I’ve invested for 14 years, worked as an analyst in banking, and I’ve met hundreds of managers all over the world, including South Africa, and companies from Europe. I’ve curated all sorts of businesses – the good, the lousy and the confusing. Sometimes, I ask myself: “Is there a perfect business?” And what should it look like?” Well, the perfect business is not bounded by any one sector. It must be profitable, not always leeching on investors’ money. More importantly, it must make the life of a research analyst’s (I know, that’s me last time) work easy — analyzing financial filings with almost zero effort. In other words, the perfect business is simple to understand. So, what’s the perfect business for today? The Perfect Business In my view, this is what I believe to be the 12 points of a Perfect Business – one that accumulates wealth with controlled risk for its investors.

1. The perfect business locks customers into its unique ecosystem.

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