eBusiness Weekly
Business Writer
JOHN Tallach High school from Matabeleland North province, came out tops in the inaugural Capital Markets high schools quiz competition in Pool A held in Harare on Friday.
The quiz show was organised by Business Weekly, in conjunction with London based Financial Markets Indaba (FMI).
The competition, which was held to enhance the students’ knowledge and understanding of financial and capital markets, will run until November 4 2022. It sought to enlighten high school students on capital markets and the stock exchange and how the two contribute to economic development.
Twenty schools were pooled from the country’s 10 provinces and are earmarked to compete for honors in the high school quiz competition. The inaugural session of the quiz competition saw John Tallach High School, Monte Casino Girls High School, Ruya Adventist, Nyamhunga High school and Lifelong College battle for honours.
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Zimbabwe (SecZim) is the headline sponsor of the inaugural event while POSB is the gold sponsor. RANK Zimbabwe and First Capital Bank are silver sponsors while College Press and Milano Furnitures are bronze sponsors.
Hotplate grill chipped in with food as Delta provided soft drinks to support the event.
The initiative aims to foster the young generation’s inclusion in financial markets, enhance financial literacy, and promote a savings culture at an earlier age. The competition touched on a myriad of elementary financial issues, but specifically with the main bias being on the inclusion of youth in financial matters.
While giving his official remarks at the event SecZim chief executive officer, Anymore Taruvinga, said his organisation was devoted to seeing the growth of capital markets participation among the general public, which he alluded could only be attained through unfettered provision of knowledge to the general public in order to clarify the phenomenon.
“SecZim, in conjunction with the Investor Protection Fund (IPF), is committed to seeing the growth of capital markets participation by members of the public – and this can only be done through providing information to demystify this space and open it up to the person on the street,” said Taruvinga.
He said securities regulation is centered on protecting investors and having spent years shaping the capital market from an intermediary perspective, the focus had widened to include protecting investors from potential issuer abuse.
“We expanded our education and awareness programmes to benefit both issuers and investors. And that is what brings us to the capital markets Quiz as lead sponsor today.”
Business Weekly editor, Herbert Zharare, said the idea was to inculcate a sense of managing finances at a tender age and wanted to shape future economic leaders. He said Business Weekly was working with corporates to help in nurturing the young minds to realise their dreams.
“Our motto is – setting the national business agenda. Gone are days when the media was only known for reporting what is said. By organising this High School Quiz, we want to be part of the national process of promoting financial literacy and inclusion. That is the reason why we have decided to run this quiz touching on broad financial and economic issues. To us, this is the long journey of creating future corporate leaders,” said Zharare.
The acting director in the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, Innocent Chishumbah said the event complements the ministry’s efforts in delivering the dictates of the Competence Based Curriculum by equipping pupils with relevant knowledge, skills, and competencies.
He said the initiative helps learners to function optimally in order to match the needs of the 21st century as they are encouraged to develop their financial literacy skills and business acumen capabilities among others.
“As a Ministry, we value so much your support through such activities in complementing MOPSE in developing essential competencies in our pupils, financial literacy is one of the key competencies we endeavour to impart in our pupils,” said Chishumbah.
Eunice Moyo, Vuyiswa Mlothswa, Sinamandla Sibanda, and Ordaine Mbavhumana from John Tallach said the initiative through information in handbook 101 and Zimbabwe Stock Exchange handbook helps students in understanding the capital makes in a simplified manner compared to prior the event.
They said the competition had enlightened them to realise that they could earn through investing in securities.
“The quiz is quite interesting because we are already beginning to have an affinity for events on the stock exchange.
“It is going to help us in shaping our careers as commercial students, already we are studying commercials. This gives an opportunity to learn more on finance,” said the John Tallach students.
The Investment 101 book, which was officially launched by the Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mthuli Ncube in November 2020, provide information needed by the investor to make informed decisions when investing.
