Cape Town - An all-female team of UCT students has won the JSE Investment Challenge in the “Speculator portfolio for universities” category, for March and April 2022.
The Investment Challenge is a game that aims to teach South African learners and students about investing on the JSE and the larger role that such investment plays in the country’s economy. It helps those participating learn about the fundamentals of investment strategy and encourages them to research and strategise issues surrounding the trading of JSE-listed shares by offering participants the opportunity to learn about investing on the JSE and then test their skills against each other via a virtual trading account of R1 million.
Megan Greggor and Shreya Gopaulsingh of team Queen of Mechanics are both second-year mechanical and mechatronics engineering students.
“I have been participating in the JSE school’s challenge since Grade 8 and have had a good experience with trading and stocks since then, so when I got to university I decided to enter the JSE university’s challenge. It was initially my father that inspired me to get involved in trading, as he was also associated with the JSE, and now my older brother is also a mentor with the JSE, so I was surrounded by positive influences towards trading,” Gopaulsingh said.
For Greggor, who likes solving real-life problems, it was Gopaulsingh who introduced her to the stock market and persuaded her to sign up for the Investment Challenge competition.
“It is really exciting, I didn’t expect to be the first monthly winner, let alone the second one as well. This is my first time entering in this competition, so I was quite surprised but very happy,” Greggor said.
Gopaulsingh said she still enjoys the competition after such a long time.
“We have been a little lucky, but overall, our strategies worked well, and this is what makes the team happy. We were not able to dedicate a lot of time to the challenge due to our studies, but we were pleased to know that our trading decisions were strong enough to carry us through.”
When asked about advice to future entrants, Gopaulsingh said: “The challenge is a great experience because it allows students to get involved in trading in a safe environment, as we work with virtual money, and to understand how stocks work and ways to analyse the impact of events on companies and ultimately, us. I would encourage everyone, regardless of how well they know finances, to get involved in stock trading.”
The Investment Challenge ends on September 23. The winners of the monthly challenges receive R3 000, while the annual winners will receive R25 000 as well as a trip to an international stock exchange.
Cape Times