How to actually buy African stocks

There are four realistic routes into these markets, and which one you can use depends mostly on where you hold citizenship or residency:

• Local brokerage account. The cheapest and widest access, and usually the only way to reach small-cap listings. Generally requires local ID or residency, a local bank account, and in most markets a central depository (CSD) number. If you have family in the country, this is often the practical route.
• Diaspora and non-resident accounts. Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana and Egypt all run non-resident investor schemes with dedicated account types. You typically need a certificate of capital importation or equivalent — this document is what later lets you take money out, so never skip it.
• Global brokers, for the large caps only. Interactive Brokers and a few others reach the JSE directly, and many African blue chips have London or New York depositary receipts. This is the easiest route and it covers perhaps twenty companies out of the hundreds listed.
• Funds and ETFs. Africa-focused ETFs and frontier funds give exposure without an account in-country. You give up stock selection and pay a fee, but you also skip every operational problem below.

Every price on this site is quoted in the local currency, with a dollar equivalent underneath. Those two numbers can tell opposite stories.

An index up 70% in a currency that lost a third of its value against the dollar has returned far less to a foreign investor — and possibly nothing. This is the single most common error in coverage of African markets, including from people who should know better. We show both figures on the Africa vs World page precisely so the gap is visible.

• Liquidity. On the smaller exchanges, a single mid-cap can go days without trading. Position sizes that look trivial on a US market can be a week's volume here. Check the volume column before you assume you can exit.
• Settlement and custody. Settlement cycles vary by market and are often T+3. Custody fees on non-resident accounts can meaningfully erode a small position.
• Getting money out. FX availability, not permission, is usually the binding constraint. Several markets have had periods where foreign investors could sell freely but waited months to convert proceeds. Ask about repatriation before you fund the account.
• Withholding tax. Dividend and capital gains treatment differs sharply by market and by investor residency. Some markets exempt listed capital gains entirely; others do not.
• Disclosure quality. Reporting standards and timeliness vary. Some issuers file promptly in IFRS; others are months late with thin notes. Treat a screen-level P/E as a starting question, not an answer.

“African markets” is not a category you can invest in. A JSE blue chip and a Malawi small-cap have almost nothing in common in liquidity, disclosure or currency risk. Here is the shape of each market we track:

If you are starting from zero: pick one market, follow it for a quarter without buying anything, and read two annual reports from it. The operational questions above are much easier to answer for one country than for a continent, and the answers do not generalise.