Many South Africans think the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is only foe the rich and affluent and assume it must be very complex to invest in. That’s exactly what a local startup, Stock Shop, is looking to demystify.

According to the company’s chief executive, Annabel Dallamore, many people in the country could like to invest at the JSE, but are scare off by what they perceive to be opaque, scary and complicated procedures they don’t understand.

Dallamore, who previously worked as at the JSE, says she decided to start the company after she was inundated with queries about the market form potential investors who did not know how to begin and where to go for advice.

She also learnt that due to lack of information very few South African invest directly into the stock market.

“At Stock Shop we believe that the South African stock market should be accessible to everyone. We want to help spread the benefits of investing and saving in South Africa,” IT News Africa quotes her saying.

“If you want to invest your money responsibly, Stock Shop can help educate and inform you about the stock market as well as present the products and services available. It can help you learn more so you make well-informed decisions.”

Stock Shop brings together all the resources both a first time and a guru investor will need to understand the stock market. These include relevant news, research reports and other informational materials. It also lists all the trading platforms available and gives trading tools for proper analysis by investors.

It also offers Stock Shop Academy, an online learning platform that users can use to up skill themselves at their own time.

“Stock Shop generates revenue via lead generation for product and service providers as well as taking a portion of monthly trading fees,” Dallamore said.