19 Oct 2014

Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) has launched an investor handbook that will help to guide and inform both current and potential investors on what they need to do to invest in the market.

Officiating at the launch, on October 16, BSE main committee chairperson, Ms Regina Sikalesele-Vaka said government had for the past 40 years been largely relying on diamond revenue to run the economy and struggled to develop other sources of the economy to reduce the reliance.

In an effort to dilute this risk, government embarked on the Economic Diversification Drive (EDD) that sought to diversify the economy from diamonds, by fostering and growing other sectors of the economy. 

Alongside that, the government had also introduced a policy of Citizen Economic Empowerment, which is geared at ensuring that citizens are not left out of the EDD programme 

Therefore, this investor handbook, Ms Sikalesele-Vaka said, was a tool through which the investor could become more informed, as it provided comprehensive information on; what the BSE was all about, how to invest in the stock market and how to monitor investment on the stock exchange. 

In addition, the book also gives the investor valuable information on what the investment world is all about, as it contains all the basic information of investing, which would also help to educate ordinary citizens on how to create their own wealth.

The content of the handbook explains what the following means; share, bond, exchange traded fund, stockbroker, BSE indices, Central Securities Depository and Automated Trading System (ATS). 

The handbook also provides information on how one could keep track of their investment, as well as a glossary of common financial terms. The BSE, Ms Sikalesele-Vaka said intended to widely distribute the handbook to reach as many people as possible. 

To achieve that, she said the stock exchange would do regular road shows where the handbook would be disseminated to members of the public. 

In his welcome remarks, BSE chief executive officer, Mr Hiran Mendis said most of BSE awareness creation and market development programmes were geared towards the small investor.

Therefore, Mr Mendis said the handbook was an important aspect as far as development of capital markets go, as it would go a long way in educating retail investors on the business of the stock exchange. 

The investor handbook, he said would also educate retail investors about the depository and what they need to do to invest in the market, so that they can be role players in and take a key role in the economic development of the country. 

The Botswana Stock Exchange CEO also pointed out that retail investor interest in the market has grown by leaps and bounds. 

In 2012, he said, the turnover that was generated from retail investors was around P95 million, while in 2013 it was more than P200 million. 

This, he said showed that this trend is going to continue indefinitely, ‘but it also shows the interest that people have in investing’.

“So, we think that wooing retail investors and creating awareness is something that we need to continue to do, so that they can take part in the economic development of this country,” he added. 

As part of its strategic initiatives, BSE had also embarked on a project to revamp its website. 

This project is expected to be completed in Quarter two of 2015. 

The website will also be linked to the ATS and will feature the upgrade of trading information on a continuous basis. ENDS