The new partnership was established in close collaboration with Afrinvest (West Africa) Limited, a leading capital market holding company in Nigeria active in six principal areas: investment banking, securities trading, asset management, trustee, consulting and financial technology.

This joint effort will make it easier for licensed broker-dealers, asset managers, large commercial banks and other institutional investors from across the continent to invest in Nigeria’s premier exchange via SecondSTAX’s transparent, easy-to-use, cloud-based portal.

Investors will also be able to invest in their native currencies, making a wider range of assets and opportunities available to more Africans and creating an efficient route to increased wealth on the continent.

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and its capital markets present some of the most profitable investment opportunities globally. For example, the Lagos bourse ended the year 2020 as World’s Best with a 50% gain, the most since December 2007.

The equity index was also the world leader among the 93 stock indexes tracked by Bloomberg. Some companies listed in the exchange posted a positive return of up to 400 percent. However, the siloed nature of the exchanges in Africa meant that only people based in Nigeria were able to access these opportunities.

SecondSTAX is building technology solutions for investment firms that will power the seamless flow of capital and institutional investment across the continent, and it is consolidating all debt and equity capital markets throughout Africa, making it easier to access opportunities in relevant markets.

The platform facilitates transactions by securely and efficiently routing orders onto existing mature capital markets infrastructure in complete compliance with local regulations.

As a result, African investment firms are empowered to do more for their clients and have the opportunity to earn more for themselves.

The company already has partnerships with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE), driving investment into these exchanges from across the continent.

Along with new investment opportunities into Nigeria’s capital markets, this partnership will also make it easier for institutional investors from Nigeria to invest into other capital markets that are available on the SecondSTAX platform.

Following the NGX launch, access to the service will initially be restricted to Qualified Institutional Investors who are able to place minimum trade orders of USD 10,000.00 (or the equivalent value in NGN). Over time, this limit will be reduced to extend services to other customers.

According to Eugene Tawiah, CEO and co-founder of SecondSTAX, “Our aim is to integrate all the capital markets across Africa to enable more seamless investment flows and this partnership with the Nigerian Exchange Limited represents a major milestone on our journey. Nigeria’s capital markets are full of lucrative opportunities that have until now been out of reach to institutional investors outside the country. At the same time, Nigeria’s institutional investors have largely found it challenging to invest into other capital markets across the continent. This partnership addresses both problems and we are excited to see how investors take advantage of the opportunities that abound across the continent.”

Temi Popoola, CEO, Nigerian Exchange Limited, commends SecondSTAX for its visionary solution to drive institutional investments across Africa.

“This closely aligns with our ongoing efforts to foster innovation and growth in our market through initiatives such as the African Exchanges Linkage Project, which aims to integrate capital markets in the continent; and our partnership with Afreximbank’s Pan African Payments Settlement System (PAPPS) to facilitate seamless cross-border transactions within the African capital markets”, Popoola said.

At NGX, we remain committed to fostering inclusive growth and are open to collaborating with more capital market innovators to stimulate participation and investment in the Nigerian and African capital market. We look forward to the opportunities this partnership with SecondSTAX will unlock and the positive impact it will have on the continent”.

Ike Chioke, Group Managing Director of Afrinvest, said “As a leading capital marketing holding company, we are always at the forefront of driving innovations that grow Nigeria’s capital market. We are delighted to be in partnership with SecondSTAX to enable more opportunities to drive capital inflows into Nigeria’s capital markets and increase investment options for investors in Nigeria.”

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Asides broadening its reach, the fund will enable the startup to add more brilliant minds to its team, and strengthen its technology by developing more features around clients’ demand.

Founded by Duke Lartey and Eugene Tawiah, who has garnered experience from Goldman Sachs and ran various consulting and tech jobs for firms in financial services and capital markets, SecondSTAX received the fund from private investors and venture capital firms, including LoftyInc Capital and STEMeIn.

Announcing its launch today, SecondSTAX is building innovative tools to enable and enhance intra-Africa capital and investment flows, reducing the siloed state of African stock and bond markets. The company provides easy-to-use and efficient route for wealth in Africa and global capital to fund investments in a wider range of African countries. ​

The goal is to reduce the number of manual steps, the total amount of time required, and the associated costs the investor is encumbered with when making a cross-border transaction. Africa is at the precipice of economic greatness and our task is simple: to reimagine African capital markets. This is our phenomenal contribution to making that economic milestone a reality.

SecondSTAX also provides access to debt and equity securities across multiple African bonds and stock exchanges. The B2B capital markets infrastructure platform seeks to assist investment firms outside Africa that want to invest in emerging and frontier economies on the continent. 

Investment firms onboarded on its platform can also hold assets in various currencies, thereby reducing single currency risk and reducing the volatility in their returns, whether in Africa or elsewhere.

Asides Ghana, the fintech has its eyes set on African countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco and Egypt. The fund will enable the company’s launch in these countries by the end of the year.

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