Africa-Press – Namibia. LOCAL financial literacy education start-up Foster Digital Education last month gave away 7 200 shares of the newly listed Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC), while teaching Namibians how trading works.
According to the start-up’s research head, Hilja Eelu, the shares were given away as part of a financial literacy campaign, which 3 000 people participated in. This shows there is interest in learning about equities and investment opportunities, she says.
Foster Digital Education founder and chief executive officer Fimanekeni Mbodo says: “The MTC listing presented an opportunity that would not appear again in the next decade or longer. Here you have a company that almost every Namibian engages with on a day-to-day basis.
“If you want the everyday Namibian to get a firm understanding of equities and where they get their value from, you have to educate them using the companies they know and love.
“That’s the only way to steer them in the direction of healthy investment options as opposed to pyramid schemes and sport betting, which continue to grow in popularity in the country.”
The campaign lasted three weeks and involved three animated videos on the Foster YouTube page. In each video, a different theme relating to MTC’s initial public offering was addressed.
After each video, viewers were instructed to answer questions relating to the material in an online quiz to be entered into a draw. Each week, they stood the chance of winning N$10 200 in MTC shares, or an equivalent investment if the share application was unsuccessful.
Three winners were selected in three live draws, hailing from the Khomas, Erongo, and Zambezi regions. “I feel like my future is secured, because I am a shareholder in MTC. Investing is risky, but once you understand the risks involved and you have confidence in your decisions, it can be good,” says Owen Munyangi, one of the competition winners.
“The content relating to the share giveaway was viewed over 71 000 times across social media platforms, so there’s definitely a real hunger for financial literacy information in Namibia – especially when it is presented in a fun and exciting way,” Eelu says.
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