Rwanda Capital Market Authority (CMA) has brought back the annual Capital Market University Challenge, the competition aimed at creating awareness among the youth about the capital market.

All interested students from various higher learning institutions are allowed to participate in the competition in quiz and essay categories.

Dubbed "UniChallenge21”, the competition is aimed at exposing students to the capital market industry while instilling in them the culture of saving and investment through the capital market and preparing them as future investors and professionals of the capital market industry.

The initiative seeks to increase knowledge among students on the importance and benefits of saving and investing through the Rwanda Capital Market.

CMA says young people need to venture into smart saving and investment that will guarantee sustainability, which among other include exploring opportunities offered by the capital market products i.e. shares, bonds or any other product to be offered at the stock market.

The young people are also encouraged to invest collectively through saving clubs as the CMA promotes the creation of investment clubs among students.

The authority also helps in building capacity among students to establish saving clubs, on how best to run their clubs and how to save and invest through the local capital market.

How to apply

One of the major steps of this University Challenge Competition is the Registration.

Students willing to contest, in 8th Edition, have to register through the link available online (investor.cma.rw/cmuc/login/index.php) with a deadline set on May 21.

After successfully filling the registration form and creating the new account, the system sends a notification to the email provided during the registration for account validation.

The student needs to access their email account, and click on the link provided to validate the account.

After account validation, the student will return to the login page to put the username and password and access the application.

About the test

The test activities have been automated and will therefore be carried through a web-based application accessible over the internet.

The digital platform can be accessed via http://investor.cma.rw.

The competition framework will involve both a set of quizzes and a topic for essay writing, done online, aimed at increasing awareness and knowledge among students about the capital market industry and the variety of opportunities it offers.

Competition for the quiz category, which is divided into three rounds, will take place from May 25 to June 1.

The first round for the competition for the quiz category will be held on May 25, the second round on May 27 and the third round on June 1.

In the essay category, all contestants will submit their final essays on June 2.

Individuals will compete in both quiz and essay categories after creating an account via http://investor.cma.rw/cmuc/login/index.php.

After creating an account, the contestants will wait for the Quiz or Essay to be uploaded in the system and be communicated once ready.

For those to compete under the Quiz category there will be a set of three rounds of tests.

Those who succeed in the first round will go for the second round, and those who succeed will go for the finals.

For those to compete under the Essay category, they will submit the final essays in the system under the theme "Why should the youth consider saving and investing in the capital market at an early age”.

The essay should, be original and innovative, have not more than 800 words and copy and pasting information from websites will amount to plagiarism, punishable by discontinuation from the challenge.

The judges are expected to submit the markets for essay category on June 6 while the virtual awards ceremony will be held on June 8.

Prizes for winners

Awards will be available to the winners of both the quiz category and essay category in the form of securities of one of the domestic companies listed at the Rwanda Stock Exchange (RSE).

This, CMA says, is a way to initiate students on the culture of saving and investing through the capital market in a more practical and lively manner.

The initiative increases knowledge among students on the importance and benefits of saving and investing through the Rwanda Capital Market.

CMA launches 8th edition of Capital Market University Challenge.