In short: The host's pick, not Polomny's — one of The Oak Bloke's "picks for 2026": a London-listed microfinance lender making "$200 loans to somebody that grows mangoes" to mostly female entrepreneurs across South Asia and Africa (Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan). His case: return on tangible equity above 30% — "it gives Bank of Georgia, or Lion Bank as it now is, a run for its money" — net interest margins "into the 30s, 40s," bad debts "in the low percentages," and a digital-banking rollout that should "reduce risk, increase efficiency." Why it is cheap, in his telling: "people look at it and say oh Africa, hyperinflation risk… just not going to touch it." Polomny does not comment on the company; he answers with the general point about home country bias.
This is the host's holding, not Polomny's. ASA International is a London-listed microfinance lender: it makes very small loans — around $200 — mostly to women running tiny businesses in South Asia and parts of Africa such as Ghana, Kenya and Pakistan.
The economics are unusual. Interest margins are enormous by Western standards (thirty or forty percent), because there is no alternative source of credit for these borrowers, while losses stay in the low single digits because the loans are tiny, short and socially enforced within borrower groups. The result is a return on tangible equity above 30% — comparable to Bank of Georgia's.
The host's explanation for why it trades cheaply anyway is investor reflex: "oh, Africa, hyperinflation risk — just not going to touch it." That is the same home-country bias Polomny then discusses in general terms. He does not endorse or dispute the specific company; be clear that this row records the host's view, and that lending at very high rates to poor borrowers carries political and reputational risk as well as currency risk.
31:05So this is a company that again it's listed in London but it's essentially micro finance for females in South Asia parts of Africa so Ghana, Kenya, Pakistan but again the ROTE on it, it's return on tangible equity above 30%. It gives Bank of Georgia or Lion Bank as it now is, a run for its money.
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