The maiden Young Investors Challenge, organised by the Young Investor Network in partnership with UMB Investment Holdings Limited, has officially been launched in Accra.
The challenge, themed ‘Nurturing a New Class of Future Investors’, is aimed at educating and instilling the habit of investment into the youth to ultimately increase financial literacy.
Participants in the Challenge include five-member groups from seven different universities in the country. The schools are Accra Technical University, University of Professional Studies, University of Ghana Business School, Valley View University, Methodist University, Pentecost University, and Central University.
Speaking at the Challenge’s launch, Joshua Mensah – Executive Director of the Young Investor Network, noted that his team saw the need to organise the Challenge to groom the youth, who are the country’s future leaders, in financial literacy.
“We conceived this idea because we realised that most students do not involve themselves in the stock market activities of Ghana. We think the financial illiteracy rate is high and something must be done.
“The young ones are the future leaders; and if we want to have a great financial hub in Ghana, then we need to focus on these young ones to train them on the importance of financial literacy through investing in the stock market,” he said.
Beginning December 2018, each of the participating groups which has been taken through a month-long training with UMB Investment Holdings Limited will be given GH₵50,000 virtual cash to trade with on the stock exchange. Organisers will be looking out for how the groups analyse the stocks, what went into picking the stocks, and how they are able to make capital gains in the process of trading.
Organisers will announce the winning teams in March 2019, after which cash prizes will be awarded in the form of investment accounts and other packages – including internship opportunities for participants.
Addressing the gathering at the event, Emmanuel Ashong Katai – Head of Policy Research and Information Technology at the Securities and Exchange Commission, commended organisers for the competition and urged students to form investment clubs to raise capital for investments.
He also expressed his outfit’s interest in visiting schools to educate young ones about capital market operations, saying: “We at SEC want to take the capital market information to universities and senior high schools because we believe that we need to catch investors young.
“We need a new generation of investors and generational thinkers who will change the destiny of this country for good,” he added.
Source: BestNewsGH.com
