Minister of Youth and Sports, EGX Chairman & FRA Vice Chairman Ring the Bell for Global Investor Week

Minister of Youth and Sports, EGX Chairman & FRA Vice Chairman Ring the Bell for Global Investor Week

Wednesday, 16 October 2024

• Minister of Youth and Sports, Chairman of The Egyptian Exchange (EGX), and Vice Chairman of Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA) opened the trading session celebrating the World Investor Week and Financial Literacy.
• Dr. Ashraf Sobhy - Minister of Youth and Sports: The Ministry has ambitious plans for the full modernization of many of the Ministry's facilities and the continuous development of services provided in terms of quantity and quality.
• Ahmed El-Sheikh - EGX's Chairman: Deepening the public's understanding of financial concepts will positively reflect on the financial markets in the long term.
• Mohamed El-Sayyad - FRA's Vice Chairman: FRA's strategy prioritize financial literacy within its main strategic pillars to achieve financial inclusion.
• Nandini Sukumar - CEO of the World Federation of Exchanges: EGX has long been committed to investor protection as a main business priority.
• Honoring a new group of EGX student ambassadors shows EGX's determination to prepare future young leaders.

*-*-*-*-*

Ahmed El-Sheikh, EGX's Chairman, and Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, in the presence of Mohamed El Sayyad, FRA's Vice Chairman, representing FRA's Chairman, and Heba El-Serafy, EGX's Vice Chairman, in addition to a number of EGX senior management and public figures, opened EGX trading session on Monday, October 7, 2024, within the activities of the 2024 World Investor Week.

El-Sheikh, emphasized EGX's keenness to participate regularly in the activities of the World Investor Week, reflecting its interest in spreading financial literacy and increasing financial awareness. He added: Deepening the public's understanding of financial concepts will positively impact the financial markets in the long run. It will increase number of investors and rationalize their financial and investment decisions "improving the demand side"; also, it will increase the tendency of company owners to list on EGX "improving the supply side".

El-Sheikh said that as per EGX's strategy, we will continue spreading and supporting financial technology, as it represents the cornerstone of improving financial markets. Fintech provides and offers new financial and investment instruments and it is the most preferred tool for youth in dealing with financial markets.

El-Sheikh said that EGX's strategy encompasses continuous efforts to improve financial literacy through several axes, including:

• carrying on the implementation of the signed protocols between EGX and a group of Egyptian universities such as Helwan University, Pharos University in Alexandria, Al-Galala Private University, German University, European University, North Upper Egypt Universities Alliance (which includes Beni Suef, Fayoum and Minya Universities), and American University in Cairo.
• EGX Ambassadors Initiative, which is a TOT financial literacy training program that EGX organizes to prepare qualified students to participate in EGX training activities in schools and universities to explain the principles of investing in securities.
• One-day visits that include an intensive training program to introduce stock market's aspects.
• Introductory and educational visits to EGX's historic building and Museum in downtown.
• School student programs including a full set of hands-on lectures covering EGX while brokerage firms are present. This is done through a pavilion for students from all specializations.
• Lectures by EGX to social media pioneers to introduce the basics of investing in EGX.

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, emphasized the vision of Egypt to establish a financial literacy for the national economy and working on raising awareness of financial and digital inclusion, and working on enabling all society segments to handle their financial future by benefiting from the digital payment technology provided by the state and all financial inclusion services.

H.E. pointed out that the ministry is working in light of the directives of His Excellency the President of the Republic to encourage companies operating in the sports fields to expand in sports investment, especially through listing on EGX inline with the cooperation and coordination between the ministry and Egx.

H.E. highlighted the importance of sports investment based on sound scientific plans. He added: the ministry has clear and ambitious plans for the comprehensive modernization of many facilities affiliated with the ministry and the continuous development of the services provided in terms of quantity and quality.

El-Sayyad emphasized FRA's strategy to place promoting financial literacy as a priority within the main strategic pillars to achieve financial inclusion and enable individuals and companies to access and obtain non-banking financial services. FRA believes that spreading financial literacy is the basis for the stability and development of non-banking financial markets due to its major role in supporting investment decision-making, increasing participation in financial markets, and achieving optimal utilization of non-banking financial instruments. Also, it provides many new financial instruments that suit the needs of all society segments.

El-Sayyad highlighted FRA's efforts to spread awareness of financial literacy, as FRA signed a number of protocols with several ministries, including Ministry of Youth and Sports, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Higher Education, in addition to signing protocols with several universities aiming at spreading financial literacy. Moreover, FRA launched a series of educational books called "Know to Benefit", as well as trained various society segments within the "Certified Awareness Trainer" program, which works to train people to provide training courses that contribute to spreading awareness of non-banking financial literacy. FRA also trained approximately 500 school students by providing educational games, visual stories, and workshops that suit their ages and educational stages.

El-Sayyad also pointed out FRA's participation and organization of several conferences and lectures aiming to spread financial literacy, in which nearly 5,000 participants from various society segments participated during 2024, in addition to FRA's participation in several events and exhibitions in which many citizens, especially youth, took part, such as the Cairo International Book Fair and the Business Ya Shabab Exhibition, as well as FRA's provision of training grants for university students in all FRA's sectors and departments during 2023 and 2024.

Nandini Sukumar, CEO of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) commented, "EGX has long been committed to placing investor protection at the heart of its operations. The exchange is a champion of fostering inclusive growth and the role that market-based financing plays in sustainable economic expansion. EGX is building a stronger, more inclusive future for all market participants through the empowerment of the individuals trading on its exchange."

As part of its celebration of World Investor Week, the EGX honored recent graduates of its "Ambassadors" program who helped promote financial literacy throughout 2024. The recognized graduates included students from British University in Egypt and New Giza University, and Egyptian Chinese University that participated in spreading financial literacy in 2024.

EGX Ambassadors Initiative is the first TOT for financial awareness organized by EGX to prepare qualified trainers from students in universities operating in Egypt specialized in investment and finance. The initiative aims at enabling qualified program graduates to participate in the training activities organized by EGX in schools and universities to explain the basics and principles of investment in securities.

During the qualifying phase of EGX Ambassadors Initiative, the participating students attended specialized training programs covering the sciences and basics of fundamental and technical analysis, in addition to being exposed to EGX operations. The program also included practical training through simulation programs for trading systems that were developed by EGX for availing hands-on training on sound trading mechanisms and practices.

"Ring the Bell for Financial literacy" campaign, organized by World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) for the fifth year in a row, during Global Investor Week, from 7 to 13 October 2024, in cooperation with International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO), aims to raise awareness about the importance of investor education and protection.