The kick-off meeting was held at Bahrain Bourse premises, where all participating students and teams’ school advisors attended the event along with the financial advisors who will monitor and coach the teams during the programme.
TradeQuest is a simulated business-education partnership program that focuses on investment trading in world financial markets. The program aims at stimulating relevant learning through realistic experience by learning the rules and regulations implemented in financial markets, analyzing and selecting shares, and managing a portfolio of investment instruments listed at New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and Bahrain Bourse.
During the meeting, the attendants were briefed about the program, its objectives and different phases that it went through since its commencement in 1996. The program’s timeline was also presented, detailing the events, activities, and investment workshops that will be conducted over the coming 24 weeks.
Shaikh Khalifa Al Khalifa announced the kick-off of the TradeQuest Challenge for the 16th consecutive year, assuring the bourse’s keenness to play an essential and active role in the preparation and implementation of the program, and the programs that link between the theoretical concepts that students study at school and the practical implementation of those concepts.
“Such programmes will contribute to spreading investment awareness among students in general, and high school students. This will also enhance the students’ capabilities to collect and analyze data and information to use it in a useful educational manner,” he said.
“Organizing TradeQuest along with other awareness programs comes in line with implementing the Bourse’s approved strategy aiming at spreading investment awareness among all categories of citizens and expatriates that will benefit all parties,” Shaikh Khalifa, added.
Shaikh Khalifa praised the efforts of the banks and financial institutions sponsoring the program, appreciating their continuous cooperation and support to the Bourse to make this program and other initiatives and activities adopted by the Bourse succeed.
This year’s TradeQuest program includes 8 school teams, and they are Al Noor International School, Bahrain School, Ibn Khuldoon National School, Abdul Rahman Kanoo International School, Naseem International School, St. Christopher’s School, and the British School of Bahrain. The total number of participants in the program is 75 consisting of students, coordinators, and financial advisors.
Various financial and banking institutions in Bahrain are sponsoring TradeQuest and taking part in the program by conducting lectures and workshops that are held during the program, and they are: Gulf International Bank (GIB), Securities and Investment Company (SICO), United Gulf Bank, Investcorp Bank, CFA Bahrain, Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance (BIBF), and Citigroup.
Bahrain Bourse will soon launch another similar program for university students, expecting to announce its kick-off in the coming period.