From a Retail Investor’s Perspective – Rodney Kurai Mushongachiware

By Tapiwa Bepe

In this week’s section of profiling the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (ZSE) retail investors, we feature Rodney Kurai Mushongachiware.

 ZSE Retail Investor

Age : 31

Profession : Agricultural Economist

Qualifications: BSc Hons Agric Economics (UZ), MBA (NUST)

Hobbies : Reading , Fishing , Tennis

Aspirations : To set up an agribusiness enterprise in the processing sector.

To inspire other young people to take part in agriculture as well as investing on the ZSE.

The Investment Journey

Rodney has always read about successful investors such as Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger and George Soros since his college days and this was his first inspiration to invest but in the past, the people he met discouraged him especially those who had bad memories of losing their investments during the hyper inflationary era.

Rodney kept on purchasing investment books over the years and sadly no one in his circle had the knowledge on how to start investing or to take him through reading the financial statements. The final push came in October 2019 during one of his MBA classes for Financial Management and policy which was taught by Dr Alfred Mthimkhulu (A former stockbroker). During the first lesson, Dr Mthimkhulu posed a question of how many of the students were actively investing in the stock market and no one raised their hand. Dr Mthimkhulu was shocked how at such a level of MBA students, no one had invested in the stock market. He shared his experience and how he started trading when he was doing his undergraduate degree at NUST. From then, Rodney immediately made a decision to open his trading account and thanks to his wonderful stockbroker  who provided him with sound financial advice and guidance. In 2020, Rodney invested in the ZSE half of his proceeds from his 21 tonne ground nut harvest (approximately $400,000 in August 2020) and he has been active ever since.

The Investment Strategy

Rodney’s main strategy involves investing in quality counters that are underpriced. He also follows the news closely, looking out for possible counters that can be affected by different events and policies. Thanks to his Agriculture and Economics profession, most of the counters on the ZSE are linked to the performance of the agriculture sector which he is well vested in. Whenever he achieves capital gains, he sells and switches to counters where there are opportunities. He however does not buy counters which he does not understand.

Rodney’s portfolio is diversified across the Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples sectors on the ZSE and Exchange Traded Funds.

Highlights and low

  • The first major blow for Rodney in his investment journey was the suspension of the  ZSE the same week after he had bought his first stock. The unpredictable policy environment is always scary for first time investors, but thanks to his stockbroker who gave Rodney reassurance as well as to the various whatsapp groups that got him to interact with other investors.
  • The other low highlight in his investment journey came when Rodney bought two counters and held them for over a year but then sold them at a loss.
  • His investment journey is mainly highlighted with good moments. Most of the counters he has sold have given him between 70% to 120% return.
  • Rodney has also enjoyed the dividends he has gotten from his portfolio, managing to cover his utility bills from the dividends.
  • In the year 2021, Rodney managed to finance his living expenses (rent, fuel, utilities and groceries) for six months out of his profits from the stock market, redo his car expansion, buy new tyres for his car and buy his mom a four plate gas stove and gas tank all from his ZSE Profits.

Advice to Prospective Investors

  • Get started by investing on the ZSE, with platforms like ZSE Direct one can easily open an account and start their investment journey.
  • Follow the news, performance of the market and any events of economic importance.
  • The stock market is a good hedge against inflation and very liquid compared to other investment options.
  • Spread your risk by diversifying your investment portfolios (real estate, livestock, stocks etc).
  • The stock market is one of the easiest ways to start investing and building wealth as the required capital to start is not as heavy as other popular investments like farming, thus it can be a foundation to raise capital for other investments.
  • Associate with people in the investment world, thanks to social media investors’ can now network.

Information provided in this article is for educational purposes and does not constitute financial advice. You should obtain independent advice from a Registered Stockbroker or Financial Advisor before making any financial decisions.

For more information about how to invest on the ZSE, visit the ZSE training portal www.zsetraining.co.zw, email [email protected], Tel: +263 24 2886830-5

Leave a Reply