A Zimbabwean investor can buy into Africa’s biggest-ever initial public offering (IPO), but the journey starts with paperwork, approvals and a bank transfer, not an app.
Bard Santner Investors (BSI), a Zimbabwean asset management firm, is facilitating the country’s participation in Dangote Refinery’s $1.6 billion IPO, giving local investors access to a share sale that opened to investors across Africa on September 14. But the process also reveals how much of cross-border investing remains manual even as fintech platforms make domestic investing increasingly digital.
The Dangote IPO is testing Africa’s investment infrastructure from two directions: Nigerian investment apps struggled with a surge in retail demand, while Zimbabwean investors are relying on Bard Santner to navigate foreign-exchange controls, custody and cross-border settlement.
“So far, because of the time, we couldn’t do online applications. We are doing it more manually,” Ngoni Chikowore, head of asset management at Bard Santner, told TechCabal in an interview on Tuesday.
Originally published by TechCabal.