Elon Musk became the world’s first trillionaire, and South Africa is claiming him like the nephew who moved to Jo’burg and came back a CA. But the meal was cooked somewhere else. Here’s why that should bother anyone with a JSE portfolio.
By The Money Maze | Listen to the episode: Spotify
In June 2026, SpaceX listed on the Nasdaq and Forbes declared Elon Musk the first trillionaire in history, with an estimated fortune of about $1.1 trillion. And yes, he was born in Pretoria. So naturally half of South Africa is walking around like we personally co-signed his student loan.
Here’s the uncomfortable bit. That fortune was built in California and Texas, in Tesla and SpaceX. Not here. Not with our money. Not on the JSE.
So the question isn’t “how lekker for the homeland”. It’s why the real meal got cooked somewhere else, and what that tells you about where growth happens.
Why Elon Musk left South Africa
Musk left South Africa as a teenager, went to Canada, then to the US. Everything after that, Zip2, PayPal, Tesla, SpaceX, was built in the American system: American venture capital, American listings, American appetite for risk.
We grew the chicken. Someone else cooked the meal and ate it.
That’s not being ungrateful. It’s just a useful way to see the difference between producing talent and producing wealth. South Africa is good at the first one. The second one keeps getting exported.
What actually builds a trillion-dollar company
A trillion-dollar company is not a steady bank or a retailer with nice margins. It’s a company that investors believe will change how the world works, and they price it on that belief years before the profits show up.
That needs a very specific ingredient: capital that’s happy to lose money for a long time if the upside might be enormous. Silicon Valley has a lot of it. Most other places, us included, have far less.
South Africa has engineers, coders, real problems to solve in energy, logistics, water and fintech, and even some money. What we don’t have at scale is a system that takes a founder from “I’ve got an idea” to “this company defines the next decade”.
Why South African founders pack their bags
Picture a founder in Cape Town with a fintech idea for the unbanked. She gets traction, raises seed money, and then hits a ceiling. Not because she’s thick. Because the system is built for a different game.
Local investors often want to see profits early. Regulators move like a taxi in peak traffic: slow, unpredictable, and somehow surprised every time you hoot. Big contracts can depend on who you know. And the JSE is built for proven businesses with steady cash flow and dividends, not companies burning cash on a moonshot.
So she pitches to US investors, moves, and five years later her company lists on the Nasdaq. Not because she hates South Africa. Because leaving was the rational move.
The JSE is shrinking
Here’s where it touches your EasyEquities account.
The JSE had around 850 listings in the 1990s, according to PSG Wealth. Today it’s around 280, according to the Financial Mail. A University of Cape Town study commissioned by ASISA found about 500 companies delisted between 1989 and 2024, and that the JSE’s bigger problem now is that too few new companies list in the first place. There were six new listings in 2025.
Fewer companies means fewer choices. The market also gets more concentrated, with a handful of giants making up a big chunk of the index. If your favourite growth story never lists here, you can’t buy it here.
The money is there, sort of
To be fair, local venture capital isn’t dead. SAVCA’s survey says Southern Africa’s venture capital sector had a record R13.35 billion in active investments across 1,325 deals at the end of 2024.
That’s real money and real belief. But R13 billion spread over more than a thousand deals is a braai budget next to what a single American tech round can be. The gap between “promising startup” and “global giant” is about scale, risk appetite and structure, not just cash.
What would help, in theory
You don’t need to copy Silicon Valley to close some of that gap. Faster visas for skilled people. Exchange control that makes it easier for capital to chase opportunity. Fair procurement. Pension funds willing to put a small slice into higher-risk venture investments. And a listing process that feels like a reward, not a compliance punishment. The JSE says it’s working on lowering costs and building a stronger listings pipeline.
None of it is rocket science. Which is ironic, given the topic.
What this means for your portfolio
If the next Tesla gets built and listed offshore, a JSE-only portfolio won’t own it. That’s not a recommendation to rush offshore. It’s a reason to know what your portfolio is actually exposed to, and to ask whether the growth you want is even available on the exchange you’re using.
Plenty of JSE companies already earn much of their money offshore. Naspers got its big win from a stake in China’s Tencent, not from a South African tech giant. Understanding where growth comes from is the first step to making sense of your own mix.
Stokvel Starter Pack
- Valuation: A company is priced on what investors think it will become, not just what it earns today.
- Risk appetite: Some markets fund moonshots that might fail. Most don’t.
- Ecosystem gravity: Talent pulls capital, capital pulls companies, companies pull more talent.
- Delisting: When a company leaves the stock exchange, through a buyout, merger or failure. Fewer listings means fewer choices.
- Our problem: We have the ingredients. We just don’t have the kitchen at scale.
Takeaway: Being proud that Musk is from Pretoria is fine. Asking why the wealth was built elsewhere is more useful for your money.
Want the full braai version? Listen on Spotify. And if you’d like the Maze in your inbox, join the free Maze Mail list.
More from The Money Maze
- JSE Suspensions, Delistings and Vanishing Shares Explained
- ASP Isotopes’ 400% JSE Surge and Nasdaq Roots
- How to Start Investing in South Africa (Without the Jargon)
- Curro’s R7.2 Billion Buyout
Sources
- SpaceX’s IPO just made Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire, Forbes, 12 Jun 2026.
- Elon Musk becomes world’s first trillionaire as SpaceX begins trading, CNBC, 12 Jun 2026.
- The JSE is shrinking, and that’s a problem, Financial Mail, 23 Apr 2026.
- The JSE is shrinking, BusinessTech, 27 Jul 2025.
- Vanishing Acts: An econometric exploration of firm delistings in South Africa, UCT Development Policy Research Unit, 21 Apr 2026.
- Venture capital sector hits R13.35bn, SAVCA, Jul 2025.
This is not financial advice.