Proud says the investment challenge has exposed him to new frontiers that school doesn't teach.
The Youth Investment Challenge has opened up a whole new world of investment and trading for Proud Sola.
“Over the years, we have seen young people from humble backgrounds do amazing things, and to some degree, they believed that the investment challenge played a key role in their changing their financial future,” said the investment challenge head Ralph Speirs.
Proud said that the investment challenge has exposed him to new frontiers that he has hung on to ever since he first overheard his friends talk about futures and warrants. “My friends [who form part of his team] are forex traders and they are the ones who introduced me to the world of trading. However, they went beyond explaining forex trading and further told me about all these other financial investments vehicles.”
Proud is an accounting graduate with a post-graduate diploma in tax and is currently in his second year working towards an LLB degree through Unisa.
“I plan to immerse myself into the world of trading financial instruments so much so that if I find myself doing well enough, I will quit what I am doing instantly and focus all my energies on trading,” he says.
However, he says the journey to becoming financially independent will be harder for him than most. “As the firstborn in a family of seven children, with our parents unemployed the expectation is for me to provide financial assistance to those who come after me. However, I am not in the least bit discouraged. I have the determination and the intellect to turn trading into a very fulfilling and exciting career.”
He was surprised that, while going through his accountancy degree, he was not exposed to trading and investment through the stock exchange.
“In a way, it validates the need for the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) investment challenge to continue,” he says.
Proud believes in financial independence and his message to the youth would be to not only focus on their careers but also to find ways to make sure that the money they earn, works for them as well by becoming familiar with available legitimate investment options.
“I am a different person today. Thanks to this programme, I look at money differently,” he says “I feel the knowledge I have gained about financial markets has also turned me into a kind of influencer in my social circles. Every day I find myself as the source of information to those around me about what is happening in the local financial and business world.”
As soon as he saves enough money to start trading in his own personal capacity and in the real-world markets, Proud intends to unleash himself into the world of financial markets and trading.
Ralph says it warms his heart to know that the investment challenge has been able to touch, challenge, and motivate young men like Proud. “We feel encouraged to continue with the Investment Challenge because of people like Proud because it says our work does have a real-life impact.”
The investment challenge, hosted by the JSE, is a virtual game that gives teams from different backgrounds an imaginary amount of R1 million to invest on the stock market, in actual JSE-listed shares over a six-month period. Through the game, high school and university students acquire investment and trading skills.
There are three overall prizes:
- First place: R25,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to an international stock exchange
- Second place: R20,000
- Third place: R15,000
