming but you can learn to recognise the patterns and profit from them.

Lets grow together remember he who wants to persuade should put his trust not in the right argument.but the right word. The sound has always been greater than the power of sense.

[altoo]

well, our folks should understand that if they gonna invest in stocks, they gotta be willing to go the long haul coz it defeats the purpose to buy stock today and sell it tomorrow..the good news is, with most kenyan companies doing their initial public offerings, there's no place to go but UP & coz stock investing is a matter of hedging the risk with the benefits, conventional wisdom dictates that the more you ride the tide and risk some more, the better the chances of getting paid big time...say what you will but it sure beats our wazees putting all their cash in their pillows
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a CITIZEN without POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE is a VIRTUAL CRIMINAL....when the POWER of LOVE overcomes the LOVE of POWER, the WORLD will know PEACE....I would rather be HATED for WHO I am than LOVED for WHAT I am not....LIVE FREE or DIE HARD!!!

[altoo]

for our bros & sisters residing in Nai, what's the latest with the safaricom IPO offering?.....is the case still tied up in court?, wazzup?
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a CITIZEN without POLITICAL KNOWLEDGE is a VIRTUAL CRIMINAL....when the POWER of LOVE overcomes the LOVE of POWER, the WORLD will know PEACE....I would rather be HATED for WHO I am than LOVED for WHAT I am not....LIVE FREE or DIE HARD!!!

[Nyiganet]