Brothers take top prizes in TTSEC's investing competition

Brothers Alario and Antonio Andalcio, sixth and fifth form students of El Dorado East Secondary School, took top prizes in the TT Tobago Securities and Exchange Commission’s (TTSEC) inaugural National Secondary Schools Investing Competition: Invest.Learn.Grow.

The prize-giving ceremony was held on April 11, at the TTSEC’s offices, International Waterfront Centre, Port of Spain.

Alario copped the $10,000 first place prize to invest in securities donated by the TTSEC while his younger brother, Antonio, secured third place and the $3,000 to invest in securities, sponsored by the TT Stock Exchange Ltd.

The second-place prize of $5,000, in securities, went to Sydney Look Fong, a Form 6 student of Naparima Girls High School, San Fernando.

Prizes were awarded to participants based on the growth of their investment portfolio and upon achieving the minimum number of active trades, the TTSEC said in a release.

The competition was open to nationals 13-19 years and took place between February 10 to April 4, and involved participation from over 349 students from 104 of the 166 secondary schools. The aim was to foster financial literacy and empower students with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to make informed investment decisions, gain hands-on experience in investment strategies, encourage a culture of strategic thinking and responsible financial management for future success and participation in the local capital market.

This investing competition was played by students utilising the TTSEC’s virtual stock market simulator InvestorQuest-TT.com and involved trading in stocks, bonds and mutual funds offered by fictitious companies.

In her feature address, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Education, Ayanna Gaspard-Clarke, said, "At the Ministry of Education, we emphasise the importance of financial literacy as part of our strategic effort to strengthen school curricula to develop appropriate competency levels in critical subject areas."

She also said,“The Education Policy 2022-2027 documents a policy direction that includes an increased focus on the development of age-appropriate competencies in areas such as financial literacy, digital literacy, coding and programming to name a few.

"When we examine the financial and investment landscape, it is clear that these competencies are not just individually critical but are synergistically relevant in our economy.”

Kester Guy, TTSEC CEO, in his welcome remarks said the competition represented "a stimulating blend of education and finance," created to give students, "valuable financial knowledge and practical investing skills – lifelong tools that will help you successfully navigate the world of wealth creation."

He acknowledged the support of the ministry and the Division of Education, Research and Technology, Tobago House of Assembly and called for “a targeted approach on the way forward bringing all the synergies and past collaborations together.

"I would like to have this codified in the form of a Memorandum of Understanding with explicit success factors that we can measure annually and track over the next 5 or 10 years. TTSEC is committed and we look forward to a stronger future”.

Special prizes were awarded to:

• Vessigny Secondary School- Winner of the Principal/School Prize of $10,000 donated by the Bankers Association for the purchase of educational materials for the school. Vessigny had highest number (106) of student registrations.

• David-Lee Skinner-Ballantyne, Head of Department, Business Studies, Corpus Christi College, Diego Martin - Winner of the Teacher Prize of a $5,000 investment in securities. This prize was donated by the Mutual Funds Association.