The JSE inaugural #Trade4Solidarity campaign has raised R34.4 million to be donated to the Solidarity Fund.
The #Trade4Solidarity campaign was held over two days on Wednesday and Thursday this week, all revenues that the bourse earned across all asset classes were donated to the Solidarity Fund.
The fundraising effort was launched in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appeal to the country for donations to the Solidarity Fund.
The Solidarity Fund is a special vehicle set up to help government and civil society fund South Africa’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and to prevent further transmission and support those affected by it.
JSE Group CEO, Leila Fourie announced that R34.4 million was pledged by the trading community to the Solidarity Fund.
“When President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the fund, we knew we had to rise up and play our part,” said Fourie.
“We put out a call to our market participants and I am humbled at how everyone has rallied together jointly as the Capital Markets ecosystem in our efforts to donate to the solidarity fund. The money raised will no doubt touch many lives that have been impacted by the coronavirus.”
The fund is a rapid response vehicle designed to fund impactful initiatives that will augment the national health response contributions to national humanitarian efforts. The third focus area of the fund aims to mobilize South Africans to flatten the curve and manage the pandemic and its impacts on households and communities.
Gloria Serobe, the chairperson of the Solidarity Fund, applauded the JSE & market participants saying “As South Africans we are known for our resilience and I am so pleased and thankful to the JSE, financial market members, organisations and ordinary South Africans that have really rallied together in their support of South Africans in our time of need by donating to the Solidarity Fund.”
38 market participants, both large and small, stepped up to get behind the initiative by contributing a portion or a percentage of their trading revenues to the fund over two days.
