Buyanga’s gold medallions a ‘future currency’

African Medallion Group (AMG)’S gold medallions can be “a future global currency”, a leading South African millionaire and currency trader says.

This also comes amid indications that the bullion initiative launched by Zimbabwean entrepreneur and philanthropist Frank Buyanga, is one of a few similarly-styled products by a continental industrialist in recent years, and the project could also help increase beneficiation strategies of the yellow metal.

“I see these medallions as the future global currency… you might have seen how well Bitcoin has been doing for the past few years. The only challenge with Bitcoin is (that it is) a crypto-currency that is (available) online,” Sandile Shezi, the Global Forex Institute (GFI) chief executive.

“As a currency trader with seven years of experience, I think it’s about time that I start diversifying my portfolio. I was fortunate to get exposed to the different markets at the age of 18, the stock market, currency market, commodities, of which I see Frank’s initiative as an opportunity for me to start investing in gold (commodities) as I have been forced on currencies (forex) all these years,” the Durban-based businessman said recently.

With the GFI boss having snapped up the whole batch of 10 gold medallions in an undisclosed multi-million rand deal last Friday, Buyanga’s AMG not only feels the precious mineral remains a “good preservation of value”, but offers one of the best investment returns since it has jumped from $280 per ounce in January 2000 to nearly $1 200 at present.

“I have been a gold investor myself for over a decade and, therefore, decided to create a platform where people from a cross-section of society will not only be able to invest in this commodity, but also create additional wealth avenues for themselves,” the Hamilton Property Holdings owner said this week.

“In another view, our certified (and) pan-African medallions are a great way of legally preserving value under an initiative, which also allows any investor an opportunity to back their wealth with a strong valuable commodity that can easily be liquidated,” Buyanga said.

And an enthusiastic Shezi says unlike other commodities such as foreign currency, which needed Internet connections and largely technology savvy people, the gold medallions “are a commodity that one can physically buy at a low price, keep and sell at a premium when prices improve”.

Having been recently appointed Pan African Business Forum director for small enterprise development, Buyanga started AMG as a way of diversifying his property and micro-financing business portfolio across many African countries. Daily News