Clifford Akpolo
Throughout the intricate panorama of Nigeria’s financial future lies a crucial divide that calls for the eye of all stakeholders — the chasm of monetary literacy. In a nation with boundless aspirations, the sobering actuality looms: a mere 26% of its populace may be thought of financially literate, in response to the World System for Cell Communications Affiliation (GSMA) in its State of the Trade Report on Cell Cash 2023.
Regardless of Nigeria’s financial potential and its place as Africa’s largest financial system, this vital monetary literacy hole complicates the nation’s means to develop on the required tempo to alleviate poverty and effectively distribute wealth. Among the components behind the big hole embody however should not restricted to poor entry to monetary schooling; restricted consciousness and false impression about monetary ideas.
GSMA defines monetary literacy because the capability to make knowledgeable monetary choices, backed by data, confidence, and competence in utilising monetary merchandise. It’s inside this context that Nigerian Change Group Plc (NGX Group) and its subsidiaries: Nigerian Change Restricted (NGX), NGX Regulation Restricted (NGX REGCO), and NGX Actual Property Restricted (NGX RELCO) proceed to champion monetary literacy and inclusion in Nigeria.
The Group’s monetary literacy programme takes form by strategic partnerships with key stakeholders inside and outdoors the capital market together with the federal government, non-profit organisations, listed corporations, buying and selling licence holders, instructional establishments and area specialists. It options an array of workshops, seminars, and on-line sources, catering to various studying preferences and schedules. The programme extends past schooling; it’s a concerted effort to domesticate monetary acumen and inclusivity inside the Nigerian financial system.
1. Nurturing the Youth: An Funding in Tomorrow
NGX Group recognises that the journey in the direction of monetary literacy begins with the youthful era. The Group has orchestrated interactive workshops and seminars that interact contributors by sensible situations, case research, and group actions. A exceptional testomony to its dedication is the celebration of World Cash Week (GMW), the place the 2023 theme, ‘Plan your cash, plant your future’, resonates with its overarching goals. Via collaborations with the Central Financial institution of Nigeria (CBN), Securities and Change Fee (SEC), MinieMoney, AIESEC Lagos, and Junior Achievement Nigeria, NGX Group sowed the seeds of monetary consciousness inside the hearts and minds of a whole bunch of scholars.
The celebration, which culminated in a Closing Gong ceremony on the Change, had the highest three winners on the quiz session shut the market by sounding the gong and endowed with fairness funding. This collaborative endeavour not solely educates but in addition empowers the scholars, marking their participation within the nation’s monetary development. Their prizes, consisting of shares, characterize a tangible stake in Nigeria’s financial journey. Via initiatives reminiscent of supporting the event of revolutionary inclusive monetary merchandise like FGN Financial savings Bond, product-specific coaching and workshops delivered by X-Academy, and excursions to the alternate underneath X-Tour, the Group continues to play a number one function in advancing monetary literacy in Nigeria.
2. Harmonising Know-how and Training
Incorporating innovation into the material of monetary literacy, NGX Group launched ‘StockTown’, a comic book e book sequence designed to teach younger people about investing. Via digitally accessible and fascinating supplies, the Group goals to spark curiosity and domesticate a lifelong curiosity in monetary development. Through the preliminary launch of StockTown, the Group Chief Government Officer, NGX Group, Oscar Onyema, mentioned: “StockTown is the product of a passionate thought lengthy held by the Group to empower people throughout all ranges to make good monetary choices and higher their lives now and sooner or later. In a drastically evolving monetary panorama, NGX Group continues to seek out new methods to speak the concepts of saving and funding utilizing merchandise obtainable on its platform. We hope this comedian, which demonstrates the thought of purchase and promoting securities in easy phrases, can crowd within the financially excluded, Technology Z, Millennials and all lovers of comics.”
Moreover, NGX Group’s on-line sources improve data dissemination. The Group’s web site offers devoted sections that includes instructional supplies from webinars, seminars, and conferences. The NGX X-Academy, a beacon of studying in Nigeria’s capital market and the specialised data platform of the Change, implements digital monetary literacy coaching programmes along with bodily periods. Designed to bridge data gaps for capital market professionals, buyers and the general public, X-Academy accentuates NGX Group’s dedication to monetary literacy and inclusion.
Recognising the alternatives obtainable by elevated penetration of cellphones and web entry, we launched X-Cell to supply market contributors, particularly retail buyers, a handy, quicker and real-time entry to The Change’s actions. X-Cell is on the market on the Google Play Retailer and Apple iOS Retailer. NGX Group has additionally leveraged digital platforms to unfold the message of monetary literacy. On the events of 2022 World Investor Week and 2023 World Cash Week, we partnered with social media influencers and media home, Nairametrics to teach over 7,000 Nigerians on investing and private finance.
3. Strategic Partnerships: Illuminating Avenues of Prosperity
NGX Group’s strategic partnerships underscore its dedication to a transformative future. The collaboration with the Financial institution of Trade (BOI) is emblematic of a shared imaginative and prescient. This Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was greater than ink on paper; it was a pact to unleash the latent potential of the capital market. Via monetary literacy programmes, market advocacy initiatives and the promotion of listings, NGX Group and BOI charted a course to deepen the attain of the capital market and empower stakeholders.
Equally, the collaboration with MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (MTNN) showcases the Group’s dedication to leveraging know-how for monetary literacy, thereby encouraging retail participation within the capital market. The general public providing for the sale of MTNN shares stands as a testomony to this dedication, a transaction that efficiently crowded in over 150,000 new buyers into the capital market with 75% of digital contributors being girls and 85% underneath 40 years. For the primary time within the historical past of the capital market, buyers may entry a main issuance in a couple of minutes merely from an digital gadget by the NGX-sponsored digital platform.
4. Empowering Marginalised Communities
Within the ongoing pursuit of bridging Nigeria’s monetary literacy hole, a exceptional chapter unfolds, illuminated by the facility of collaboration. Our partnership with the Girls at Threat Basis (WARIF); a distinguished NGO devoted to elevating consciousness about Gender-Primarily based Violence (GBV), has taken our dedication to empower marginalised communities to new heights.
Talking on this effort, the CEO, NGX, Temi Popoola, mentioned: “Our journey started with a profound realisation: the intersection of monetary literacy and gender equality has the potential to rewrite narratives of vulnerability into tales of empowerment. Typically overshadowed by extra seen points of abuse, the monetary facet of GBV can silently perpetuate the cycle of dependence and management. Monetary literacy emerges as the important thing to dismantling this cycle. It isn’t only a switch of data; it’s a switch of energy. Equipping girls with monetary schooling equips them with the instruments to regain management over their lives.”
Affect Tales and Sustainability
The affect of NGX Group’s monetary literacy initiative reverberates by success tales. Members have reported heightened monetary understanding and confidence in managing their sources. This upward trajectory signifies a rising sentiment of monetary empowerment amongst retail buyers.
NGX Group’s dedication to monetary literacy radiates by its plans. Collaborations with key stakeholders, together with the CBN, SEC and numerous organisations together with NGX buying and selling licence holders and listed corporations, stay the cornerstone of our technique to broaden the attain of prosperity.
The CEO, NGX RegCo, Tinuade Awe, emphasised: “For us at NGX Group, advocating for and actively selling monetary literacy goes past the optics related to Company Social Accountability, it stands as a basic component essential to our enterprise’s enduring viability. Our achievements are intertwined with the cultivation of financially literate future buyers and the bridging of the associated instructional gaps throughout our beloved continent, Africa. Via deliberate measures, the Group has embraced the duty of confronting this precarious disparity, acknowledging that enriching monetary understanding stands as a pivotal technique of enabling people throughout completely different social strata, nurturing financial steadfastness, and propelling complete development.”
Conclusion
The monetary literacy undertaking of NGX Group and its subsidiaries, NGX, NGX RegCo and NGX RelCo, is a shining instance of a company initiative that extends its dedication past enterprise pursuits to empower and uplift the Nigerian financial system. By offering accessible schooling and sources, NGX Group has performed a big function in constructing monetary resilience amongst people, contributing to a extra financially knowledgeable and safe society.
We consider that these initiatives embarked would assist broaden the data of the investing public on monetary merchandise/devices on NGX, while offering the chance for these buyers to develop their wealth, thus strengthening the monetary landscpe of the Nigerian capital market, and Africa at giant.
- Mr. Akpolo is Head, Advertising and Company Communications, Nigerian Change Restricted