Two KwaZulu Natal schools put their province on the “financial skills map” when they took top spots in the Equity and Speculator Portfolios respectively. Orient Islamic School and Maritzburg College were joined by Fontanus Comprehensive Secondary School from Soweto, who won in the Income Portfolio.

Although this is a first time win for these schools in this year’s competition, they did it in spectacular fashion. The growths achieved in each portfolio are the largest the 2011 competition has seen so far. A capital growth of 34.14% put the “Orient Fantastic Four” team in top spot in the Equity Portfolio. They are led by teacher Zarina Simjee, who is thrilled with her team’s performance. “The team has been working extremely hard over the past few months and has been showing steady progress. This win is a clear result of all their efforts.” she said.

All boys’ school, Maritzburg College is no stranger to the winning in the Investment Challenge. And once again they were not to be outdone. Led by teacher Charles Coghlan, team “Genius Investors” delivered a capital growth of 22.74% in the Speculator Portfolio. “What a stellar performance by the team,” Coghlan said. “Each month has seen them improve more and more, and this month we see the fruits of their labour.” he concluded.

“We are nearly at the end of this year’s Investment Challenge and it is inspiring to see new teams step up at this stage of the competition. I have no doubt that it will be a healthy race to the finish. The JSE Education Department would like to congratulate all the July winners and encourage those schools that didn’t make it into this monthly winners’ list to keep working hard at protecting their investments,” says Senior General Manager, Noah Greenhill.

As has been seen, Gauteng schools are proving to be quite the contenders in the Investment Challenge. For the month of July, the province is represented by Fontanus Comprehensive Secondary School from Soweto. First time winners, “Fontan 5” grew their income to an impressive R14 065.33 in the Income Portfolio. Their mentor and teacher, Thabo Cedric Moloi said, “We are proud to represent not only Soweto, but the Gauteng province as a whole. To be in first place with such a great result is quite an achievement. I am very proud of each member of Fontan 5.”

The learners in each team have been awarded R500 each for best performance in their individual portfolios. A further R500 has been awarded to their mentoring teachers and also to their schools.

According to Andrew Warren, Executive at Liberty Retail SA Marketing, “Once again we at Liberty are happy to be associated with some of the most intelligent young individuals and scholars in the country. The skills these students attain from the Challenge today will no doubt come in handy in their future endeavors. Congratulations to all the May winners.”

The Investment Challenge runs until September and is open to all learners from any South African high school. Students from universities and independent colleges are also eligible to participate. Entrants have a choice of selecting one or more risk portfolios that they wish to take part in for the competition namely: Income (low risk), Equity Growth (moderate risk) and Speculator (high risk). All school entrants must be in teams of four and have to be supervised by a teacher or mentor. University teams must consist of a minimum of two members and a maximum of four.

At the end of the competition, five prizes amounting to R60 000 per portfolio will be awarded to the overall winners of the Income, Equity Growth and Speculator Portfolios; and for the Universities and Colleges, a top prize of an all expenses paid overseas trip plus R25, 000 is up for grabs.

Registrations are still open for high schools to take part in the JSE/Liberty Investment until August. Each team will be required to pay a registration fee of R120 per team per portfolio entered. Registration forms are obtainable from their website http://schools.jse.co.za or http://university.jse.co.za; mobisite: http://schools.jse.co.za/mobile or  http://university.jse.co.za/mobile or contact the Investment Challenge coordinators on 011 – 520 7116/ 7344/ 7168. For more tips and interactions, also check out Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/JSELiberty-Investment-Challenge/352982065154.Twitter: http://twitter.com/JSELiberty_Game

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