Promoting financial inclusion and increasing retail participation is one of the key mandates of the ZSE. Having introduced ZSE Direct in 2020, the ZSE has witnessed growth in retail participation on the market. As part of the Investor education initiatives, the ZSE will be profiling the investment journeys of retail investors.
ZSE Retail Investor
Name: Rufaro Andrew Hozheri
Age: 23
Profession: Equities Research Analyst (Fincent Securities)
Rufaro Hozheri, is an active retail investor on the ZSE who began his investment journey in 2018, when he was a student at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST).
How the investment journey started?
It was during a visit by the former Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SECZ) CEO, Mr Tafadzwa Chinamo to NUST where Rufaro was part of a pilot project on online trading spearheaded by SECZ and market participants. A question was posed to the students, “if anyone was already trading on the ZSE”, and unfortunately no one was, due to lack of money.
The misconception is that one needs a lot of money to start investing on the ZSE, which led to Rufaro undertaking a research on how much he needed to start investing. That is how he began his investment journey in 2018.
The Investment Journey
As a first time investor, it was difficult for Rufaro during the first days. His orders would expire, he would at times bid a price below the lowest offer, and orders would go unmatched. That did not deter him from pursuing his journey. A memorable moment on his journey was when 100 shares of a certain counter in the top 10 index matched, resulting in him becoming a “shareholder”.
To date, Rufaro’s portfolio has grown and includes counters in the materials, consumer staples and financials sector.
The Investment Strategy
Rufaro has a high risk appetite when it comes to investing, and applies the core-satellite strategy. He has counters that he over weights, strongly believing in the fundamentals of the business, hoping to hold them for a longer period. The satellite aspect is where he does speculative buying and selling of small cap and illiquid counters. At his age, Rufaro is not necessarily interested in stable low returns but to outperform the market, therefore he refrains from investing in the mature and well established companies especially those in the Top 5 by market cap.
Highlights and lows of the investment journey
Rufaro has made over 300% return in 3 months by holding a certain counter.
His low is when he prematurely exited some investments.
According to Rufaro, “the beauty of the stock market is that you only actually lose money when you exit your position, you can have unrealised losses but they don’t matter until you sell.”
Advice to Prospective Investors
“Start today, latest tomorrow and I’ll give you tonight to think about it”, Jim Rohn
Rufaro started his investment journey when he was a student, and did not have anything but the motivation from Mr Chinamo’s pertinent question.
Rufaro has won the Morgan and Co Investment Analyst Challenge, an important milestone in his investment journey.
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
