12 Terrific Tweeps for Africa Investors

I’ve got an ambivalent relationship with Twitter. I love it for the content it alerts me to, for its immediacy, and for its ability to break down social and geographic barriers between people. But it’s so full of irrelevant content, that it often feels like a massive waste of time.

To remedy this, I limit my Twitter stream to users who have a strong interest in African economic development. Here are 12 of my favorites that focus on African stock markets.

I’ve got an ambivalent relationship with Twitter.

I love it for the content it alerts me to, for its immediacy, and for its ability to break down social and geographic barriers between people.

But when I get caught in an eddy of vapid, 140-character updates on food eaten, locations present in, and photos taken, I start to suspect that there would be more productive, enjoyable uses of my time. Like dusting my houseplants. Or listening to a public radio fund drive. Or dusting my houseplants while listening to a public radio fund drive.

I admit to some snobbishness here. Social interaction and serendipitous discovery is the joy of Twitter to many users.

But I am not one of them.

Photo by Shawn Campbell

I’m instead drawn to tweeps who carefully curate their Twitter stream – sticking to a specific topic, taking care not to monopolize the conversation, and keeping personal updates to a minimum.

12 Tweeps to Follow

With those criteria in mind, I’ve compiled a list of 12 Twitter users that consistently post high-quality content of interest to investors in African stock markets. Here they are in alphabetical order with an example of a typical tweet.
 

1. African Financials — @AfricaFinancial

Follow this stream to stay on top of financial results released by African firms. There’s no commentary in the stream, just a notice whenever a new annual report has been added to their extensive collection.


 

2. Ecobank Research — @EcobankResearch

The research team at one of Africa’s fastest growing banks maintains a helpful stream that focuses on African currency movements and commodity prices.


 

3. Genghis Capital Ltd. — @genghiscapital

This Kenyan stockbroker is one of the most interactive on Twitter. A talented research team encourages questions from Nairobi Securities Exchange investors.


 

4. HowWeMadeItInAfrica — @madeitinafrica

The fantastic website’s Twitter feed highlights some of its most thought-provoking articles on how to do business in Africa.


 

5. Jonathan Kruger — @InvestorPumba

Jonathan manages the Prescient Africa Equity Fund and maintains a very focused Twitter stream on developments in Nigerian, Kenyan, Mauritian, and North African markets.


 

6. Keith McLachlan — @keithmclachlan

An expert on South African small-cap stocks, Keith’s a must-follow for anyone interested in digging up gems on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.


 

7. Olufemi Awoyemi — @olufemiawoyemi

The founder of the popular Nigerian website, Proshare, Olufemi is an astute observer of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.


 

8. Razia Khan — @RaziaKKhan

The head of Standard Chartered Bank’s Africa research team, economist Razia Khan shares her insights on African economies and welcomes interaction with Twitter followers.


 

9. Saxum Zimbabwe — @saxum_zimbabwe

Interested in the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange? Then this purveyor of Zimbabwean financial data is a must-follow.


 

10. Schmooze FM — @schmoozefm

Schmooze FM is a Kickstarter-like platform that allows small and medium-sized businesses located in frontier markets to raise capital from small investors around the world. The company’s Twitter stream does a great job of retweeting interesting content of interest to frontier investors.


 

11. The EIU Africa Team — @theEIU_Africa

The Economist Intelligence Unit shares its latest findings which are especially helpful with regard to Africa’s political context and risks.


 

12. Tom Minney — @africancapital

The former head of the Namibian Stock Exchange, Tom boasts a wealth of experience building and writing about African capital markets.


 

Who Did I Miss?

I follow nearly 150 people on Twitter. Each of them provides excellent content, so deciding who to include on this list was far from easy. In the end, it came down to who provided the most relevant content most consistently, but I’m sure I’ve missed some who deserve to be included here. Do you know of one? Let us know your favorite Africa investment tweep in the comments!

12 thoughts on “12 Terrific Tweeps for Africa Investors”

  1. Well, you missed Aly Khan Satchu @alykhansatchu of Rich Management in Kenya. He is an authority in EA and specifically Kenyan markets. Nairobi Securities Exchange @NSEKenya ; and @Bankelele who gives rankings of Kenyan banks.

    Reply

        1. True. There’s no better expert on info technology and development than @whiteafrican. He didn’t make the above list, though, because his focus is not on African capital markets.

          Reply

  2. WOW!!!! Thanks for the list. I had held off on joining Twitter for the reasons you mentioned above. Just this past weekend, I finally decided to join, also for the reasons you listed. It is a good way to streamline the type of information I am looking for. I don’t care that LeBron James has 5 million followers. I am not one of them, nor do I plan to be, but links to good information on the economic developments in Africa get my attention.

    Reply

  4. Thanks to everyone who contributed! I’ll add a handful to the list

    African Exchanges @africanstockexh
    Annual Reports Ghana @annualreportsgh
    African Investor @AfricanInvestor
    SEC Nigeria @SECNigeria
    CNBC Africa @cnbcafrica

    Reply

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