Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) successfully hosted the second JSE She Invests Arena event earlier this year. Dubbed #JSESheInvests, is intended to support a savings and investment culture in the country by actively encouraging South Africans — particularly women —to invest by educating them on investment choices and how to invest in the stock market. This year’s theme, “Let ’s Invest in Each Other”, aimed to create a platform for women to take charge of their lives and make bold decisions. “Women need to understand that they don’t have to earn a large sum of money before they start investing but can start small with what they currently have,” says Zanele Morrison, director of marketing and corporate affairs at the JSE. “The objective of the conference is to help women from all walks of life progress financially through savvy investments and economic prosperity; to help them actualise the concept of investing in each other by bringing female leaders together to share valuable insights and knowledge.” With the intention of inspiring women of all ages to embark on a journey to personal freedom, this year’s event included a gathering of powerful and inspirational women under one roof who shared their successes and challenges. Topics covered ranged from learning how to invest in one’s children, how women can invest in each other and how to make your money work for you.
Keynote speakers included Mapalo Makhu, an award-winning personal finance coach, speaker and the founder of Woman & Finance, a platform that educates and inspires women to take charge of their finances. Makhu is also a money columnist for City Press. Other keynote speakers included the founder of Rekinle Learn, Rapelang Rabana, a computer scientist and internationally recognised technology entrepreneur, and Anthea Gardner, the managing partner at Cartesian Capital, a SA asset management business. Dealing with money can be stressful, which is one of the main reasons women tend to have a low engagement with financial markets. Amid all the other priorities that women have to cope with –not least of which is competing in a male-dominated space for equal pay, equal recognition and achieving a healthy work/life balance — managing money is not always a priority. Yet it should be, says Elaine Mabiletsa, JSE manager for currency derivatives.
She says financial literacy is not so much about the ability to understand how money works but more about acquiring a set of skills and knowledge that allows women to make effective decisions about their financial future. “In order to gain financial independence, women need to understand the risks and opportunities that contribute or hinder the achievement of that goal. One of the most significant paradigm shifts a woman has to make is to become smarter in creating investments that empower her life choices,” says Ma biletsa. Financial literacy, she says, is a strategy that can be used to induce a change in behaviour for a woman’s entire family. She concedes that the manner in which financial services and products are delivered today, both online and offline, comes with an overwhelming amount of information, compounded by trying to grasp the complexities of investment platforms with time constraints and pressures.
The She Invests Arena, says Mabiletsa, was created for this very reason: to unpack and demystify stock exchange investment and encourage financial freedom for women. “This year’s speakers, including financial specialists, lifted the veil on how to go about investing, what financial freedom really means and how to achieve it, and more importantly, how and where to invest. The conference is targeted at all levels of financial literacy, with the takeaways being that women will acquire knowledge about the value of financial control and how to plan and choose investment packages that speak to their individual circumstances. ”One of the main objectives of the JSE She Invests Arena was to once again create awareness around exchange traded funds(ETFs), an investment product that has been used to encourage more people to invest on the JSE as the offering is both low risk and cost effective. “ETFs are a good start for women beginning their investment journey on the exchange,” says Mabiletsa. “The yare a low-risk yet cost-effective product that tracks a selected basket of shares, bonds or money, or a single commodity such as gold or diamonds. When these investment assets perform well, the value of the ETFs increases.”
ETFs offer investors a wide range of benefits, including the opportunity to diversify their portfolios, make hassle-free investment decisions and qualify for exemptions from certain taxes such as capital gains and tax on interest and dividends. They ’re also easy to buy and sell through a JSE broker or Financial Sector Conduct Authority (Fisca) registered online platforms. Not only are they an ideal investment vehicle for those starting out but also those looking to grow and diversify their portfolios. Ultimately, the aim of the JSE She Invests Arena is to empower women to make effective and informed investment decisions by providing them with access to information and knowledgeable speakers, activities and engagements that will instil confidence and show them that investing is not as daunting as they may perceive it to be. his year the conference was hosted in partnership with Easy Equities, a local low-cost investment brokerage platform,and True Love magazine. A multiplatform approach was used to create awareness prior to the event. This included print adverts in publications such as True Love, as well as the JSE magazine.
Digital marketing on the JSE website and social media posts on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter were also included as part of the awareness campaign. The event was one element of the holistic effort that the JSE is undertaking to make investment accessible, easily understood and fun. In line with this, a host of lifestyle partners, including Camelot Spa, Swiitch Beauty and Hi-Tec SA, among others, conducted experiential activations, prizes and makeovers at the event. A number of other objectives were defined for the event. Among them were the opportunities to position the JSE as a thought leader, raise awareness around ETFs and ultimately educate the target audience (primarily professional women with the disposable income to invest). Another objective of the event was to generate leads of potential investors who have not yet invested on the JSE as well as generate leads from existing investors who have a basic knowledge of investing and are looking to increase and diversify their portfolios.
The JSE She Invests Arena was the ideal platform to entrench the idea of the JSE as an organisation with the ability to connect buyers and sellers – those who are looking to invest their money with the companies and shares that they can invest in to grow their wealth. For the second consecutive year the JSE She Invests Arena was a resounding success for both the JSE and its partners and plans are already in the pipeline to host the event again in 2020. Plans for the next event, will include more coaching sessions and content throughout the year, which will provide much needed support and education, eventually leading up to the event itself.
JSE
Financial Mail AdFocus 2019 Case Study
Women get their own space
The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) successfully hosted the second JSE She Invests Arena event earlier this year. Dubbed #JSESheInvests, is intended to support a savings and investment culture in the country by actively encouraging South Africans — particularly women —to invest by educating them on investment choices and how to invest in the stock market. This year’s theme, “Let ’s Invest in Each Other”, aimed to create a platform for women to take charge of their lives and make bold decisions. “Women need to understand that they don’t have to earn a large sum of money before they start investing but can start small with what they currently have,” says Zanele Morrison, director of marketing and corporate affairs at the JSE. “The objective of the conference is to help women from all walks of life progress financially through savvy investments and economic prosperity; to help them actualise the concept of investing in each other by bringing female leaders together to share valuable insights and knowledge.” With the intention of inspiring women of all ages to embark on a journey to personal freedom, this year’s event included a gathering of powerful and inspirational women under one roof who shared their successes and challenges. Topics covered ranged from learning how to invest in one’s children, how women can invest in each other and how to make your money work for you.
Keynote speakers included Mapalo Makhu, an award-winning personal finance coach, speaker and the founder of Woman & Finance, a platform that educates and inspires women to take charge of their finances. Makhu is also a money columnist for City Press. Other keynote speakers included the founder of Rekinle Learn, Rapelang Rabana, a computer scientist and internationally recognised technology entrepreneur, and Anthea Gardner, the managing partner at Cartesian Capital, a SA asset management business. Dealing with money can be stressful, which is one of the main reasons women tend to have a low engagement with financial markets. Amid all the other priorities that women have to cope with –not least of which is competing in a male-dominated space for equal pay, equal recognition and achieving a healthy work/life balance — managing money is not always a priority. Yet it should be, says Elaine Mabiletsa, JSE manager for currency derivatives.
She says financial literacy is not so much about the ability to understand how money works but more about acquiring a set of skills and knowledge that allows women to make effective decisions about their financial future. “In order to gain financial independence, women need to understand the risks and opportunities that contribute or hinder the achievement of that goal. One of the most significant paradigm shifts a woman has to make is to become smarter in creating investments that empower her life choices,” says Ma biletsa. Financial literacy, she says, is a strategy that can be used to induce a change in behaviour for a woman’s entire family. She concedes that the manner in which financial services and products are delivered today, both online and offline, comes with an overwhelming amount of information, compounded by trying to grasp the complexities of investment platforms with time constraints and pressures.
The She Invests Arena, says Mabiletsa, was created for this very reason: to unpack and demystify stock exchange investment and encourage financial freedom for women. “This year’s speakers, including financial specialists, lifted the veil on how to go about investing, what financial freedom really means and how to achieve it, and more importantly, how and where to invest. The conference is targeted at all levels of financial literacy, with the takeaways being that women will acquire knowledge about the value of financial control and how to plan and choose investment packages that speak to their individual circumstances. ”One of the main objectives of the JSE She Invests Arena was to once again create awareness around exchange traded funds(ETFs), an investment product that has been used to encourage more people to invest on the JSE as the offering is both low risk and cost effective. “ETFs are a good start for women beginning their investment journey on the exchange,” says Mabiletsa. “The yare a low-risk yet cost-effective product that tracks a selected basket of shares, bonds or money, or a single commodity such as gold or diamonds. When these investment assets perform well, the value of the ETFs increases.”
ETFs offer investors a wide range of benefits, including the opportunity to diversify their portfolios, make hassle-free investment decisions and qualify for exemptions from certain taxes such as capital gains and tax on interest and dividends. They ’re also easy to buy and sell through a JSE broker or Financial Sector Conduct Authority (Fisca) registered online platforms. Not only are they an ideal investment vehicle for those starting out but also those looking to grow and diversify their portfolios. Ultimately, the aim of the JSE She Invests Arena is to empower women to make effective and informed investment decisions by providing them with access to information and knowledgeable speakers, activities and engagements that will instil confidence and show them that investing is not as daunting as they may perceive it to be. his year the conference was hosted in partnership with Easy Equities, a local low-cost investment brokerage platform,and True Love magazine. A multiplatform approach was used to create awareness prior to the event. This included print adverts in publications such as True Love, as well as the JSE magazine.
Digital marketing on the JSE website and social media posts on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter were also included as part of the awareness campaign. The event was one element of the holistic effort that the JSE is undertaking to make investment accessible, easily understood and fun. In line with this, a host of lifestyle partners, including Camelot Spa, Swiitch Beauty and Hi-Tec SA, among others, conducted experiential activations, prizes and makeovers at the event. A number of other objectives were defined for the event. Among them were the opportunities to position the JSE as a thought leader, raise awareness around ETFs and ultimately educate the target audience (primarily professional women with the disposable income to invest). Another objective of the event was to generate leads of potential investors who have not yet invested on the JSE as well as generate leads from existing investors who have a basic knowledge of investing and are looking to increase and diversify their portfolios.
The JSE She Invests Arena was the ideal platform to entrench the idea of the JSE as an organisation with the ability to connect buyers and sellers – those who are looking to invest their money with the companies and shares that they can invest in to grow their wealth. For the second consecutive year the JSE She Invests Arena was a resounding success for both the JSE and its partners and plans are already in the pipeline to host the event again in 2020. Plans for the next event, will include more coaching sessions and content throughout the year, which will provide much needed support and education, eventually leading up to the event itself.