Discussion Of African Capital Markets At Yale

The Deputy Chief Executive of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange was in New Haven on Tuesday.  She spoke about African capital markets at a special Yale University event.

Nicky Newton-King says its important to talk about, in her words, the “elephants in the room."  "Things that we don’t talk about that we should talk about if we’re trying to improve and  position capital markets on my continent to be really meaningful global players."

She says Africa’s capital markets are myriad and relatively small, and the continent may face challenges in improving its economies if it doesn't have modernized capital markets to attract investment from overseas.

Currently, South Africa has the biggest and most developed stock exchange on the continent, but many other African countries lack even an electronic trading system.

"Essentially Africa is a relatively undiscovered continent, only now attracting attention from big investors. You’ve got to grow the economies and at the same time do that in a manner that accelerates the development. So the challenge is, do you go it alone or do you work together?"

Newton-King is one of six Yale World Fellows to participate in the school’s first TEDx event. TED is a website where leading thinkers share ideas. TEDx are local programs created in the same spirit.

For WNPR, I'm Diane Orson.