Cordros Asset Management Limited, a subsidiary of Cordros Capital Limited, a leading financial services group and advocate for youth financial inclusion, has successfully concluded the landmark 5th edition of its annual secondary school financial literacy debate competition.
Shifting its spotlight to the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) for the first time, the high-profile intellectual event was held on Thursday in Abuja with the topic: ‘Fixed Income Vs. Equities: What should young investors choose?’
The initiative is specifically designed to expose secondary school students to fundamental financial literacy concepts, including budgeting, saving and tactical asset placement.
This year’s prestigious competition featured intense rounds of intellectual sparring among top-tier institutions, with Premier International School, Abuja emerging as the grand champions.
The winning debaters showcased exceptional macroeconomic acumen on the topic: ‘Fixed Income Vs. Equities: What should young investors choose?’ and took home a coveted cash prize of N200,000 structured directly as seed capital into the Cordros Milestone Fund, an actively managed mutual fund tailored to introduce youth to practical portfolio growth.
Speaking on the strategic vision driving the annual initiative, the Managing Director of Cordros Asset Management, Adegbolahan Aina, noted that structural gaps in the national curriculum make early financial intervention a corporate responsibility, noting that financial planning is very key and sadly in Nigeria, it’s not part of the curriculum.
His words: “A lot of people don’t know about investments. For me, for instance, it was probably when I started working, and I knew about financial planning. And the thing is that if students can learn about this thing very early, they’re already investing and already planning their future. So really, our plan is to guide them young, to educate them.”
According to him, “We are passionate about children’s education, especially financial literacy, so we want to imbibe the idea of money in them at a very early age, how to build their wealth and how to manage it so that they can be financially free when they grow older.”
Adegbolahan strongly advocated equity investments as a critical buffer against rising inflation, pointing out that despite tough economic indicators, the stock market has yielded over 50% to 100% returns on select tickers over the last couple of years, effectively outstripping inflation and preserving real wealth.
To guide the public through different life stages, Head of the Retail and Affluent Team at Cordros, Adenike Ogunyale, advanced the case for balanced financial portfolios, warning against leaving funds dormant and recommended a hybrid investment approach:
“A healthy balance of both fixed income and equities is what really works. It gives you a very healthy balance from fixed income and equities, and it gives you a high return. It helps you grow your wealth faster than you typically would in fixed income alone,” Ogunyale said.
Reinforcing this strategy, Wealth Team Lead, Kofoworola Oyewole, urged Nigerians to aggressively resist keeping funds idle, saying:
“You don’t want to keep your funds idle. There are so many opportunities in the market that you can actually consider. You can consider treasury bills, commercial papers, fixed placements and equities as viable options.”
Addressing the misconception that capital market participation is reserved exclusively for the wealthy, Cordros championed the “democracy of investment”.
Through their retail-focused mutual funds, families and everyday low-income earners can easily step into wealth creation journeys with initial investments starting as low as N10,000, ensuring a more financially inclusive future for all Nigerians.
