Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange, Abena Amoah, has said the country’s development hinges on a strong capital market and an investment-savvy population – hence programmes that will fuel them must be encouraged.

She added that the current environment in the country highlights the importance, and urgency, of having more programmes that enhance investor education.

The Managing Director holds that to a large extent the country’s problems can be resolved when it has an educated, competent, and confident population who understand the investment and every child begins life with savings and an investment fund.

“Studies have shown that participation in capital markets is one of the leading indicators of future financial stability and the single greatest predictor of intergenerational wealth. And that is why as an Exchange and a key player in Ghana’s capital and investment markets, investment education is one of our key strategic pillars. The current environment in Ghana highlights the importance and urgency of having more of today’s programme – programmes that enhance investor education,” she said.

She was speaking at the finals of the Young Investors Network (YIN) and GSE 2022 Stock Pitch Competition in Accra.

“Our passion for these youth investment educational programmes emanates from our belief that investment ownership, particularly at an early age, can be transformative for our youth’s financial health in the future. Higher levels of investment confidence are strongly correlated to wiser financial decisions in later life,” she added.

Ms. Amoah, who was encouraging the participating students, also said as part of implementing Ghana’s 10-Year Capital Market Master Plan the GSE is working with all stakeholders to ensure investment education, or financial literacy, becomes a formal part of the curriculum in all our schools – saying one is never too young or old to learn about investing.

Competition

The 2022 Stock Pitch Competition seeks to enhance young people’s understanding of the financial market and saw a group of three Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) students – Euleria Rose Chiutsi, Prince Asamoah Owusu and Enoch Appiah Kubi – emerging as winners.

They won a prize of GHȼ12,980 and a full scholarship with the Ghana Investment and Securities Institute (GISI) Limited of the Ghana Stock Exchange.

Augustine Hagan Kussi of KNUST and Caleb Kwesi Mongson of the University of Cape Coast (UCC) came in second place, and Eugene Elikem Agbo of University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) and Samuel Kwabla Morkli of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) came in third place.

According to president of the Young Investors Network (YIN), Joshua Mensah, the winners will receive over GHȼ6,000 worth of shares of their choice. He said the competition revealed their success and effort in training the students on financial literacy; adding that while they have trained over 8,000 students this year, they are hoping to train more in 2023.

The Stock Pitch Competition is a summary of a potential investment ideas for a company listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange presented to a panel of judges. After a series of trainings by the Young Investor Network, the participants pitched a buy, sell or hold a position on the company of their choosing, and presented their findings to a panel of judges who selected the best.