IPO stands for Initial Public Offering. It’s when a company first sells its stock to the general public. In an IPO, a stock begins trading on a stock exchange such as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the NASDAQ. 

Companies go public to raise money for a variety of reasons:

• To raise money to hire more people and build bigger
• To avoid taking on debt
• To enable early investors and employees to sell their stakes
• To have the marketing benefits and prestige of being traded on a stock exchange