Students earn millions by investing in bourse

Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange chief executive officer Moremi Marwa speaks in a past event. PHOTO | FILE      

By Alawi Masare The Citizen Reporter

Posted  Thursday, August 14  2014 at  12:20

In Summary

University students who participated in the DSE scholar investment challenge 2014 that ran between April and July each created wealth of that amount.

Dar es Salaam. It is possible for one to create wealth of Sh4.1 million in three months with capital of Sh1 million at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE).

That can be done by buying and selling shares at the bourse.

University students who participated in the DSE scholar investment challenge 2014 that ran between April and July each created wealth of that amount.

That means the buying of shares may have good returns, according to stock market experts who attended the award conferring ceremony yesterday.

The first winner of the challenge, Mr Laurent Dyanko, a first-year horticulture student at the Morogoro-based Sokoine University of Agriculture created wealth of Sh4.1 million in the three months by buying and selling shares of different counters at the bourse.

If the Sh1 million was saved in a fixed account with the commercial banks which offer a maximum of 10 per cent interest per year, the owner of the money would have earned mere Sh1.1 million at the end of the year.

“I worked on advice given by economic experts and also used the DSE online information to understand the trend in share prices. I’m sure anyone can gain even more than this with just a little capital,” said Mr Dyanko.

Shares of companies like Tanzania Breweries Limited (TBL) and NMB Bank listed at the DSE rallied by 65.43 per cent and 56.49 per cent between January 1 and August 12 this year respectively, according to Tanzania Securities Tuesday report.

DSE, Financial Sector Deepening Trust and NMB launched the challenge to the higher learning institutions as part of efforts to encourage locals to participate in the stock market.

Currently, only about 200,000 Tanzanians participate in the bourse due to low awareness and the fact that the concept is still new, according to DSE chief executive officer Moremi Marwa. DSE was launched in 1998.

“There is stereotype that only rich people can invest in capital markets. This is not true,” said Mr Marwa.

About 5,000 students participated in the competition but only top 50 were awarded certificates