Namibia Stock Exchange celebrates 25 years of driving local investment
The Namibia Stock Exchange (NSX) last week celebrated their 25th anniversary and Chief Executive Officer, Tiaan Bazuin encouraged investment in the local economy amid the worldwide market uncertainty.
Bazuin highlighted the importance of diverse and strong investment landscape and said, “A lot is being made of the proposed regulatory changes and more Namibian capital being repatriated. The truth is a lot of capital has been coming back over the last 5 years and we have focused very much on this local pool of capital.”
“It is imperative that we have local assets that can outperform inflation and create value for investors so our pension funds can grow and be in a position to care for pensioners when they are called upon to do so in future,” Bazuin added.
The NSX launched in 1992 with four companies listed and a market cap of N$8.615 billion while currently in 2017, it is home to 43 companies with a market cap of N$1.844 trillion.
The NSX has pioneered the NamCode which have been very positively received by private, public and government sectors. Further plans in developing the Namibian Capital market is the formalisation of the Bond Market, set-up of a Central Security Depository and the demutualisation of the NSX.
During the birthday celebration, the NSX also awarded scholars from its NSX/FLI Scholars Investment Challenge competition, which aims at raising awareness amongst scholars and the general public on the role and operations of the Namibian capital market whilst encouraging broad based participation by the Namibian public. The first prize went to team 4U2NV from The University of Namibia, their prize was sponsored by IJG Securities (N$25 000).
The second prize went to team Aristotle from the University Of Namibia and their prize sponsored by Oryx Properties limited (N$20 000), while the third prize went to team Narcos from the International University of Management and their prize was sponsored by NSX and the Financial Literacy Initiative (N$10 000).
