By Staff Reporter
Windhoek, Oct. 19 – The Namibian Scholars Investment Challenge (NSIC) Award Ceremony was held in Windhoek on October 18, 2022, and was sponsored by the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX), Old Mutual, Future Media, and the Financial Literacy Initiative. The objective of this year’s challenge, which was introduced in March 2022 to university and secondary school students, is to provide them with an awareness of commercial dynamics in the macroeconomic environment.
Students received bogus N$500 000 investments from the NSIC to use between April and September 2022 on the Namibian Stock Exchange. Old Mutual offered cash rewards to the top five teams, with N$50,000 going to the team with the greatest performance overall.
With a return of 100,6%, the Rich Young Minds team won the opportunity to trade listed shares on the NSX, which was open to 600 teams from Namibia’s 14 regions.
The Big 43, who finished in second place and earned N$30,000, was followed by them. They had a return of 94,3%. The Buffetiers came in fourth place and won N$10,000 with a return of 26,9%, while the Desert Fox team won N$5,000 and had a return of 10,6%. The third-place finisher, the Finance Moguls, earned a cash award of N$20,000.
Each team was given a beginning pack with basic knowledge and a dictionary of financial terms to enable the members to trade. To increase the value of their portfolios by the conclusion of the trading date, the participants were equally tasked with conducting research and using analytical skills to make smart investment selections.
Old Mutual Group Chief Executive Officer Tassius Chigariro delivered the opening remarks at the awards ceremony (CEO). By this year’s subject of Financial Education for Youth: The Role of Corporate Namibia, he said, “As a financial services provider with dual listings on the JSE and NSX, it is vital for Old Mutual to help create capacity and skills.
Chigariro praised the teams for their commitment and reminded them not to undervalue their skills or the limitless opportunities that lay ahead of them.
He went on to remark that “The immense complexity of stock market trading is a skill that must be developed over time. Speaking to the forward-thinking nature of the Old Mutual Namibia business is the creation of a platform for the Namibian youth through the NSIC to bridge the knowledge gap creatively and entertainingly that brings participants in close contact with how the macroeconomy runs.”
CEO of NSX Tiaan Bazuin noted during his speech at the gathering that “For the past 20 years, we have held the competition with schools, and in the most recent few years, universities have also participated. It has always been a project for the financial literacy initiative. The purpose of the institutions’ involvement is to encourage the students to learn something wholly unfamiliar to them. This year, kids put a lot of effort into the competition, and the results were some of the greatest we have ever seen.”
The teams outperformed our expectations despite the market’s subpar performance, and each team member should be incredibly pleased with what they accomplished, he continued.
The stock market is based on the necessity of recognizing risks, and investment requirements, but most importantly faith in people who are trading, according to Lionel Kannemeyer, the managing director of the Old Mutual Investment Group. Our personnel demonstrated a thorough knowledge of the stock market, and their commitment and zeal were clear.
