Cordros Asset Management Limited, a financial service group in African markets has announced the winners of its 2023 ‘Every Child a Milestone Fund Debate’ competition held on Thursday, May 25, 2023, at the company’s Ikoyi- Lagos office.
Nicolette Azonobo and Miebi Abulu in Team A were declared winners of the keenly contested 2023 competition with a score of 656 points to defeat Fopeyemi Ayinla and Ore Olusina in Team B who garner 628points.
The contestants were drawn from Corona Day Secondary, Lekki, in an intra-school debate on a topic; “Equities Investment is a better Path to Sustainable Wealth compared to Fixed Income Investment.”
According to Femi Ademola, executive director at Cordros Capital Limited, the annual event which started in 2022 is aimed at exposing future leaders to financial and investment intricacies.
“We want to introduce ambassadorial roles for schools, to create investment clubs for schools but before doing that, we want to train those who will be part of these goals to understand the intricacies.
This event is an opportunity for the children to be able to get into the knowledge world to understand savings and investment, and to have some level of introduction to these things,” he said.
Ademola reiterated that one of the issues people face in Nigeria is that the country and system do not have some basic support system such as shelter, health care, and education, among others unlike what is obtainable in advanced countries.
The financial expert maintains that due to the lack of these support systems, people hardly think of investing and investing early.
“The earlier we start investing for our children, the better it is for their future,” he noted.
He explained that the company intends to expand the scope of the competition to accommodate even tertiary students as time goes by.
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He further pledged the sum of N50,000 as a personal gift to the winners.
Gbolahan Aina, managing director at Cordros Asset Management in his remark said that the event is part of the company’s way of giving back to society by impacting knowledge to the younger ones.
“As part of our contribution to society, we know that financial literacy is very important, a lot of people have lost money in the past, not because they wanted to lose it but because they do not understand what they were investing in.
If people can invest right, it will help the country’s economy grow. We believe we can educate people, especially starting with the young ones, the incidence of a lot of people losing money will be reduced,” he said.
Moreover, he explained that adequate financial knowledge will help people avoid being victims of financial Ponzi schemes.
Aina disclosed that the event is in commemoration of the Children’s Day celebration and that the 2023 edition has an innovative introduction to financial literacy to groom young minds on financial management and investment.
Besides, he pointed out that the winners of the debate will be given cash gifts that will be invested for them.
Nicolette Azonobo expressed delight in coming top of the competition with her colleague. She disclosed her desire to be part of the event next year.
Fopeyemi Ayinla said that learnt a lot from the lessons taught.
“I learnt that we should invest our money so that in the future you will have enough to enjoy yourself,” she said.
The panel of judges were Ifeoma Udom, managing director at Cordros Trustees; Gbolahan Aina, managing director at Cordros Asset Management; Anike Braimoh, head of private wealth management at Cordros Asset Management; Adenike Ogunyale, team lead and mass affluent sales at Cordros Asset Management; and Christian Orajekwe, managing director at Cordros Securities.
The criteria for assessing the contestants include clarity, courtesy, fluency, persuasiveness, and diction, among others.
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