I started with less than 7k eight years ago, this has in fact turned to be one of the best decisions I have made. It's a good thing I started investing early. Nevertheless, I have to put in more work. The goal is 1 Billion Naira before I turn 45
If I were to advise someone who is considering buying stocks in the market right now, my recommended allocation would be:
MTN Nigeria: 30%
Seplat Energy: 25%
Custodian Investment: 20%
Wema Bank: 15%
The Initiates: 10%
The thinking is simple.
We want the bulk of the money in companies that are already proven. Coys with scale. Coys with cash flow. Coys that can survive difficult cycles and still keep producing earnings.
Then we want a smaller part of the portfolio in names that can grow faster, but where we must also respect the risks.
The PSAF ICAN Study pack has 42 Chapters. That means, I have to summarize 14 Chapters to reach one-third of the content.
Currently on Chapter 8.
If I lock in again this weekend, I should be able to reach Chapter 14.
I am doing this, so you don't have to read 1100 pages.
Me and ICAN Prize.
On my first attempt at ATS 3 exam, I resigned from work to write the same, but I couldn't afford the tutorial fees, so I self-studied. I read the ICAN texts back to back. I wrote the exams. Tougher than expected, but I passed all 4 papers in one sitting.
By the time I got to Skills Level, I was already working again. There was no time for solid preparation, but I was able to attend weekend tutorials. At this point, I was just getting back my bearings financially, so I couldn't say I wanted to leave work again. Closer to the exam, I only got two weeks' leave from work. I went for the exam and cleared my 4 papers in one sitting again.
Now, in my head, I felt that if I self-studied for ATS 3 and passed, and did tutorials for Skills with limited revision time and passed too, then definitely, if I did tutorials and had time to self-study as well, I'd get an ICAN Prize in my Professional exam.
Now at Professional, 3 months to the exam, I told my then boss that I wanted to resign because of my ambition. The GM advised that I go on a 3-month unpaid leave instead, and when I am back, I can resume work. This sounds like a better option, so I took it up.
Now guess what?
I left work and was preparing very actively, attending tutorials and simultaneously self-studying. I was so confident that this time around, I was going to get it until when life happened.
Just a couple of weeks until the exam, and that's how they stole my backpack containing materials for 3 of my courses, my textbooks, revision notes, and ICAN texts and question bank—everything all gone.
Omo, not only did I not get the ICAN Prize I aimed for, but I also failed 3 (the aforesaid 3 courses) out of the 5 papers I wrote that diet. They really stained my whites, ehn 😂😂😂
I lost ICAN Prize, I lost about 3 months' salary, and I still lost out on opportunities. Thankfully, I didn't lose myself.
I really wanted it so, so badly, but then, qadar prevails.
Tony Elumelu’s Corporate Empire
Financial Services
- United Bank for Africa (UBA)
- United Capital Plc
- Africa Prudential Plc
- Heirs Insurance Group
Energy & Power
- Transcorp Power Plc
- Transafam Plc
- Transcorp Energies Limited
- Heirs Energies Limited
- Tenoil
Hospitality & Real Estate
- Transcorp Hotels Plc
- Afriland Properties Plc
Healthcare
- Avon Medical Practice
- Avon HMO
Technology
- Heirs Technologies
- Redtech
Philanthropy & Empowerment
- The Tony Elumelu Foundation
NB: There are other companies not under the HH group which he has direct/indirect stake in.
Man runs an ecosystem 🚀
Bookmark this if you’re new to NGX 🇳🇬
NGX 🇳🇬 Undervaluation Checklist:
📊 Valuation
- P/E < sector average
- Price/Book < 1.0x
- FCF yield > risk-free rate
🏢 Fundamentals
- Revenue growth positive (even if modest)
- Debt/Equity < 0.5x
- Margins not in free fall
💰 Shareholder Returns
- Dividend paid (even during downturn)
- No capital destruction history
- Management owns shares
🔍 Sentiment
- Stock down 30%+ while sector flat
- Analyst coverage is zero/negative
- Retail hates it
👥 Management
- Track record of execution
- Skin in the game
- Not facing legal issues
Hit 7/10?
Deep dive.
Hit 9/10?
Build position.
In 2022, I borrowed 30k from PalmPay for a friend because he needed to pay rent. He promised to pay it back. However, he couldn’t, so I had to pay it off myself.
Years ago, I was angry at him, not really because of the money, but because I thought he didn’t want to pay and was avoiding me. I saw him buy a new phone and other things. I let it go because God has been good to me.
This morning, an unknown number called me, but my phone was set to reject unknown callers, so I called back. He immediately said, “Please don’t hang up like you did the other time.” I replied that I didn’t hang up; it was my phone settings.
I asked who it was, and he gave his name. I was happy because it had been long since we last spoke after leaving school. I greeted him and asked about his NYSC service, but he skipped that and went straight to the money: “My Gee, please I’m sorry. The money has been on my mind, but I had no means to pay back.”
Those words caught me off guard. I had forgotten about the debt; it’s been 4 years, but I was amazed.
I told him not to worry since it had been so long. He pleaded and asked where to send it. I said I appreciated his conscience about the money and that he shouldn’t worry.
He insisted I take it to honor him, so I said he should pay half and forget the rest, knowing things might be tight for him. It’s not that I have it easy myself, but what is life without kindness?
After that, we talked about life.
Lesson: Not all debtors are ignorant of their debt; they are just in a tight position and unable to pay back.
IPO this, IPO that.
Everybody on your timeline is suddenly talking about IPOs, Public Offers and "getting in early." But you still don't know the difference between an IPO, a Public Offer and a Rights Issue.
Now that you can invest in all three directly on Cowrywise, I'll break them down in plain English and talk about how to decide how much to invest🧵
In investing, time is a variable many people underestimate. Give your investments time and watch the power of compounding work, especially when your money is invested in a quality company.
Away from the Accounting vs Law exams comparison (don't include CFA - it is beyond this comparison), let me speak from my experience in practice (not theory/exams) as a tax professional.
Taxation is a marriage of law and accounting, so as a tax professional I needed to know both tax laws and tax accounting.
My background is accounting. [Some tax professionals' background is Law].
I hated reading tax laws directly. They are mostly boring (the worst is Stamp Duty Act). I prefer summary in plain English. I only checked the specific area in the tax law.
I hated reading accounting standards too. Equally boring.
But once understood, I enjoyed tax laws more than tax accounting and, at some point, I drifted to the legal and policy side of taxation.
If understood, tax law discussions/arguments are more fun. I enjoyed building cases. I enjoyed contributing to and trying to influence tax policy formulation.
But deferred taxation and other core sccounting parts of taxation, I avoided them.
This was my experience in practice.
Of course, during my ICAN exams, I found law (Business Law, Company Law) easier than Company Accounting or Financial Accounting in general. But I have to acknowledge that laws done in ICAN cannot be as deep as laws done in standalone legal training. Same way accounting done in MBA, for example, cannot be as complex as accounting done in standalone accounting training.
I have said it here before and I will say it again. There is an intersection of roles between Accounting and Law that mostly favors Lawyers.
- Company Secretary
- Compliance
- Tax and Regulatory services.
As an Accountant there is nothing that stops you from working in any of these roles, if not that most accountants are not interested.
There is a pathway for Company Secretary - ICSAN.
Some lawyers think that Accountants should not be involved in Business and Company Registration. An Accountant has a better understanding of company formation (especially valuation and shareholding) than a Lawyer would.
There is also an unfair advantage. It is easy for a Lawyer to become a Tax Consultant via CITN and ICAN pathways. What if the CLE creates a pathway for Accountants to practice commercial and transactions law?
What if?
I am not writing this to stir up another debate; I just want to make a few things clear. If an Accountant wants to practice law, they will have to go to University (Full time) for 4 years and then attend NLS. In some University, Literature in English is an O level requirement. If you don't have it, you will use your grey hair to write GCE.
Dear Accountants,
Auditing and Taxation is not the only areas of practice. Please expand your horizon. There is risk, internal control, compliance, company administration etc.
Don't leave food on the table.
Take this conversation beyond X and if any of these areas interest you, start by getting certified.
If you studied Accounting for 4 years and you decided to study Law in the University thereafter, you will struggle.
If you studied Law and you decided to study Accounting, you will struggle.
It has nothing to do with whether you are brilliant or not. It is a new environment. Different from how you have always been taught.
If you are a Law Grad and you don't like Mathematics, there is no way you will not struggle with ICAN, CFA and FRM.
If you are an Accounting Grad and you study Law, there is no way you will not struggle with Constitutional Law.
While there are good grounds for arguments, I believe that the difficulty of an exam is relative. There is just going to be that one person who would defy all odds, write any exams and pass.
As a tutor, and from my experience, Engineering Students have more transferrable learning skills that match ICAN more than Law Grads have.
All in all, let everyone hold their kettle.
I went to Magodo today for a Salah get-together hosted by a client. I sold a plot of land to him in Ibeju Lekki two years ago, and through him, I sold a few more plots in the same area too. He’s been really good to me.
When I got there, everywhere was already filled up. As I was looking around for where to sit, I saw him coming out with some people. He said, “Haa Jide, o pe o” (you came late o). He immediately asked someone to bring a chair for me from somewhere.
Before I could even settle well, they already brought what we are talking about😂. Thank God I didn't go alone, it made me more comfortable to battle the meats. If you see the way they cut the meat ; big, solid, and very kanilaya 😂. Then they soaked everything inside stew.
As I was eating, I was also silently saying prayers for the olopos that cooked the food. They cook better than twitter people 😂. At some point, I got a call and had to quickly step outside because of the noise, even though I was really enjoying the K1 song playing in the background: “Igba yi da, o ma dun, o ma dun o larinrin.”
I picked the call and it was someone making an enquiry about City View Park and Resort Abuja that I advertised on my website. As I was explaining things to the person, the man who invited me walked past with some people and heard me talking about Abuja. He just looked at me and said:
“Se tan ko wa jamisi” 😂
Meaning: “Finish that one and come and explain it to me too.”
So, you are lagging behind your peers.
And so???????
That they started before you doesn't mean you won't get there before them!
Besides, there’s the law of consolidation. Everything consolidates to the level of your ambition, grit and resilience, adjusted for time and personal circumstances.
So today, get you a glass of wine, cross your legs, enjoy each sip and let time do its thing.