I believe everyone in the world is born with genius-level talent. Apply yourself to whatever you’re genius at, and you can do anything in the world. – Jay Z

This is the quote with which JSE chief executive Leila Fourie opened her address at the gala dinner to celebrate the 50th year of the JSE Investment Challenge and announce this year’s winners.

The challenge is the JSE’s educational programme to introduce learners and students to the fundamentals of investing in the stock market.

Participating teams are given R1-million in virtual funds to invest in various portfolios and outperform the portfolios of their rivals.

“Since the R1-million is virtual, participants have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Take on the challenge, invest in yourself and learn how to make your money work for you so you can build a financially secure future for yourself,” said JSE director of marketing and corporate affairs, Vuyo Lee.

“Since 1973, we have had 170,000 students go through the challenge. We started an electronic platform in 2002 and opened the challenge up to university students in 2005,” she said.

Each year, the winners in the university category get the opportunity to travel to an international stock exchange, in addition to winning prizes in the form of Easy Equities vouchers.

Fourie said it was an amazing opportunity, adding that when she began her financial degree she didn’t know what a dividend was.

The JSE Investment Challenge is an inspiring initiative, driving change from the ground up and empowering young people with practical experience as they learn first-hand about investing in the market.

Mpumelelo Secondary School from Mpumalanga cleaned up this year, walking away with the five top places in the income category. Teacher Sizwe Mtsweni pointed out that it was a Section 21 school, which means it is allocated finances by the Basic Education Department and is classified under quintile two as a no-fee institution.

Mtsweni said Mpumelelo Secondary entered 10 teams – or 40 pupils – in the challenge this year. 

“We are thrilled with this development. We expected three teams to win, so to have 50% of the pupils win awards was amazing,” he said.

Previously, pupils would meet on Mondays to discuss strategy, but this year meetings were ramped up to two to three times a week. 

“It was a busy year, with the Russian war, the interest rates increasing and load shedding affecting companies,” Mtsweni told Daily Maverick.

Thandolwami Hlongwane, a Grade 9 pupil at Mpumelelo Secondary, entered the competition for the second time this year, albeit with different teammates. His team, MP to the JSE – which was the top winner in the schools’ income category – was inspired by a love of rap.

“My favourite rappers are NF and Lil Tjay. So far, the competition has taught me about saving money. We meet in the mornings, during breaks and after school, learning about different ways to budget and researching companies through Sharedata and Google,” he said.

The winning teams from Acudeo College Crystal Park with (left) former pupil and winner, Onyinye Kennedy and teacher Giba Mahlangu (extreme right). (Photo: Supplied)

Acudeo College Crystal Park also featured regularly among the monthly winners and walked away with four prizes: first and fifth place in the schools’ equity category, and first and fourth in the ETF/ETN category.

Student Makhosazane Mathobela, who grew up in the kwaCeza Damba reserve in KwaZulu-Natal, said saving money was not something she thought about when her parents were battling to make ends meet.

Mathobela is pursuing a Bachelor of Commerce degree at the University of KwaZulu-Natal after completing a bridging course last year. 

“Participating in the JSE Investment Challenge has been an eye-opener. I can’t wait to start saving and investing myself,” she said.

Mathobela’s fellow team members on the AMB Investors team from the University of KwaZulu-Natal are Asithandile Nzonzo and Banele Mathenjwa. They won in their category for June as well. 

The winners of the JSE Investment Challenge 2023 are:

Schools’ income category:

1. MP to the JSE from Mpumelelo Secondary School
2. MP to the Moon from Mpumelelo Secondary School
3. MP Unshaken Traders from Mpumelelo Secondary School
4. MP Against All Odds from Mpumelelo Secondary School
5. MP on Top from Mpumelelo Secondary School

Schools’ equity category:

1. Timbali Incubator from Acudeo College Crystal Park. All four team members are in Grade 8 this year
2. Business Tallies from Grantleigh College
3. MC=4 from Höerskool Brits
4. Buren Bonds 2 from Buren High School
5. Gibela Business Incubator from Acudeo College Crystal Park

Schools’ speculator category:

1. Inside Traders from Clifton College
2. Turtle Traders from Paul Roos ­Gimnasium
3. Money-Making Investors from Paul Roos Gimnasium
4. Evolution from Waterfall College
5. DHS Team 2 from Durban High School

Schools’ ETF/ETN category:

1. Tech Cabal from Acudeo College Crystal Park
2. Saheti’s Tales from Saheti School
3. Stock Ops Trading from Islamia College
4. Mest from Acudeo College Crystal Park
5. MBH DK Investors from Mondale High

Universities’ ETF/ETN category:

1. Ru-Vacay from Rhodes University
2. The Accountables from the University of Cape Town
3. AMB Investors from the University of KwaZulu-Natal

Universities’ speculator category:

1. 201 Premiere Noir from the University of KwaZulu-Natal
2. Capital Incrementum from the University of the Free State
3. Midas Touch Securities from the University of the Free State. DM

The JSE Investment Challenge is proudly supported by Daily Maverick.