Nollywood Can Boost Retail Investors’ Activity In Capital Market – Popoola

The chief executive officer of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, Mr Temi Popoola, has said, the domestic entertainment sector, Nollywood, can help to boost retail investor activity in the capital market due to its appeal to Nigeria’s younger generation.

Popoola said this at the Closing Gong Ceremony commemorating the final trading day of the year and celebrating the achievements of Nollywood stalwart and CEO, RMD Productions, Mr Richard Mofe Damijo (RMD).
The NGX CEO stated that, “nollywood plays a critical role in selling the Nigerian economy and can help to catalyse increased retail investor activity by educating the younger generation to further crowd them into the market. Nollywood stakeholders can also leverage the market to raise the capital to fund their businesses and projects, deepening the synergy between the creative sector and the capital market.”

Mofe Damijo stated that, it was important that the business community and the creative sector stimulate interactions as both sides had tremendous value to offer each other and drive the growth of the Nigerian economy.

He stated that, ‘we cannot promote Nigeria or attract foreign investment without integrating our art and culture into it.’ Popoola noted that, other countries who promote their economies on international platforms go through their art and culture.

Meanwhile, the NGX All-Share Index yesterday closed the year positive, up 45.90 per cent year-on-year. The local bourse has displayed an upward trajectory, defying concerns about the impact of elections. Peculiarly, the buck in the trend was majorly influenced by investors’ positive reaction to the announcement of critical policy changes by the new administration, specifically the removal of implicit energy subsidies and unification of all official exchange rate windows.

Analysts highlighted that most of the gains from the aforementioned were recorded in May (+6.4 per cent), June (+9.3 per cent) and July (+5.5 per cent), augmenting the bullish proceedings from upbeat corporate earnings, strong demand for blue-chip names, such as Dangote Cement, Airtel Africa and MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) strong share price performances in BUA Foods and Geregu Power and market action on Transnational Corporations driven by major shareholding acquisition and thereafter consolidation of stake holding by the major shareholder, Heirs Holding Limited.

Nigerian equities rank as the best performing market globally, outperforming African peers.