Roundup: Nairobi bourse moves to attract local investors

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has moved to educate the public on the on-goings at the bourse as it seeks to woo more local investors.

Trading at the bourse, which is mainly dominated by foreign investors (90 percent), has declined significantly as a bear-run erodes value of stocks, pushing away investors.

All the key indices of the market have declined, with the benchmark NSE 20 Share Index hitting a low of 2,789.64 while investors' wealth has fallen to 17.3 billion U.S dollars, from 26 billion dollars two years ago.

The NSE seeks to turn around the situation by reaching out to more local investors, especially the youth, through an investment challenge where they would be taught how to buy and sell shares.

"The investment challenge aims at encouraging the youth to develop a culture of saving and investing by demonstrating in a practical way how to buy and sell securities listed on the bourse," Geoffrey Odundo, the NSE's chief executive, said Tuesday during the launch of the initiative in Nairobi.

"Once the youth are trained with the skills that augment their passion and interests, they are powerful partners in solving problems, creating jobs, and leading change that can transform the world," he added.

Initially, the challenge which is in its tenth year, mainly focused on young people attending university and other tertiary institutions of learning.

"This year, however, the challenge will be open to members of the public to promote financial literacy and give them a hands on experience of trading on the bourse," said Odundo.

Ochieng Oloo, the chief executive of Think Business, which sponsors the initiative, said exposure and skills gained from the initiative would help inform them of the investment opportunities available in the market.

"We hope to convert the participants into real long-term investors who would grow in the months and years to come," he said.

Catherine Gitonga, the chief executive of Smart Youth, which runs the initiative on behalf of NSE, said they started the non-student category after getting requests from the general public.

"We hope to achieve the same success that we have had with students in the coming years. It has been our dream to include the general public in this financial literacy campaign as it is key to providing them with an avenue to understand how investing is conducted in the stock market." Endit