Nairobi, 24 March, 2016…As part of its strategy of promoting investor education among the youth, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has awarded a prize of Kshs150,000 for investment in listed securities to Gabriel Mbiti from JKUAT, the winner of the just concluded Nairobi County Capital Markets University Challenge. The Challenge, which has been running from October 2015 to March 2016, attracted interest from 1400 students from19 universities in Nairobi County. In addition to the investable funds, the winning student will visit a capital markets regulator and a securities exchange in an African country for three daysand receive books worth Kshs75,000 for their university.

The first runner-up was Susan Lekanaiya from Riara University and the second runner-up was Michael Mulei from Kenyatta University, who were awarded investment prizes of Kshs100,000 and Kshs50,000 respectively. The runners up will also visit a capital markets regulator and a securities exchange in an African country for three days.

CMA launched the Nairobi County Capital Markets University Challenge to create awareness and increase knowledge about capital markets products and services among the youth in order to broaden the country’s capital markets investor base.

Speaking during the prize-giving ceremony, CMA Acting Chief Executive, Mr. Paul Muthaura noted, ‘the University Challenge sought to encourage a culture of saving among the youth so as to drive realization of Vision 2030 ambition of raising our national savings to 50 percent ofthe Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The youth are a key stakeholder for the Authority as we recognize their role in mobilizing long term savings to attain the Vision 2030 goals.’

The top three winners will select a licensed stockbroker or investment bank of their choice who will advise them on the portfolio of securities to invest in equivalent to the value of their prize money. Each of the remaining top eight winners out of the final list of twelve students will receive a consolation prize of Kshs5,000 to invest in a portfolio of securities of their choice.

The Challenge included four elimination stages. In the first stage, 1400 students from the 19 participating universities sat a multiple choice examination to test their understanding on capital markets products and services.

During the second stage, the students chose a topic of interest on the capital markets and made a presentation to a panel of judges composed of CMA staff and university lecturers. The judges engaged the students to test presentation and communication skills as well as the depth of their knowledge on capital markets issues. Some of the topics of interest for the students were Islamic capital markets, Real Estate Investment Trust (REITs) and Derivatives. The second stage was designed to obtain the top two students from each university. At the third stage, 38 candidates responded to structured questions on the capital markets from a panel of judges composed of representatives from Capital Markets Authority and sponsors -Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC), Kenya Commercial Bank, Britam, Kenya Accountants and Secretaries National Examinations Board (KASNEB), Pan Africa Asset Management and ICEA Lion Asset Management. The top 12 students identified during third round made proposals on capital markets issues, on which they presented during the grand finale held on 23 March and from which the three finalists were selected.

Mr. Muthaura deeply thanked the sponsors for their commitment and support for the success ofthe University Challenge.

The 19 universities that participated are; St. Paul's University, Multimedia University, University Of Nairobi, Daystar University, Presbyterian University, Kenya Methodist University, Moi University, Strathmore University, KCA University, Gretsa University, Riara University, Machakos University, Egerton University, Technical University of Kenya University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Dedan Kimathi University, Kenyatta University, Kabarak University and United States International University.