Building Wealth: Derrick’s One Brick At a Time Story Part II

‘When I get married, this will be my children’s bedroom so that implies that I’ll have to shift to the master bedroom, the beauty is that it will be complete soon. The reason I broke that wall is because I’ll want my wife to have a spacious kitchen,’ said the jolly Derrick as he gave me a guided tour round his three - bed roomed house. A brief view on the outside, the house occupies half the plot (100ft by 76ft) and beside the house is a kitchen garden. The remaining section of the plot is occupied with banana stems and his future plans are to set up a few rental units on it. As I sat back on the comfy sofa at Derrick Ssekitoleko’s living room, he continued to reminisce about his humble beginnings and hardly did I notice a chilly breeze that had me butt in on his narration to lament that it was getting cold. In reply to my interruption, he said, ‘sorry kid, this place is a little chilly in the evenings, but I love it. It’s my home,’ briskly rising from the sofa to shut the open door as well as the windows.

No hefty job offers

With the warm aura in the house I recollected a fact that had caught my attention previously....

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Building Wealth: Derrick’s one brick at a time story

Amidst this current hue and cry due to high commodity prices and the high cost of living, it would be insane for a low income earning man to dream of achieving any major financial milestone other than to probably diligently pay his bills in time. Well, that’s why one muganda philosopher called this city a ‘Kibuga’ (a city). Another muganda philosopher has continued to build on this earlier work and he has been reportedly heard to spread a Luganda proverb that ‘Kibuga sikya ba fala’ (Kampala city is not for the uncanny). With all due respect, this young philosopher has been aiming to communicate the fact that Kampala city is a ruthless one and only by beating the odds that come along with ‘Kibuga’ can you then claim your share of success. This simple truth had dawned on Derrick Ssekitoleko way back during his graduate studies in accounting at Makerere University Business School. He knew that going back to Mityana, his home town, to live rent free after his university education was not an option simply because it’s only in the city that he could easily eke out a living. He therefore dreamt of owning a house and hence significantly cutting his cost of living in the city. The logic here is if he kept the landlord at bay, chances are that he would only worry of how to commute to the city and obviously his belly. 

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Investing in Foreign Stocks: Could it be a nightmare?

Statistics show that approximately 20,000 native Ugandans participated in the Safaricom initial public offer (IPO) back in the year 2008. To the best of my knowledge, many of these were first timers that had heard of the Stanbic Bank Uganda (SBU) windfall and thought Safaricom, vis-à-vis SBU, to have been a Toyota Corolla compared to a black mamba bicycle. Well, the informed investor had learnt his or her lesson with the earlier Eveready Kenya IPO, a company which till to date is grappling to survive amidst meager profits. Whereas 20,000 native Ugandan investors were caught up in the Safaricom hype, you should be shocked that there are approximately 15,000 native Ugandans that have proudly decided to invest at the Uganda Stock Market.   This rather odd behavior with Ugandans, pardon me if you think otherwise, is what I would liken to the preference of Gucci branded items yet there are similar cheaper and quality local products in abundance. The sad story is that the first time investors at the Safaricom IPO now view the stock market like another casino. Could investing in foreign stocks therefore be a nightmare? What do you stand to benefit from on the other hand? 

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Investors’ Dilemma: How to steer clear of common misconceptions.

In the previous issue we looked at common investing misconceptions at the Uganda Stock market. In this issue, we continue to unearth these misconceptions and know just how well investors can avoid them. We laid emphasis on the need to shop for an investment advisor. Understanding share price ramifications takes skill and experience. Currently in Uganda, all stock brokers are licensed by Capital Markets Authority to offer investment advice. However, just like any other type of advice, say marriage advice, investment advice can always be availed by who ever has the opportunity and the platform to do so, hence the term ‘cheap investment advice’. This cheap investment advice will however always come in handy to bite you in the long term. My take is that you look out for an experienced investment advisor who will be willing to pay close attention to your needs whether retail or institutional. Crested Stocks and Securities are by far the largest brokers in terms of retail clientele, the beauty is that they offer tailored investment advice at no cost.

Cheap doesn’t imply future value

I presume that at this stage of the debate, you have already secured yourself a Securities Central Depository (SCD) account. Well, I’m no exception. Not only have I signed up for one but I have gone a notch higher and purchased some 400 shares of ‘company XYZ’ that I prefer not to mention here.

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