Western Cape-based all-girls school team, ‘Goal Digger’, has claimed the equity portfolio top spot for May 2021 in the ongoing JSE Investment Challenge.

“I am very proud of the girls, they are breaking all the stereotypes,” says Jun-Ne’ Figland, accounting teacher at Gansbaai Academia. Figland, who mentors the grade 12 accounting students in team “Goal Digger”, says learners are enjoying the competition and learning more about how the JSE works.

“Before our school took part in the JSE Investment Challenge, investment literature was of little interest to them. Today, they get visibly excited when they pick up newspapers and read about company news,” says Figland.

CSI Officer at the JSE, Ralph Speirs, says the Investment Challenge aims to drive financial literacy among the South African youth. “We also want to ensure that when learners and students leave the education environment, they understand how to use their disposable income and acquire healthy savings habits,” says Speirs.

Figland says the competition has been an eye-opener for the learners whose understanding of investments was rather limited before joining the competition. “Most of them imagined that when you invest money, it just grows exponentially regardless of what the economic conditions were or what was happening inside the company itself,” says Figland.

She says the competition has also helped broaden the learners’ expectations about future career paths. “Our school is based in a rural community and many of our learners thought if you study accounting, the only career path open to you will be that of an accountant,” says Figland. 

“Because of the competition, they are gaining knowledge about other potential career paths in the world of finance such as risk management, stockbroking, investment banking, fund management, and so on.”

Figland says she always encourages her learners to continue to invest in their personal growth. “The world is changing very quickly; there are new jobs and new opportunities,” she says, adding that as the world changes learners need to equip themselves for every possible opportunity. 

Addressing learners, the accounting teacher says: “Your life does not stop where you are now, you need to continue to grow and invest in yourself, invest in your growth.”

She says South Africa should seriously consider introducing a more practical school curriculum on finance and investments. “In a money economy, at one point or another, every single person will have to make decisions about money in their personal life or on behalf of another institution,” says Figland.

“It makes perfect sense that we should equip learners with the tools to manage money from as early in their life as possible.”

May 2021 category winners were:

•  Income portfolio- Smart Minds Traders- Mpumelelo Secondary School
•  Equity portfolio-Goal Digger-Gansbaai Academia
•  Speculator portfolio- JSE Warriors-Crawford College, La Lucia
•  Speculator portfolio (University)- UZ Rocket-University of Zululand

Registration for the 2021 Investment Challenge are still open and interested learners and students can still participate in the competition. To register for the challenge, visit the JSE Investment Challenge website and to stay updated, follow the competition’s social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.