Last year the challenge attracted more than 22,000 school learners and university students.
Corporate social investment (CSI) officer at the JSE, Ralph Speirs says: “This challenge is a great vehicle for financial literacy. There are plenty of valuable lessons on investment that young bright minds take away from participating in a challenge of this nature.”
Speirs says that the JSE Investment Challenge, which runs from March to September each year, impacts more than just the lives of the young people who participate. Through the learners’ and students’ participation, the message is spread throughout their communities.
The challenge takes the form of a simulator where each team of four learners or students from the same school or institution are given an imaginary sum of R1m. With this imaginary amount the teams trade on the stock market and invest in actual JSE listed shares over a six-month period.
Participation is open to school learners between grades eight and 12, as well as students from higher learning institutions. The various teams compete with other teams from schools and institutions countrywide, with prizes to be won monthly. There are also annual prizes for top performing teams, schools, teachers and mentors. The team that wins the JSE Investment Challenge receives cash deposits into an investment account for each of the team members and the top performing university team is awarded a trip to an international stock exchange.
“We are calling on schools, teachers, and students, to heed the call to register and acquire this knowledge and these skills this year. The long-term ramifications of what they learn will impact positively on their lives in the future,” says Speirs.
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