In the presence of Rasheed Al Maraj, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain and Afnan Rashid Al Zayani, Vice Chairman of Bahrain Bourse (BHB), the final TradeQuest Awards Ceremony was held on Saturday.
Forty six students who took part in the simulated stock trading program “TradeQuest Challenge” were honoured at the ceremony. The ceremony was attended by students and their families, senior representatives from sponsoring organizations and other invited guests from the community attended the ceremony.
Rasheed Al Maraj in a speech said that he was delighted for being at the ceremony as it is one of the most important annual events that he likes to attend.
The Governor emphasized on the Central Bank of Bahrain’s commitment to support TradeQuest and other initiatives and programs that contribute to developing the skills of the next generation and better prepares them to enroll in the real work environment. He also thanked the participating students for their commitment to the program, and appreciated the efforts they have put in it since its start in October 2011. He also praised the role of Bahrain Bourse and the other sponsoring organizations in organizing this programme.
Afnan Al Zayani, in her speech, praised the efforts of the students who participated in the program since the beginning of the year, appreciating the support and encouragement that the students have received from their families and school advisors. Al Zayani assured that the Bourse’s ownership of the program comes in line with one of the strategy focuses that aims to spread investment awareness. The TradeQuest Challenge is one of the programmes that seek to achieve such objective.
The Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain presented this year’s Trophy and 1st place overall winner award to Ibn Khuldoon National School. Al Naseem International School was the second place winner, and Al Noor International School came third.
During the ceremony, Ibn Khuldoon National School got the certificate for “Best Financial Performance” and “Highest Return” at the virtual stock exchange. St. Christopher’s School got the certificate for “Lowest Volatility” at the virtual stock exchange and “Best Financial Performance” at Bahrain Bourse.
AbdulRahman Kanoo International School got the certificate for “Highest Return” at Bahrain Bourse. Al Naseem International School won the certificate for “Lowest Volatility” at Bahrain Bourse, and “Best Presentation”. Al Naseem School was also the second place winner in the program.
TradeQuest is a simulated business-education partnership program that focuses on investment trading in world financial markets, which operated for the first time in the Kingdom of Bahrain in 1996 in cooperation with financial institutions and educational parties.
The programme is geared to give high school students close-to-life experience in the stock markets, with focus on understanding the rules and regulations implemented in those stock markets, the analysis and selection of stocks, and portfolio management for equities listed on NYSE and BHB.
The TradeQuest 2011/2012 programme includes 6 school teams, and they are Al Noor International School, Bahrain School, Ibn Khuldoon National School, Abdul Rahman Kanoo International School, Naseem International School, and St. Christopher’s School.
Various financial and banking institutions in Bahrain took part in the program by sponsoring it and conducting lectures and workshops that were 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 (BIBF), and University of Bahrain.