Competition promotes financial literacy

Namibia Breweries and the Namibia Stock Exchange has announced that the Scholars Investment Challenge which was launched on 1 March, has a total of 121 teams competing for the N$75 000 prize money, and of the competition ends on the 17 August.
These teams hail from 33 different schools in all regions of the country, nine of which are from the North, three from the South, 15 from the central part, five from the coast and one from Gobabis.
NBL has been the main sponsor of the NBL/NSX Scholars Investment Challenge for the past 15 years.  The competition is held with the aim to promote awareness amongst scholars and the general public on the role and operations of the Namibian stock exchange and its capital markets whilst aiming to encourage broad based participation by the Namibian public.
Patricia Hoeksema, NBL’s corporate social investment manager says: “This competition complements other recent financial education initiatives such as the financial literacy programme, as well as ongoing emphasis on saving and looking after finances, as it teaches learners about the value of money as well as the working of the stock market.”
This competition is a virtual share trading competition on the pretence that teams are allocated an amount of N$300,000 to buy and sell shares listed on the NSX. Each school can enter up to five teams comprising four pupils each. On entry the NSX allocates each team to a stockbroker to act as an adviser for the duration of the competition. Schools then place their buy-and-sell orders via e-mail, SMS, fax or even via Facebook directly to the NSX. Progress evaluation is conducted monthly and the results are made available to the participating members. The winners of the competition are the teams that record the highest returns or incur the least losses on their portfolios over the duration of the competition.