For the longest time we have lived by the saying “every little change I get ifs for my enjoyment. Investing has always been a huge risk because of the fact that people were constantly falling into the hands of scammers due to miss education about investing and not knowing which channels to use if people want to start investing their money.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) created a challenge for learners and students to gain more knowledge about investing on the JSE and the larger role that such investment plays in the country’s economy.
The challenge helps those participating learn about the fundamentals of investment strategy and encourages them to research issues surrounding trading of JSE-listed shares.
Each month the best preforming teams and schools in each portfolio received R500 per team member and R500 for the school as well as the supervising teacher or mentor. In addition, five annual cash prizes per portfolio amounting to R60 000.00 for the top performing teams were awarded.
For these students not only was this just a way to learn but also this challenge for tertiary teams such as VK Phenomenals from University of Johannesburg (UJ), winners of the July university speculator portfolio, proving to be a useful practical tool for students studying business at university level.
Schools from under-developed areas came out ahead this year, with the biggest wins from Mpumelelo Secondary School in Mpumalanga. Four students competing as MP Magic Traders generated an income of more than R53 000 on their initial virtual investment of R1 million during the six months of the competition.
As well as winning the overall prize in the Income Category, Magic Traders and other teams from their school repeatedly won monthly prizes for building the best-performing investment portfolio and consistently outperforming other schools.
By Yami Nhlenyama
