Such a Quiet Libyan Stock Exchange

The cartoon adorning the cover of the Libyan Stock Market brochure is stark: A man with a frown on his face and his pockets turned inside out explains to his horrified wife how he has been swindled by an unscrupulous broker. The message—that investors should stick with a regulated market—is being pushed hard by the fledgling stock exchange as it struggles to establish itself.

Using cartoons to explain its workings to a public that suffered 42 years of corrupt authoritarian rule is seen as central to growth, says Balaam Balaam, head of the Libyan Stock Market’s disclosure department. “If you don’t have an idea of the stock market, you will never invest in this place. You have to have the knowledge,” he says. “We need to explain to the normal man from the street what we are doing exactly. If the normal man can understand, he can understand he can make money with us.”