JSE challenge fosters investing lessons for the next generation

An Mpumalanga school is flying high as it encourages more young learners to participate. By

Mpumelelo Secondary School is raising a whole generation of keen investors via the JSE Investment Challenge, having entered 12 teams with 48 learners. The school has consistently had teams winning since the current challenge kicked off in March.

Teacher Sizwe Mtsweni says the teams chose to start their names with MP because in 2020, Mpumelelo was the only school from Mpumalanga that entered the challenge. “We’ve been talking to other schools and this year there are more schools from Mpumalanga after they saw the articles and heard us talking on the radio,” he says.

The school has been so encouraged by the response from Grade 10 to 12 learners since first entering the competition in 2020 that it has now started including pupils as young as Grade 8 and 9. “The younger ones are struggling a bit but we have mixed the teams so they have at least one older learner to guide them,” he says.

Mtsweni seems to have hit on a winning formula because the school had winners across different categories in every month of the challenge last year and MP Magic Traders won the income category overall at the end of the 2021 challenge.

The two teams that won in the July leg of the challenge are:

MP Prize Winners, including learners Mandisa Mashiyane, Angel Nkabinde, Sinethemba Skhosana and Unathi Mahlangu.

MP The Stars, including learners Sihle Kgantlapane, Thandolwami Hlongwa, Boitumelo Mohlamonyane and Nompumelelo Mtsweni. Mohlamonyane was also one of the team members from MP Magic Traders that won last year’s overall income category but is competing in the equity category this year.

yyEden College Durban scooped up the speculator category with growth of 7.71%. Teacher Phyllis Walsh says the school has entered six teams in Grade 10 and three teams in Grade 11. The Yammer Yummerers team includes Darshan Dharma, Jessica Sooknundan, Shaked Deahamoo and Junior Hadebe, all in Grade 10. Dharma says the team chose their name when they started business studies earlier this year, because it means “to control your mind and try to achieve your aspirations”.

“When we first started the challenge, we were a bit lost. However, reading newspapers and using the resources on the JSE Investment Challenge website was extremely helpful,” he says.

Deahamoo says the team meets at least twice a week during breaks to discuss their strategy and also makes extensive use of a WhatsApp group.

Walsh has also given her students an assignment of writing up the challenges they experience while investing and then coming up with strategies or solutions to address those challenges.

Eden College Durban won the overall speculator category a decade ago, in June 2012 with the team Eden Securities. One of Eden Securities’ team members, Priyanka Moodley, has since obtained a Bachelor of Commerce degree and is studying towards a chartered management accounting qualification. She now works as an analyst at

Benchmark International.

July monthly winners

MP The Prize Winners from Mpumelelo Secondary School for the income category with income of R18,265.33.

MP The Stars from Mpumelelo Secondary School took the equity category with portfolio growth of 7.3%.

The Yammer Yummerers from Eden College Durban won the speculator category with portfolio growth of 7.71%.

Value Creators from Unisa Pretoria aced the speculator university category with portfolio growth of 20.71%.

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