The Beginner's Guide to Investing in Shares and IPOs

Think about the first time you rode a bicycle without training wheels. You probably didn't know how to balance. But that didn’t stop you from getting on the bike. You got on it anyway, probably wobbled a few times, and figured it out as you continued riding.

Investing works the same way. Nobody starts as an expert, and you don't need to be one to begin. Truly, the word "investment" sounds like jargon from a world of stockbrokers, charts, and complicated money talk that has nothing to do with you.

Maybe you've thought about investing before and talked yourself out of it for many reasons: not enough money, not enough knowledge, fear of losing what you have, or fear you'll need your money later. Those are fair worries. But you don't need to become a financial expert to start finding answers. 

So let's forget the big financial words for a minute and start from the beginning.

What exactly is investing?

Meet Kunle, a 9-to-5 office worker. He earns a steady income, pays his bills, and sets aside some money each month in his savings wallet, where it earns interest. 

One day, a colleague asks if he has any investments. Kunle says his money is already earning interest in his savings, so why bother? It's a fair question. 

But saving and investing can both help your money grow, just in different ways. When you save, you're keeping money safe and ready for things you'll need soon: school fees, rent, a vacation, a new phone. It's about access. When you invest, you put money into something that can grow over time.

Kunle decides to find out what his friend means. He learns that his friend, Tayo, runs a bakery and the business is doing well enough that she wants to open more branches. But expansion costs money, more than she has on hand. So instead of raising it all herself, Tayo decides to divide a small portion of her business into pieces and offer those pieces to people willing to invest.

Kunle buys one of those pieces. He now owns a small part of Tayo's bakery. This is what's called buying a "share" or "stock" in a company, a small piece of ownership. If the bakery grows and does well, the value of Kunle's stake could increase, and he could profit from his investment. But if the bakery doesn’t do well, the value could fall too, and Kunle could lose some of his money, at least for a while. A company's value isn't fixed; it can fall today and rise again later, just as it can rise today and fall later.

Of course, in real life, you don't need to know a company's owner personally to invest in it. Most companies you can invest in are already listed on a stock exchange, a marketplace where shares are bought and sold. Instead of a personal arrangement like Kunle's with Tayo, you'd simply use an investment platform or app to buy shares in companies you believe in, whether that's a business you've never met the owner of, or a large, well-known company like the one we'll look at later in this piece. 

At its simplest, investing means putting your money into something and hoping it grows in value or earns you money over time. Again, think of it like planting a seed. You don't dig it up every few days to see if it's a tree yet; you give it time to grow. Investing works the same way: you put money in today, expecting it to be worth more later.

Saving asks: "How do I keep this money safe for later?"
Investing asks: "How can I grow this money over time?"

You don't have to choose one. Saving and investing can simply have different jobs. Kunle, for instance, keeps his savings for what he needs soon and sets aside a small amount separately to invest in shares.

Why bother investing at all?

Kunle's savings do exactly what savings are meant to do: keep his money safe, earn interest, and be ready whenever he needs it. So why go through the trouble of investing?

That's valuable, and it's not something to avoid. But saving and investing solve different problems. Food, transport, and rent prices tend to rise each year. Money that only sits in savings can buy a little less over time, even when it's completely safe. 

Investing gives your money a chance to keep growing on its own over time, so it's not just protected, but working for you too. Of course, no one can promise investing will make you money; it comes with risk. But it gives your savings a partner, rather than leaving them to do all the work alone.

So this isn't about choosing investing over saving. It's about giving your money two jobs: one part stays safe and easy to access through saving, and another part has the chance to grow through investing. 

When Kunle puts some money into shares, he isn't replacing his savings; he's adding a second tool alongside it. Shares aren't the only way people do this. Some invest in property or lend to companies and governments through things like bonds, but shares are one of the simplest ways to start, which is why we're focusing on them. 

How much money do you need to invest? 

This is one of the first things Kunle wonders, and you probably are too. One of the most common myths is that investing is for people with serious money, and that you can only start once you have a large sum saved up.

But you don't need to be rich to start. How much you invest should depend on your situation: your income, your goals, and what you're investing in. What matters more than the size of your first investment is that it's money you can afford to set aside, not money you need for rent, bills, or emergencies. Your first investment doesn't have to be your biggest one. It just has to be a starting point.

What do you need to know before you invest? 

This is Kunle's next worry, and it's legitimate. You shouldn't put money into something just because someone else said it's a good idea.

The good news is that you don't need to know everything before you start. You just need enough knowledge to make an informed decision. Before investing in anything, it helps to be able to answer a few simple questions:

1. What am I actually investing in? Know what your money is buying.

2. How could I make money from it? Could its value grow? Could it pay you over time?

3. What could make me lose money? Every investment carries some risk; know what could affect its value.

4. How long should I expect to leave my money there? Different investments suit different timelines.

5. How do I get my money back? Know how you'd exit, and whether there are fees or conditions.

You don't need to memorise a financial dictionary. You need to know what you're buying, why you're buying it, and what could happen to it. That's enough to begin.

What if you need your money back later?

This is where it helps to be specific about the different jobs your money can have. Some money is for right now: everyday spending, emergencies. Some is for things you know are coming: planned expenses, short-term goals. And some can be set aside for longer-term growth: money you won't need to touch for a while.

Investing generally belongs in that last group. It's not that you can never access invested money; depending on what you invest in, you often can. But pulling it out at the wrong moment, when its value is temporarily down, is exactly the kind of situation you want to avoid. Before investing, it's worth knowing how and when you can get your money back, and whether there's any cost to doing so early.

Kunle keeps this in mind: the money he invests is money he's comfortable leaving alone for a while, not the money he might need next month.

Understanding risk and why time matters

Earlier, we said something worth returning to: a company's value isn't fixed. It can fall today and rise again later, just as it can rise today and fall later.

This is the part of investing that scares people the most: the idea that the value of what you own can go down. And it's true, it can. That's the real risk, and it's worth taking seriously rather than brushing past.

But one piece of context changes how that risk feels: time.

If Kunle checks the value of his share every day, he'll likely see it fluctuate, sometimes within the same week. On its own, a bad week can look alarming. But zoom out, and short-term ups and downs often smooth out over months and years. Companies grow, stumble, recover, and grow again. The longer Kunle can leave his money invested, the more chances it has to ride out a bad stretch and come out ahead.

That is why investing generally works best for money you won't need soon, which is why knowing what's "for now," "for later," or "for growth" matters so much. Short-term dips aren't guaranteed to reverse, but the more time your investment has, the more room it has to work through ups and downs instead of being judged on any single bad day.

So you can't eliminate risk before you start; that's not realistic, but know that value can move in both directions. Give it time where you can, and only invest money you won't be forced to pull out at a bad moment.

What is an IPO?

Now that you understand investing in shares. There’s one more thing you need to know: IPO.

You've probably already heard about the Dangote Refinery IPo in the news lately. Maybe you've seen the headlines, heard people talking about it, or wondered what all the excitement is about, without quite knowing what it means or whether it affects you.

IPO stands for Initial Public Offering. It sounds technical, but the idea is simple. It’s what happens when a privately owned company decides to open itself to public investors for the first time, offering anyone the chance to buy a piece of it, just as Kunle bought a small piece of Tayo's bakery.

Which brings us back to Dangote. In September 2026, the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, one of the world's largest oil refineries, launched its IPO on the Nigerian Exchange. The company priced its shares at ₦525 each, offering over 4 billion shares in total, with a minimum investment of just ₦5,250. Once those shares are officially listed, they trade freely on the exchange, meaning that from that point on, when you buy them, you're buying from other investors rather than from the company itself. Either way, the share still represents the same thing: a small piece of the business, whose value can rise or fall.

For someone thinking about their first investment, moments like this matter. An IPO is one of the few times you can get in at the very start of a company's public journey, rather than joining after it's already been trading for years. It doesn't guarantee anything; the same risks we've talked about still apply, but it's a reminder that big financial moments in the news aren't always out of reach. Sometimes, they're actually an open door.

So the next time you hear someone mention "the Dangote IPO," you'll know exactly what they mean: a chance for ordinary people, not just big institutions, to become shareholders in one of Africa's largest companies, for the very first time.

PS: The Dangote Refinery IPO is live on Moniepoint.You can buy your share of the Refinery on the Moniepoint app or Moniepoint POS terminal. Read here to learn how to buy the IPO on Moniepoint.