The Young Investors’ Network (YIN) has celebrated the young investors day with 10,000 Senior High School (SHS) students in Accra.
As part of activities for the day, the YIN team visited 34 senior high schools in the capital, admonishing them to cultivate a savings culture because the time to save is now.
The young people were advised on the need for personal financial planning and the acquisition of sound money management skills.
The Young investors day is an annual investment conference for the 50 SHSs in Accra. The theme for this year’s conference was: ‘Building Financial management skills in the young peoples.’.
The day was also used to introduce the ‘Financial Education Leadership Award’ with the aim of recognising individuals who have contributed to imparting financial management skills on young people.
Three individuals awarded on the day were Mr Paul Mante, the Deputy Head of the EDC Investment Limited for being the best financial literacy advocate and received his award at the Saint Thomas Aquinas Senior High School.
Mr Devine Akortsu, a teacher at the Kinbu Senior High School was also awarded for forming the millionaires club and teaching students on the importance of savings and investment.
The award also honoured Reverend Daniel Ogbarmey Tetteh, the Executive Director at Databank Asset Management Services Limited, for training and empowering young community leaders, church leaders and corporate Ghana as well as helping people build positive financial behaviour.
The day was also used to award the participants as well as schools that partook in this year’s Securities and Exchange Commission’s Capital Market Quiz Competition Finals: Accra Academy, Legon Presbyterian Boys, St Thomas Aquinas, and Ngleshi Amanfro Senior High Schools organised by the Young Investor Network.
As part of the awards package, participants from schools who got to the finals stage were given citations and cash prizes deposited into an account created for them by YIN.
Their schools also received cash prizes for allowing students to participate in this year’s quiz competition held in October.
In an interview with the Ghana News Agency, Mr Joshua Mensah, the President of YIN said: ‘Our mission is to create an environment for the youth with the quest to acquire financial knowledge and give them opportunity to add value to their lives through strategic investment.’
Mr Mensah said many young people mismanage funds today ‘partly because they are not aware of the importance and existence of investment opportunities and options in Ghana’ saying that this needs to be reversed.’
He said: ‘There is an urgent need for a deliberate action to inculcate in the youth, the habit of personal savings and investment and bring to the fore, basic issues concerning investment in equities.
‘That is the reason why, the Young Investors Network conceived this idea of reaching out to the youth with financial literacy needed to cause a change,’ Mr Mensah added.
The Young Investors’ Network is a non-profitable volunteer organisation with a firm commitment of educating the youth and the excluded on the financial literacy in Ghana and beyond.
