My Friend and I Invested Ksh500K, I Made a Loss, and Now He’s Worth Ksh5M

At the end of 2022, my best friend Sam and I felt like we had finally cracked something most people our age struggle with, and that is saving consistently.

We had challenged each other for two years. No reckless spending, no impulse buys, no excuses. By December 2022, we had both saved Ksh500,000.

For us, that wasn’t just money. It was discipline. It was a sacrifice. It was proof that we could actually build something.

The next question was obvious: What do we do with it? Eventually, we decided to try our luck in the stock market. It felt like the best bet.

In January 2023, we settled on one company, Kenya Power. The price was Ksh1.50 per share, and between us, it felt like a low-risk entry point. We each bought 333,333 shares, putting in our full Ksh500,000.

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At the time, it felt like a bold, confident step into investing. What we didn’t realise was that this decision would test us in completely different ways.

A few months in, nothing really happened. The price barely moved. Then slowly, it started going down. Ksh1.40 to Ksh1.30 and eventually it hit the Ksh Ksh1.20’s

By the end of the year, my portfolio was sitting at around Ksh400,000.

I remember staring at that number one evening, doing the math over and over again, hoping I had made a mistake.

I hadn’t. I had lost Ksh100,000 on paper. That’s when the panic set in.

I couldn’t shake one thought: “What if this goes to zero point?”

To me, it no longer felt like an investment. It felt like I was watching my hard-earned money slowly disappear.

Sam, on the other hand, was calm. Almost too calm.

He kept saying, “This is how the market works. It’s not a loss until you sell.”

But I didn’t see it that way. To me, the loss already felt real. In early 2024, I made the decision. I sold everything. I walked away with about Ksh400,000, locking in a Ksh100,000 loss.

I remember feeling a strange sense of relief after selling. Like I had escaped something worse.

Sam didn’t sell.

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Then, sometime in 2025, I started hearing people talk about Kenya Power again. This time, the tone was different.

The price had started going up. At first, I ignored it. I told myself it was just temporary.

But it kept climbing. By early 2026, the price had hit Ksh15 per share. I did the math again.

Sam’s shares, the same 333,333 shares we had bought together, were now worth about Ksh5 million.

That moment hit hard. Not just because of the money, but because of what it represented. We had started at the same point. Same information. Same opportunity.

The only difference was how we reacted when things got uncomfortable.

Looking back, I realise my biggest mistake wasn’t choosing the “wrong” stock. It was not understanding what I was getting into.

I went into the stock market expecting quick wins, or at the very least, stability. I wasn’t prepared for volatility. I wasn’t prepared to see my investment drop and still hold on.

Sam, on the other hand, took time to understand what he was doing.

He believed in the long-term potential. He accepted that prices go up and down. Most importantly, he had the patience to wait.

I had fear. He had conviction.

Today, whenever people ask me about investing, I don’t start with stock picks or returns.

I start with this story. Because the truth is, the stock market will test your emotions more than your intelligence.

And if you don’t understand that from the beginning, you might end up like me, selling too early, locking in losses, and watching someone else benefit from the patience you didn’t have.

It’s a tough lesson. But it’s one I’ll never forget.