I bought my first Safaricom, Centum shares as a teen

Clarence Muhoro's investment journey began in 2018, after visiting a cryptocurrency presentation in Westlands, Nairobi.

Later, together with his family, they invested in a digital currency, which later turned out to be a scam.

"We ended up investing as a family and two years later, it turned out to be a scam!," the 20-year-old says.

He, however, did not let the bad experience thwart his investment plans by reading investment books and taking finance classes.

“By the end of 2018, I had read a lot of books on investment and taken finance classes and was really excited to invest in shares and try be the Warren Buffet of Kenya,” says Mr Muhoro who will graduate in September with a Bachelor of Arts in Finance with a focus in Investment Management at the United States International University.

“We had a Chama (savings group) with my family friends and I asked them whether they would like us to invest our savings and they were up for it.”

So, they bought their first 100 Safaricom shares at Sh22 each in December 2018. As at last Friday, the share value had risen to Sh50 per share, representing a 127 percent rise.

“I looked at Safaricom and saw the right essentials and fundamentals of a wonderful company. They had great leadership under Bob Collymore, happy employees, had products and services that were likely to grow further into the future......This indicated great growth into the future and that is what I was looking for.”

Together with his brother, Mr Muhoro also bought 100 Centum shares.

“My brother and I took all our remaining savings which were coins in jars and we took them to the bank and spent time counting them and bought Centum shares with them,” he reckons

"Within three months, the Safaricom shares had grown by 40 percent to Sh31 per share while also declaring a dividend, and the Centum shares had grown by 9 percent,” he says.

This really excited me and I knew that I wanted to further invest in the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).”

Currently, he has invested in about six companies at the NSE with over 1,500 shares.

"My ideal investment strategy is to look for growth stocks. Stocks with the potential of growing 2x, 5x, 10x or 100x in the future. I used to check on dividends too or look for undervalued companies but I realized that looking for growth stocks was a far more efficient approach," he says.

"I also speculate sometimes with a small percentage of my funds when certain news occurs or before dividends are announced and get some small gains... ."

He says the investments help him grow wealth besides acting as a saving platform.

"It has also made me more secure about my future knowing that my investments will keep on growing and generate wealth for me as I work towards financial freedom,” he notes.

“This really helped when I had a lot of anxiety about the future." .

Mr Muhoro now helps others invest through a boot share camp that teach on basics of investments, understanding how the stock market works, how to open licensed investment accounts and choosing the right brokers.

He also teaches on how to research and get detailed information about companies, the criteria of selecting growing stocks, investing strategies, financial and non-financial analysis of companies, valuations and some investment tips.

The boot camps have helped the young entrepreneur share his experience with others, he says. 

"The boot camps have been a success having taught over 200 guys and getting 70 that I personally know of to start buying their first shares in the Nairobi Securities Exchange," he says.