The Rwanda’s Capital Market Authority (CMA) has brought back the annual Capital Market University Challenge (CMUC), a competition aimed at creating awareness among the youth in universities and high learning institutions (HLIs) about capital market. For its 7th edition, CMUC will see students from universities and tertiary institutions from all provinces and the City of Kigali compete from regional to national level. The competition will involve both a set of quizzes and topics for essay writing, according to the CMUC guidelines. To secure their future well-being, young people need to venture into smart saving and investment that will guarantee their sustainability, which among others include exploring opportunities offered by the capital market products such as shares, bonds or any other product offered by different firms at the stock market, said Eric Bundugu, CMA’s Ag. Executive Director. Students will be allowed to register and contest as either individuals or clubs. Competition clubs will perform the quiz category while individuals will perform essay category. “Quiz questions will be announced on the day of the competition covering topics and testing knowledge on capital market,” says a statement from the authority. “The Capital Market University Challenge aims at exposing students in Universities and Higher Learning Institutions (HLIs) to the capital market industry while instilling in them the culture of saving and investment through the capital market. It prepares them to be not only future investors but also future professionals within the Rwandan capital market industry,” added Eric Bundugu. The top winner in this category will be awarded Rwf 1.5 million. The first runner-up will get Rwf 1.2 million while the second runner-up will be awarded Rwf 1 million. Meanwhile, contestants in essay writing (individuals) will be asked to write an 800-essay on a topic: “The role of savings clubs in boosting the savings culture among the youth.” Among other criteria, the essay should be original and innovatively presented. Submission deadline is March 15, 2020. The overall winner in the essay category will scoop a prize of Rwf 700,000 while the first and second runners-up will get Rwf 600,000 and 500,000 respectively. As a way to practically expose students on the culture of saving and investing through the capital market, the awards will be availed to the winners in form of shares of one of the domestic companies listed at the Rwanda Stock Exchange, reads another part of the statement. The language for both the quiz and essay writing categories is English only. Initial pre-selection events in all provinces are scheduled between March 8 – 15, 2020 and previous competitors are not allowed to participate in the CMUC 2020. At this stage, competition clubs representing each campus will gather and one club will be selected to represent every province, according to the CMUC guidelines. On 3rd April 2020, the finals will be held in Kigali where awards will also be presented to the best performers at the national level. Previous winners of the Capital Market University Challenge tell undeniable benefits. Jean Luc Reme Jabiro, the then undergraduate at University of Rwanda is one of a trio that in 2018 scooped Rwf 1.2 million at the advent of his graduation in agricultural studies. CMUC opened our eyes to commerce and capital market. We bought shares in Bralirwa and Crystal Telecom. We were able to finance our project for degree completion, testifies Jabiro. Currently, he is using revenues that flew from the prize to pay for graphic design courses and run a professional internship at one of the prestigious hotels in Kigali. Students willing to contest have to register before the competition kicks off via this link: http://bit.ly/UniChallengeRw20.
