African Investor Relations

African Is Cool is pleased to launch the online stakeholder initiative of Dairibord Holdings on its Africansmallcaps.com platform.

Dairibord Holdings incorporated in 1994 is a leading producer and marketer of dairy, food and beverage products in Zimbabwe. In 1997, Dairibord became the first state-owned company in Zimbabwe to privatise. The company was listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange the same year. Dairiboard currently has a market capitalisation of US$37.5m and is listed under the Food and Food Processors sector.

The group produces an extensive range of products which include milk, foods and beverages which are marketed in the domestic and foreign markets.

Dairibord Holdings has a staff compliment of 1038 permanent employees and is one of the largest manufacturing firms in Zimbabwe with over 50 brands. In Zimbabwe, the Group has factories in Harare, Chitungwiza, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kadoma, Mutare and Chipinge. In Malawi, the group’s factories are located in Blantyre and Mulanje District.

Dairiboard’s africansmallcaps.com portal presence includes a highly professional online charting page where corporate actions are disclosed in share prices.

Go to the Dairibord website : Go to Dairibord’s IR website : Go to Dairibord’s annual reports

Sign up for Dairibord alerts

Dairibord’s launch now takes African Is Cool’s total client base to 27 listed companies in four countries. 18 of these clients are listed companies based in Zimbabwe and are serviced by reseller Big Law Management Consultants Pvt Limited. Big Law also manages the online stakeholder relations of St John’s College and Preparatory School. The remainder of 9 AIC clients are based in Malawi (3), Zambia (3) and Botswana (3).

AIC also recently announced its move into the provision of managed corporate websites.

The Africansmallcaps.com platform is an incredibly low cost but highly effective online investor relations platform for companies that do not have the time nor resources to worry about bad website service providers or whether their investor relations information is out of date. The platform can be used as the “investor relations section” of the company’s website.

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Cheap websites are usually just that: cheap. It’s very important to not use budget as a the primary parameter in a website design. It’s important to be able to discern value for money. So the quality of your website design generally depends on your budget.

It’s important to know that you are getting value for money. Just asking vendors for a website design without strict terms of reference is inappropriate. Remember that it’s usually possible to get an idea of what a design will look like in advance.

“A website designed for everyone pleases no-one”.

Unless your objectives are clearly defined it is possible for new websites to take over a year to deliver. You go around and around in circles and never get anywhere. Here are a few tips to stop this happening:-

A single person responsible. Unless there is a single person whose decision is final in deciding a website design it is possible to waste hours and hours trying to obtain website design approval by committee. This exposes you to extra costs as the designers can be caught in the middle of this. Do not manage your new website design product by committee.

“Keep-It-Simple-Stupid KISS”. If you have a look at global companies’ websites such as SAB or Old Mutual their designs are very simple. The core issues of any website should be data and interactivity. A prudent approach to a new website should therefore accentuate simple professional designs and stress strongly interactivity tools: the ability to receive feedback from and communicate with people using your website.

Manage by committee. If you do not outsource your online strategy you should manage your website by committee on an ongoing basis in order to ensure that the usual pitfalls are avoided and that internal stakeholders in the website have a say in its on-going ownership and management. This is the opposite of the design stage where it is easy to be bogged in consensus building.

Monitor performance. Ensure that you put in place mechanisms to measure whether your website is delivering the strategic value it should. A monthly review of traffic, whether data is comprehensive and up to date, whether you are reaching out to the people that you do business with or have invested in you or whether feedback has been meaningful and  answered should be on your agenda.

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I am very proud to announce that two of our clients, African Sun and Econet won the first annual investing in Zimbabwe’s future Corporate Social Responsibility Awards launched by the US Embassy and the American Business Association of Zimbabwe. The full details appear below:-

September 29, 2010

U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ray and Fred Mutanda, Chairman of the American Business Association of Zimbabwe (ABAZ), today announced the winners of the first annual “Investing in Zimbabwe’s Future” Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Awards: Econet and African Sun Zimbabwe Limited.

The “Investing in Zimbabwe’s Future” Corporate Social Responsibility Awards are being launched for the first time this year by the U.S. Embassy and the American Business Association of Zimbabwe (ABAZ). The awards will be given at the ABAZ Just Business Forum closing reception at the Celebration Centre September 29. Intended to be an annual recognition of outstanding displays of corporate social responsibility, the Investing in Zimbabwe’s Future award winners are selected by a group of ABAZ board members and U.S. Embassy officials. Criteria for selection includes demonstrated commitment, including leadership and resources, to improving the lives of the future generation of Zimbabwe and concrete efforts to open education and job opportunities for young Zimbabweans.

Econet and African Sun Zimbabwe Limited continued investing in Zimbabwe’s youth by supporting young, gifted but economically disadvantaged Zimbabweans as they work to build their educational and professional capacity. This support, for example, enabled nine disadvantaged Zimbabwean students to travel to the United States for tertiary education. The nine students were among the 23 students who were awarded scholarships by American colleges and universities to pursue degree programs after undergoing the United States Student Achievers Program (USAP) in 2009-2010. Their scholarships in the U.S. cover full board and tuition for four-year degree programs.

Leading telecommunications service provider Econet Wireless Ltd donated US$20,000 to six USAP students on their way to the U.S. to begin studies this September. The funding covered various urgent needs including university fees shortfalls and personal expenses for Hazel Zengeni – MIT; Rudo Mudzi – Mt. Holyoke College; Tracy Lukwani – Mt. Holyoke College; Desmond Rgwaringesu – Reed College; Elvis Rambanapasi – Quinnipiac College; and Tinashe Mubvuma – Swarthmore College. All six students are previous beneficiaries of the Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Scholarship fund, a Pan-African scholarship fund to which Econet is the main benefactor.

Leading hotel and leisure group African Sun Limited donated U.S.$7,500 worth of airline tickets for three USAP students to travel to the U.S. The students are Tendai Mudyiwa – Kalamazoo College; Norman Chamusa — College of Wooster; and Chido Matara — Berea College.

Ambassador Ray encouraged other corporate interests similarly to contribute to building a better future for Zimbabwe’s young people. “It is our hope that through more public-private partnerships like these, Zimbabwe will build a much better future where young people have many education and employment opportunities to choose from. This will take hard work and the private sector must be fully engaged. Through these CSR awards, we are very proud to recognize the dedication of certain companies to create a better future for all the people of Zimbabwe, and especially for young people.”

The American Business Association of Zimbabwe (ABAZ) is the collective voice of U.S. business and investment in Zimbabwe. It serves as both a forum and representative body for U.S. business and Zimbabwean/American business interests to encourage a better understanding of the role of business in a competitive market system. The 2010 Just Business Forum seeks to make a significant contribution to debate on economic policy in Zimbabwe and the development business-friendly economic policies contributing to economic recovery and growth.

Comments and queries should be addressed to Sharon Hudson-Dean, Public Affairs Officer. E-mail: hararepas@state.gov Tel. +263 4 758800-1, Fax: 758802.

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This article was posted on SEP 21, 2010 by ■ Gibril Koroma and outlines the results of the recent Africa Investor Awards. Not enough of this sort of stuff goes on in African markets. It’s because it has to be justified commercially to those that undertake it. There is obviously critical mass at the pan-African level but not in specific country levels. This is an opportunity for regulators to engage third party consultants to carry out appraisals in recognising excellence in whatever fields they chose from year to year. An opportunity to be progressive.

New York – Africa investor, a leading international investment research and communications group, has announced the winners of the 2010 Africa investor Index Series Awards. The awards were held at an exclusive, invitation-only gala ceremony on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

The Africa investor Index Series Awards are the only international, pan-African awards that recognise and reward Africa’s institutional investors, stock exchanges, best-performing listed companies, stockbrokers and capital market regulators.

This year’s winners, according to the Ai statement, were a mixed but uniformly respected and high-achieving group of leaders in their respective fields. CEOs from all of the Africa investor-tracked indices were recognised, including Othman Bejelloun from Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur as Africa investor 100 CEO of the Year; Africa investor 40 CEO of the Year saw Arnold Ekpe, CEO of Ecobank Transnational, take the award; Africa investor SRI 50 CEO of the Year went to Linus Gitghi of Nation Media Group; while Martin Oduor-Otieno of Kenya Commercial Bank was recognised as Africa investor SRI 30 CEO of the Year.

Africa’s leading listed companies from the Africa investor-tracked indices were also hailed as Best Performing Africa investor 100 Company went to Ghana Commercial Bank; Best Performing Africa investor 40 Company was awarded to Equity Bank Kenya; and Best Performing Africa investor Sri30 Company was given to another Kenyan company, Safaricom. Zambia Sugar walked away with Best Performing Africa investor SRI 50 Company.

Africa’s stock exchanges were not to be outdone as Most Innovative African Stock Exchange went to the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) and Most Innovative Capital Markets Regulator was awarded to the Financial Services Commission of Mauritius.

Other categories saw Coronation Africa Fund recognised as Best Africa Fund Manager; Best Africa Investment Bank went to Renaissance Investment Bank; Standard Bank was honoured for the Best Africa Research Team and Best African IPO was given to Juhayna Food Industries Egypt. Auerbach Grayson took Best Performing Broker in Africa and, finally, Best Risk Adjusted Performance by an African/South African Hedge Fund was given to Scipion Capital.

Commenting on the awards Hubert Danso, Vice Chairman and Managing Director, Africa investor said, “Profiling African capital market success stories through the Africa investor Index Series Awards is vital to raising awareness about the activities and developments of Africa’s capital markets and listed companies, and the increasing quality and quantity of entries received this year goes far in proving that Africa’s growing appeal to the global investment community is at a tipping point.”

The Ai Index Series Awards ceremony coincides with the annual Africa investor Index Series Summit held in association with NYSE Euronext. The Summit brings together international investors, African CEOs, pension funds and capital market professionals to explore investment partnerships in African listed equities.

Both the Africa investor Index Series Summit and Awards represent an unprecedented opportunity for international investors and African capital market leaders to explore investment partnerships at the New York Stock Exchange. Africa investor would like to thank its sponsors and partners, including:

Summit partners and sponsors include: Ecobank, NYSE Euronext, Thomson Reuters, Standard Bank, CNBC, the African Development Bank, CI Capital, Label Vie, the African Securities Exchanges Association (ASEA), the United Nations Office for Partnerships and the NEPAD Business Group.

The following are Africa investor Index Series Awards Winners 2010:

Africa investor 100 CEO of the Year- Othman Bejelloun, Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur

Africa investor 40 CEO of the Year Arnold Ekpe – Ecobank Transnational

Africa investor SRI 50 CEO of the Year

Linus Gitghi – Nation Media Group

Africa investor SRI 30 CEO of the Year Martin Oduor – Otieno – Kenya Commercial Bank

Best Africa Fund Manager- Coronation Africa Fund

Best Africa Investment Bank- Renaissance Bank Investment Bank

Best Africa Research Team- Standard Bank

Best African IPO- Juhayna Food Industries Egypt

Best Performing Broker in Africa -Auerbach Grayson

Best Performing Africa investor 100 Company- Ghana Commercial Bank

Best Performing Africa investor 40 Company- Equity Bank Kenya

Best Performing Africa investor Sri30 Company- Safaricom

Best Performing Africa investor Sri50 Company- Zambia Sugar

Most Innovative African Stock Exchange- Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE)

Most Innovative Capital Markets -Regulator Financial Services Commission Mauritius

Best Risk Adjusted Performance by an African/South African Hedge Fund-RMB Asset Management (Pty) Ltd

Othman Bejelloum, one of Africa’s richest bankers (his personal fortune is estimated at 665 million Euros), was born in 1931 and attended the prestigious Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) , one of the best schools in the world. In 2008 he was voted Arab Banker of the Year (see video).

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/297881#ixzz10nehJpMG

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Sunbird is a Malawi government owned hotel group in Malawi. It’s not big but the group owns 7 hotels and is a very well known brand in Malawi. I have stayed in their hotels often and the group offers clean basic hospitality at a reasonable price. Some of their hotels are iconic such as the KuChawe Inn, Livingstonia Beach and Nkopola Lodge on the edge of Lake Malawi.

The levels of awareness of the online space amongst Malawi corporates is low so I was surprised to see the following initiatives taken by the group to enhance their online presence:-

• Presentation of online material on scribd – this information was out of date and only one document was published online with less than 300 reads.
• Presentation of online material on slideshare –  the presentation was 2 years old and had less than 600 reads but it is significant that someone published the presentation online in Malawi two years ago. In Malawi this is unheard of.
• A corporate linkedin account – not sure whether Linked in Permits this but the fact remains the group is using online channels available to it to get its presence widened online.
• A blog - that is out of date by miles. This is not unusual for corporate blogs. A good reason not to have them.

Each main hotel has an e-brochure which requires a download before you can read it. In this day and age this is too much of a hassle as there are many other flash based products that are immediately readable with no downloads.

The Sunbird website has online booking availability – I am not sure if it works. There is no investor relations information online. A good selection of imagery though appears online and again someone has the right idea. I would use some of the amazing views from their iconic locations to greater impact on the site i.e. bigger pictures.

The Sunbird Tourism website is not perfect but someone has made an effort. On balance most hospitality group websites do take themselves seriously and do a good job of promoting themselves but Sunbird probably lags them in this area. However, in the Malawi context Sunbird’s website is probably one of the better ones and someone has made an effort and these efforts should be updated and continued.

In a bigger issue note this is a good example of a company not being able to keep all the noble online initiatives up to date. People are busy, they are distracted, they come and go. It’s the core reason why your online strategy, especially when it purports to use the progressive outreach tools, should be outsourced to a competent and dedicated partner.

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Trying to get hold of Nigerian capital markets information is difficult – there is just so little free information out there available on a broad, immediate and non-exclusionary basis. The market is split into two – those that can afford US$120 a year and those that can’t. The millions earned by the NSE (I tried to insert a link but the website was down) have not been ploughed back into shareholder and regulator education programmes so the typical Nigerian retail investor (and regulator) lives in fear and emotional expectation.

Trying to call a Nigerian company, look at Nigerian company disclosures or speak to Nigerians in general is  difficult. I think they all hide from the 152m other Nigerians out there so it probably makes sense. Except from an investor relations perspective. That said it’s been interesting to see that more information has been disclosed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange website after the controversy surrounding the SEC and the CEO of the NSE

We do not have these communication problems with executives in other countries.  The Nigerian inward looking attitude is unhealthy and hopefully a new spirit of transparency and improved information availability is being introduced by the NSE. It should actually be introduced by the listed companies but that’s another story.

There are over 33 million internet users in Nigeria and about 11 million shareholders. The identity of those shareholders (who are also consumers….. are ignored on purpose – they are shareholders, “a pain in the neck”, or too much hassle to deal with). On the other side of the coin, the Nigerian market is filled with millions of potential customers and millions are spent on trying to find out who these people are so that products and services can be pitched to them.

So, on the one hand Nigerian companies have 11 million shareholders whose identity they know but don’t want to know, and then another +11 million potential customers whose identity they don’t know but want to know. Not a single Nigerian listed company has embarked upon a retail shareholder strategy in order to enhance brand and corporate reputation. But they all spend thousands of dollars a month on billboards trying to get people to notice them. Their websites sit lonely and poorly populated.

This is how to sign up for Nigerian market information:-

go to www.nigerianstockexchange.com
fill the registration form by the right hand side of the site you will see unregistered click here? then pay to any of our banks and then scan and send helen evidence on hcifeacho@nigerianstockexchange.biz or call 08058800511.

Congratulations! Your request has been received and our Subscriber database has been updated. However, it may require up to 24 hours for your account to be activated and for all your credentials to be verified if  necessary. Also note that  the Exchange reserves the right to accept or turn down requests based on its investigation of your identity.

Also note that access to the system attracts these applicable fees;

Individual Investors => N 18,000 per/annum (approx US$120)
Institutional Investors => N 60,000 per/annum (approx US$300
Stock Brokers => N 45,000 per/annum (approx US$400)

Please pay to the following accounts:

Residents:
The Nigerian Stock Exchange
A/C No: 2442030000255
First Bank of Nigeria Plc.
Stock Exchange House Branch, Lagos

OR The Nigerian Stock Exchange
A/C No: 2111212310
Sterling Bank.
Broad street, Lagos

Non-Residents:
Domiciliary A/C No. USD 0153518030
CitiBank Nigeria
1, Idowu Taylor Street
Victoria Island, Lagos

Users may contact The Exchange (nse@nigerianstockexchange.biz or hcifeacho@nigerianstockexchange.biz) or call us on 234-1-2660305, 234-1-2660335 for any further clarifications.

The Exchange advises that your user name/password combination  should be kept secretly as it does not take responsibility for any leakage. The System however allows you to change your profile at will.

Thanks and enjoy your stay…

The information above is not a scam!! Its published on the Nigerian Stock Exchange Website.

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Facebook’s online global community exceeds 500 million people. It’s a communication channel that’s receiving a tremendous amount of interest overseas because of its immense immediate outreach to a targeted audience.

The interesting question for many executives in the region is “should we be looking at Facebook as a means of targeting prospective customers?”.  In a recent blog I outlined that there are over 17m Facebook users in Africa and I promised to get back to you on what the individual country statistics said. Well thanks to Enrique at Internet World stats I have published the stats for countries with stock exchanges below:-

Source InternetWorldStats.com

In South Africa, a country I have left out above, there are 49 million people of which 5.3 million use the Internet and 3.2 million have Facebook accounts (60% of internet users have facebook accounts). My statistics above are distorted significantly by Nigeria, so without Nigeria, on average one in every five Internet users has a Facebook account (20%). This is high but still behind the World average of near 50%.  With Nigerian statistics 1  in every 15 Internet users has a Facebook account.

Zimbabwe’s statistics are unavailable but can be reasonably assumed to be at least the average of the African statistics illustrated above it. This suggests at least 98,000Facebook users but could probably be much higher. More than double.

In assessing whether these statistics are meaningful enough from a business perspective these would be my thoughts:-

• Who are the actual users of Facebook in these markets?: youth, image conscious, cash wielding youth and middle aged housewives would be the dominant groups in my opinion.
• Would they be a target market for my business? Depends on your business. The demographics of Facebook users suggest that they would be excellent targets for the retail clothing and mobile frenzied crews.
• How much would it cost to engage them through a managed corporate Facebook account? Better questions might be “do the skills exist in my country to set up and manage a Facebook account?” and “does my website do justice to the content that should exist on my website?” The best manager of your Facebook account is probably between the ages of 13 and 16 years old. This group of youngsters, currently very active on Facebook will grow into the new age market.
• What are the risks of my business running into problems through the use of Facebook? Depends on the industry you are in.
• Are the Internet World Stats data reliable? I know Malawi well and there is no way there are 716,000 internet users there so perhaps more investigation is required. The sources of information generally appear to be reputable.

My gut feel is that for businesses in each of these markets, for businesses in the right industry, the number of Facebook users appears to be of sufficient critical mass for it to be taken as a tool to identify and communicate with a target market of customers.

The low down though is that as a business in any of these markets you need to engage a consultant that can apply a bit of intuition and perspective as to what using Facebook  actually means for one’s business. And therein lies the rub. A start would be to grab any thirteen year old by the scruff of the neck, sit them down, with a fruit juice and instruct them to tell you the” ins” and “outs”. The beauty of Facebook though is that from a corporate perspective it costs nothing, can be pulled if it’s not working and accelerated if it use.

What’s the story from the investor relations perspective? Facebook is also receiving a lot of attention in the investor relations arena. Dominic Jones, the global guru on online IR, recently noted that “the National Investor Relations Institute and its chapters also have been actively promoting social media through conferences, seminars, magazine articles and webinars. Yet the message appears to be falling on deaf ears.”

Dominic also points out falling shareholder suffrage standards evidenced by poor retail voting rates at annual meetings, the scrapping of the broker vote for uncontested director elections, and the recent adoption of proxy access rules as having failed to inspire IR departments to reach out to their shareholders via social media. In the African context, my gut feel is that there just isn’t the awareness amongst investors of investment related issues and so active engagement with companies is unlikely. This is where progressive companies could “do the opposite”. Establish a Facebook account with the intention of using it as a shareholder education initiative. This progressive communication would enhance corporate reputation and brand.

My message is get involved. Do it with a trusted online partner and learn from your mistakes. You can see where this is going in the long run and so start the journey and be ahead of the pack.

Read about our managed corporate website services here.

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As an executive operating in African markets you are probably thinking to yourself this internet thing has to be good but you just don’t trust anyone to do it. It will be a mess up! This is not unusual.

The fact is that African markets now have a critical mass of internet users that cannot be ignored. The internet is an area every company needs to be involved in, efficiently. If you dissect what is involved into the basics it’s not that difficult. Here are the 10 key things to consider / know if you are thinking about adopting the internet into corporate strategy:-

• FACT 1 – An efficient communications model involves people finding you online rather than the other way around.
• FACT 2 - An efficient communications model involves people managing their own contact details online rather than the other way round.
• FACT 3 – Data drives website traffic. Your data. No-one else’s. Think you don’t generate data? Think again about your business and what it offers.
• FACT 4 – Timely data drives more website traffic by a multiple. Reliability in the release of this data builds relationships.
• FACT 5 – Website traffic enables you to identify who is interested in your organisation.
• FACT 6 – An efficient communications model involves the use of “push technology” rather than people accessing a traditional website. In its simplest form, this means that people visit your website once, click a menu of email alerts and then sit back and receive news when it is released.
• FACT 7 – Any strategy that is implemented in-house will generally not work – people are busy and not fully informed. There’s office politics. The IT guy does not own you or the company. But he thinks he does. The implementation of an online strategy should be outsourced.
• FACT 8 – Not everyone an organisation deals with has internet access nor mobile phone access. Any communications strategy must acknowledge that the Internet is complementary to other communications channels.
• FACT 9 – That said above the internet and an organisation’s website MUST be seen to be and actually be the primary channel through which a strategic communications strategy is implemented.
• FACT 10 – The ability to disseminate information ad hoc 24/7 on the internet is an incredibly powerful tool to counter negative media or be used to positively influence media – get your news out as often as possible.

That’s all you need to know really. It’s that simple.

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This note below, received from the SEC is an interesting insight into how investors should treat share trading after regulatory action. No such warnings are actively issued / disseminated by African markets so I thought I would reproduce it here.

Some of the regulatory structures mentioned below will not apply in African markets but you should get the gist. It’s content such as this that could form the basis of a retail shareholder manual to be made freely available to investors in African markets.

I like the end paragraph:- “If you cannot obtain current, reliable information about a company and its stock, this may not be a good investment for you.” I guess this would preclude a whole of investment into African listed shares if it were applied.

Here goes:-

“Investors should be very cautious when considering trading in stock after the SEC has suspended trading in the shares.  An SEC trading suspension is a “red flag,” often indicating the SEC has concerns about the information that the company has been providing to the public.  By law, an SEC suspension usually ends after ten business days, even if the company has not provided current, accurate information about itself.  However, when a company does not provide current, reliable information about itself and its finances, trading its shares can be very risky.

Why would the SEC suspend trading in a stock?

The SEC may suspend trading in a stock when the Commission is of the opinion that a suspension is required to protect investors and the public interest.  Circumstances that might lead the Commission to suspend trading include:

• A lack of current, accurate, or adequate information about the company, for example, when a company has not filed any periodic reports for an extended period;
• Questions about the accuracy of publicly available information, including in company press releases and reports, about the company’s current operational status and financial condition;
• Questions about trading in the stock, including trading by insiders, potential market manipulation, and the ability to clear and settle transactions in the stock.

How long do trading suspensions typically last?

The Securities Exchange Act of 1934 authorizes the SEC to suspend trading in a stock for up to ten business days.  A list of companies whose stock is currently suspended, or which have been subject to an SEC suspension, may be found here.

What happens after a trading suspension ends?

When an SEC trading suspension ends, a broker-dealer may not solicit investors to buy or sell the previously-suspended stock until certain requirements are met.  Before soliciting trades or resuming quotations in a stock that has been subject to a trading suspension, a broker-dealer must file a Form 211 with the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) representing that it has satisfied all applicable requirements, including those of Rule 15c2-11.

Among other things, Rule 15c2-11 requires broker-dealers to review and maintain certain documents and information about the company, including:

1. the corporation’s organization, operations, and control affiliates;
2. the nature of the securities outstanding and being traded; and
3. the issuer’s most recent balance sheet and its profit and loss and retained earnings statement.

No broker-dealer may solicit or recommend that an investor buy shares in a stock that has been subject to a trading suspension unless and until FINRA has approved a Form 211 relating to the stock.  If there are continuing regulatory concerns about the company, its disclosures, or other factors, such as a pending regulatory investigation, a Form 211 application may not be approved.

However, limited or “unsolicited” trading can occur in a stock that has been subject to a trading suspension after the suspension ends but before a Form 211 is approved.  This may allow investors to trade the stock when a broker or adviser has not solicited or recommended such a transaction.  Even though such trading is allowed, it can be very risky for investors without current and reliable information about the company.

Take Precautions Following an SEC Trading Suspension:  Check For Reliable Information.

Investor should be very cautious in considering an investment in a stock following a trading suspension.  At very least, investors should assure themselves that they have current and reliable information about a company before investing.

• Research the Company:  Always research a company before buying its stock, especially following a trading suspension.  Consider the company’s finances, organization, and business prospects.  This type of information often is included in filings that a company makes with the SEC.
• Review the Company’s SEC Filings: This information is free and can be found on the Commission’s EDGAR filing system. (good luck trying to find this sort of information in African markets!)
• Beware of Companies that do not File Reports with the SEC:  Some companies are not required to file reports with the SEC.  These are known as “non-reporting” companies.  Be aware of the risks of trading the stock of such companies, as there may not be current and accurate information that would allow you to make an informed investment decision.
• Be Skeptical:  Whenever someone gives you a “hot” tip, always ask why.  Make sure that you do your own research.  Keep in mind that information from online blogs, social networking sites, and even a company’s own website  may be inaccurate and sometimes intentionally misleading:

If you cannot obtain current, reliable information about a company and its stock, this may not be a good investment for you.”

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This imagery below, from the BBC website is an excellent image-based overview of the growth of the Internet from 1998. Africa lags yes BUT there is critical mass in African Internet users:-

Africa is also growing quicker than other markets, especially Kenya where new infrastructure is bringing down prices and increasing outreach.

From an African corporate perspective the Internet cannot be ignored in strategy going forward. Those getting in early will benefit in the long run. On the investment front Africa’s capital market regulators are fast asleep. I guess that when the commercial reality of what’s happening online hits them thats when they will do something. This is a pity. Its also a pity because I think that its only after the commercial benefits of an online strategy are known will the online investor relations space be taken seriously.

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Information on some of Africa’s marginal stock markets is sometimes hard to find so it’s good to see that Imara have paid attention to the Malawi Stock Exchange equities market recently with this release of comprehensive research.

The inherent illiquidity in the Malawi market means long periods of inactivity and active price discovery from trading falls away. Equities become undervalued until someone notices and the market plays catch-up. Furthermore, the Malawi Stock Exchange website is not a World leader when it comes to the broad, comprehensive, non-exclusive dissemination of market information.

The MSE website has to be one of Africa’s worst, so it’s refreshing to be able to publish some good information for the market (not that they would be responsible for writing research – they are responsible however for making enough information available to enable investors to make informed investment decisions). Click on the link below to read Imara’s research online:-

READ IMARA’S RESEARCH HERE

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Enrique of the Internet World Statistics sent me this email in his newsletter :-

“We are almost there, very soon the Internet will hit two billion users. Yes, almost2,000,000,000 with a big B, two billion people are using the Internet. An amazing accomplishment because in just 15 years (1995-2010), the Knowledge Society has conquered Planet Earth, and nothing will be the same ever again. “One small step for man, a giant leap for mankind”, like someone said before me, 41 years ago.

But today I am not going to discuss the Internet. Today, for the first time, we show our methodology applied to analyzing the Facebook World Stats. The results are very revealing regarding the power and worldwide force of this web platform that has grown to become by far the largest and most important social network in the Internet.

The results are summarized in a new statistics table and three bar charts, that you can view at Facebook World Usage, using data as of August 31, 2010. We have found useful to introduce a new Internet Metric that we shall call the Facebook Index. It corresponds to the percentage of Internet Users that are also Facebook Users, in any country or geographic region.

The statistics show that Africa’s Facebook Index (the percent of Internet users on Facebook) is just 1.7% compared with 43% in North America and 2.4% in Asia. Facebook is set to grow significantly in Africa and from a commercial perspective might provided an effective means of targeting specific sectors of the economy.

I do not have the breakdown of Facebook users of individual African countries but will get them and discuss the implications of this on investor relations and corporate strategy. Facebook is growing into a platform that cannot be ignored.

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