JD Durkin: Eric Asuma joins me now. He is the CEO of Wall Street Africa. Really nice to see you, and welcome you down here to the New York Stock Exchange.
Eric Asuma: Thank you.
JD Durkin: Of course. Big fan of what you do. And do you know what the NYSE does?
Eric Asuma: Of course. And it’s happy to join, you know, the Closing Bell today.
JD Durkin: Oh, that’s very kind of you. And it’s really nice to have you down here. Talk to me first and foremost. What is Wall Street Africa, for anyone a bit unfamiliar? And walk me through a few of your top priorities with Wall Street Africa here in 2026.
Eric Asuma: Good. So, Wall Street Africa, we are building a company that connects the bridge between Africa and Wall Street to New York global markets, connecting African opportunities. And our top priorities for this year, you know, one has been our big conference that happened in New York this week called Bullish Africa Annual Summit. So we connected Wall Street firms to African entrepreneurs, CEOs, and opportunities.
Secondly, we sell our data products to firms on Wall Street who look at trading African markets.
Thirdly, we have, you know, the newest banking ETF on the universe in Africa that tracks the banking industry in Africa. So, you know, we are speaking to potential customers, partners. You know, how do we build and expand upon those three things?
JD Durkin: For us investors here in the United States who are looking for opportunities elsewhere in the world, what should they know about Africa more broadly as they consider global diversification for their portfolios?
Eric Asuma: Interesting. So Africa, one of the fastest-growing economies, right? We are one of the fastest-growing populations. And thirdly, we have some of the best opportunities.
I’ll give you an example. The top five performing stock markets this year, two of them are from Africa, right? I’ll give you an example of Nairobi. Our market is up around 50%. The banking industry is up almost 70% within the last one year. We thought, why don’t we build a product that tracks that particular sector, not just for global investors, but even for local investors, right?
So there’s a lot of opportunities, and we are the ones building that bridge to connect these opportunities to global investors, even to domestic investors as well.
JD Durkin: What most excites you in your role as CEO, not just about where Wall Street Africa is today, but given all these new developments, these newly emerging global relationships, about where this conversation can go from here?
Eric Asuma: Yeah. What excites me is what’s never been built. We are building what’s never been built in Africa. These opportunities, exciting products, and I just look at the immense opportunities to connect global markets to Africa.
I’ll give you an example. The U.S. market trades about $1.2 trillion a day. Africa trades a very tiny portion of that, yet we have some of the best sectors. So the opportunity is, how do we connect these two regions together? You know, that’s the biggest opportunity that we see through information, data, and products.
JD Durkin: That’s amazing. Sounds like incredibly exciting developments. I wish you the best, and thank you so much for taking the time to see us here on the show and here on the trading floor of the New York Stock Exchange while you’re here to see us.
Eric Asuma: Thank you. And it was, you know, exciting to be part of the Closing Bell as well today.
JD Durkin: Of course. I have to come see you sometime. I’m looking forward to that. Eric Asuma, CEO of Wall Street Africa. Take good care. Thank you for being here.
Eric Asuma: Thank you, thank you.
