Capital Markets Authority (CMA) University Challenge 2018 has been launched.
The inter-varsity competition whose objective is to promote capital market knowledge commenced late last month and will run through to December 31 when the finals will be held.
“As much as there are great prizes to be won, the real objective is to inculcate a culture of savings and investments amongst the youth,” said Mr Paul Muthaura, CEO CMA during the launch.
A total of 37 local universities have confirmed participation that will see close to 6015 students compete for the grand prize of Sh150, 000 worth of portfolios of the winner’s choice of the listed securities. The winner’s university will get books worth Sh75, 000. The first and second runners up will win Sh75, 000 and SH50, 000 worth of portfolios of listed securities of their choice. Alongside this, the top three winners will get to travel on a fully paid trip to a Securities Exchange in a country within Africa for a period of three days to learn firsthand how they operate.
With more than 600 entrants, Kenyatta University boasts the majority participants from an institution followed by the University of Nairobi with some 400 plus entrants.
Winners of the 2016 competition, Gabriel Mwenda and Viola Chelegat testified at the launch of how the challenge not only expanded their knowledge on the products in the market but also earned them internships at the CMA and subsequent absorption in the labour market.
The challenge is in five stages that include; Online examination – elimination stage where 100 multiple choice questions are answered in one hour and only the top 100 winners from each university identified by the system advance to the next stage; Online examination – scavenger hunt stage in which participants will be required to go through CMA website and resource portal to seek specific information within a specific timeframe. The objective is to select the top 10 students with highest score from each of the universities and proceed to next level.
At stage three, known as University presentation stage, the top 10 students from each university are required to make public presentation to fellow students and judges from CMA and selected universities’ faculty members; Stage four marks the semi-final. Two shortlisted students from each university will be invited to the CMA conference room to present and respond to structured questions from a panel of judges comprising of CMA staff members. The final 12 candidates will be picked.
In the Grand final, each of the 12 finalists will make a twenty minute presentation to invited public and university students from participating universities, CMA staff and stakeholders at a Nairobi hotel where also a cocktail to celebrate the winners will wrap the event ceremony.
