High school learners and university students are gearing up for participation in the 2020 Investment Challenge after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) officially opened registrations for its flagship annual financial literacy game.
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The competition enables school learners and university or higher education institution students to understand the fundamentals of investing by trading JSE-listed shares on a virtual trading platform. Now in its 47th year, this initiative has become synonymous with making the world of investing on the stock exchange, accessible to South Africa’s youth. Last year the Investment Challenge attracted more than 23 000 participants, predominantly from rural areas.
Corporate Social Investment (CSI) Officer at the JSE, Ralph Speirs says: “The impact we have had on our participants over the years is phenomenal, and we are looking forward to continuing in this stead in 2020. The Investment Challenge does not just equip the participants with life-long lessons which can be applied to build a strong financial future, it also benefits our communities through the sharing of knowledge that is gained throughout the year. This supports our objective of building financially literate communities.” Speirs says that the JSE remains committed to driving financial literacy, and the Investment Challenge is a fun and effective way of achieving this.
The Investment Challenge runs from March to September each year and each team of four learners or students from the same school or institution, are given a virtual amount of R1-million which they trade on a simulated trading platform by investing in actual JSE listed shares over a six-month period.
The Investment Challenge is open to school learners between grades 8 and 12, and students from higher learning institutions. The various teams from schools and universities countrywide, compete with each other for monthly and annual prizes which are awarded to top performing teams, schools, teachers and mentors. The overall winning team receives R21 500 deposited into a Satrix Investment account, with the top performing university team also winning an all-expenses paid trip to an international stock exchange and R25 000.
“We strongly encourage schools, teachers and students to register and participate in the 2020 Investment Challenge. There is no better way to become financially literate than through this fun and interactive game,” says Speirs.
For further information on the challenge please visit:
Schools challenge: http://schools.jse.co.za
University challenge: https://university.jse.co.za/
Image Courtesy: enca.com