What started as a research project on emerging stock markets turned into something far bigger for Joe Appiah-Kusi.
During the early 1990s, African heads of state with ambitions to launch or establish their own stock markets would visit the London Stock Exchange (LSE) for advice on how to build an exchange. Joe, being the only African employee there at that time, was requested to "pop down" to the library on a fact-finding mission on the economy and stock market anytime a head of state from the continent visited the LSE.
As the frequency of the visits increased, the LSE's directors felt that to help them, they needed a better understanding of African nations' economies and exchanges. This saw Joe undertake a PhD on the relevant countries.
"Whenever an African head of state came to the LSE, we'd have all the information we needed about their country"His three-year study led to a book in 1997, the
Investor's Guide to the African Stock Markets. Joe's research helped to open up a continent that was "the last frontier for investors".
"It could take a broker's secretary half a day to visit a library and find, for example, information about Ghana's GDP, but my research had ten years' statistics on the population, economic growth, the stock markets and so on for the 15 African countries that had stock markets at that time," says Joe. "Whenever an African head of state came to the LSE, we'd have all the information we needed about their country."
His work paved the way for many investors who knew little about African markets and exchanges to back ventures and trade shares in the continent.
Labour of love
The project was a labour of love for Joe, who came to the UK from Ghana, his homeland, in 1979 to study for the benchmark qualification of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.
15
Number of African countries Joe gathered statistics on through his researchOnce qualified, he joined asset management firm Vickers Da Costa in 1986 to "work in the City ... and because I was interested in the stock market". Joe then spent three years at Pershing, before joining the LSE's settlement services division in 1991.
Joe's career since leaving the LSE has seen him work as a project manager and business analyst for companies such as Citigroup, Bank of New York, and Northern Trust, where he worked for Belinda Jackson, Vice President of the bank. He is the founder of London City Accountants and a member of the CISI.
Joe is currently working as a Wrap Business Analyst, where he is part of a team that is building a wrap platform for a self-invested personal pensions provider.
This article is an extended version of the 'Back story' that appears in the September 2014 print edition of the Review.