Short Story: Cleopas Zinyawo shares his journey on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange

By Cleopas Zinyawo 

Investing in Zimbabwe is not for the faint hearted. It is bloody, tears, sweat and complimentary job during some seasons. Born in 1970 and tried to invest around 1992.The journey has not been easy at all . It has been a roller coaster in motion.

Though my investment journey gathered momentum in 2018 with the onset of the C-trade application , the real roots began with the IPO of Econet. I bought 100 shares then kept them for a while.

I had previously invested in intermarket products like money market. It was under the stewardship of Mr Vingirayi. I also bought unit trusts of tetrad. Then went on to buy units from Mr Muponda’s investment vehicle which was known as investlink if I remember well.

Sad to say I lost my Investments as Mr Muponda skipped the country and left us empty handed. I then had to close tetrad and Century bank units out of fear of further loses.

I then moved to investment in Insurance Policies linked to Investments. I opened two such policies with Intermarket. Contributed for more than ten years and lost everything when the Government dumped the local currency. Lost all Investments under the Beverly Building Society Millionaire plan.

Rushed to kingdom bank to retrieve funds under unit trust only to realise that under dollarisation, a unit was 0,00001. I realised I had lost .

I then decided not to invest in any instruments in Zimbabwe. I stayed out of the markets. The loss was unbearable. How can a company that made profits and constructed buildings allege that all had gone down the drain. Talk of insurance companies that had policies with profit accumulation coming up with nothing. Gideon Gono aptly named the Zimbabwe scenario as a Casino economy.

The coming in of Ctrade saw me coming to the stock market but I was extra cautious. I bought RTGS shares and eventually began to buy slowly. That was 2018. In 2019 I sold everything when the currency began to change from one is to one. In 2020, I came back to the market and began to invest seriously. When companies I bought appreciated by 30%, I would sell and reinvest in other companies.

I invest knowing well that the current Zimbabwe environment remains tricky. I have suffered over the years and the only reason why I continue to invest is the propensity to see what happens next.

I bought a Nissan Sunny Supersaloon from the stock market gains in 2022. I also bought a stand which is awaiting development.

My inspiration is to become a board member or be counted amongst noteworthy investors . That has been my Journey and I am still in the tracks.

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