Bamboo CEO Calls for More Large IPOs to Meet Demand

The Dangote Refinery IPO, which opened on September 14, has demonstrated a substantial level of retail investor demand in Nigeria, leading to disruptions on digital platforms managing subscriptions. Bamboo, one of the platforms involved, faced downtime due to the overwhelming traffic.

Richmond Bassey, CEO of Bamboo, noted that over 43% of new users who subscribed to the IPO were first-time investors, indicating a previously unrecognized demand in the market. He stated that to maintain this momentum and attract new investors, Nigeria needs another significant IPO within the next 24 months.

Bamboo has scaled its customer support from 11 to 68 team members to handle the surge in inquiries, improving response times to one minute. Bassey highlighted that the new investors primarily favor blue-chip companies, showing little interest in lower-tier stocks.