dfloydr

Go To Africa, Young Investor

A few companies make sense, for example Sasol, but most of Africa is still riddled with corruption.

South Africa has succumbed to the disease. Companies are being told that they now have three consultants to manage their relationship with the government. These three never show up but they are to be paid big consulting fees which are to be applied to their coming to own say 15 - 25% of the company stock. Nice no show jobs with big rewards.

The recent power outages were no mystery. Escom, the national power company, used to maintain large inventories of coal. The new owners sold off their coal inventory to China last year given the high price of coal, and as a result they were able to show a big profit and get paid huge bonuses. That set up a vicious downward spiral. Without inventories of coal at power plants, when any glitch showed up, the power company could not put out electricity. With no electricity local mines could not produce coal .....

No thanks, Africa's human risks are outside of my ability to evaluate what turn might suddenly crop up to destroy the value of my investment.