Malaysia Unit Trust Week
Permodalan Nasional Berhad
Over the years, a total of 3.1 million people have attended MSAM, making it one of the most successful investment and financial education event ever held in Malaysia
INTRODUCTION
Malaysia Unit Trust Week, or more commonly known in Malaysia by its Malay-acronym, MSAM, is an event organised annually by PNB to educate the public on investment knowledge and financial planning. The week-long, multi-programme MSAM traditionally begins on April 20 every year, a date selected to commemorate the anniversary of PNB’s first unit trust product.Up to 2015, PNB has organised 16 editions of MSAM, with each held at different cities throughout Malaysia. Even though MSAM has evolved and expanded over time, the key elements of MSAM still remain; programmes such as exhibitions, forums, seminars, competitions and entertainments are focused towards educating the attendees on investment and financial planning.
FRAMEWORK AND STRATEGY
The strategy of MSAM is to attract as many attendees as possible by creating awareness, accessibility and most importantly, content that could pique interest of public to attend. Many smaller events such as seminars and competitions are held throughout host city in the month leading to the opening ceremony, in order to increase awareness about MSAM amongst local population.The location of the event site is also a key consideration. Other than being easily accessible by the public, the site has to be prominently located within the city, and should be able to provide the necessary infrastructure required for the event.
Over the years, PNB has given significant attention towards improving the content of MSAM. Many new programmes have been introduced, with each targeting a specific segment of MSAM attendees. For example, in order to attract students from schools within the region, an inter-school trading game has been introduced to mimic the environment of the stock-trading industry.
ACHIEVEMENT AND IMPACT
Over the years, a total of 3.1 million people have attended MSAM, making it one of the most successful investment and financial education event ever held in Malaysia. The organising of MSAM, as part of PNB’s wider effort to educate the public on the importance of investment and financial planning, has been one of the contributing factor for the asset under management of PNB to grow from approximately RM40 billion in the year 2000, to more than RM270 billion currently.FUTURE DIRECTION
While the response for MSAM from the public has been very encouraging, there are many more Malaysians who are not exposed to investment and financial planning. Hence, for the foreseeable future, MSAM will continue to be the mainstay of PNB’s plan to reach out to the public. PNB will seek to organise MSAM in more cities throughout Malaysia, including ones which are smaller and harder to reach. The content of MSAM will also be continuously improvised and evolved in order to attract more people to the event.
Permodalan Nasional Berhad (PNB) is one of Malaysia’s premier investment institutions, with a diversified portfolio of businesses that include asset management, unit trust, property trust and property management.
