Financial literacy, including capital market awareness, must start early in the schools.
That is the advice from Barbados Stock Exchange (BSE) managing director Marlon Yarde, who also said that regional cooperation is now essential as artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes economies and financial systems become more complex.
He was speaking at the Ministry of Educational Transformation during the recent prize-giving ceremony of the 2025 WizdomCRM Virtual Stock Market Game, where Barbadian students emerged on top.
The competition was won by Loki Clarke, followed by Noah Clarke, Theon Birkett, Sarrayah Yearwood and Ajani Webster Worrell. It was a first time a Barbadian was the victor.
“We are living in an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping economies, where financial systems are becoming increasingly complex, and where regional collaboration is no longer optional – it is essential,” Yarde said.
“Financial literacy today goes far beyond saving and spending. It is about understanding markets, risk, data, technology, and opportunity. It is about equipping young people not merely to participate in the economy, but to lead and transform it.
“This is why the WizdomCRM Virtual Stock Market AI Game is so powerful. It places financial education directly in the classroom, across borders, using generative AI and gamification to create real-world learning experiences.”
The BSE boss noted that students were “analysing markets, making decisions, and learning the consequences of those decisions in real time, thereby developing their critical thinking skills, a skill that is required in any professional endeavour”.
“For the Barbados Stock Exchange, this initiative reflects a long-standing commitment to education and market development. We believe that capital-market awareness must start early, because tomorrow’s investors, issuers, entrepreneurs, and regulators are sitting in today’s classrooms,” he said.
Yarde said that Barbados “proudly celebrates winning the Caribbean Title Trophy in AI-driven financial literacy – a first for our country, and an achievement of which we can all be immensely proud”.
“Today, we also celebrate our outstanding prize winners – Loki Clarke, Noah Clarke, and Theon Birkett – along with all the students and schools that participated. You are not just winners of a game; you are pioneers, demonstrating what is possible when talent meets opportunity,” he said.
“Our theme this year, Connected For Impact: Empowering CARICOM Through AI, Financial Literacy, And Regional Collaboration, could not be more relevant.”
He said this was why initiatives such as the BSE’s Innovation and Growth Market 200 matter, because the generation we are celebrating today will be the very generation to raise capital, grow enterprises, and compete regionally and globally tomorrow.
“Perhaps most exciting of all is the regional dimension of this programme. This initiative represents the early foundation of a virtual, regional stock-market learning ecosystem, powered by AI and shared across CARICOM,” Yarde said.
“It demonstrates what is possible when exchanges, educators, technology providers, and policymakers work together around a shared vision. A vision of connected, financially-literate Caribbean youth, equipped not only with knowledge, but with confidence, curiosity, and regional awareness.”
Competition winner Loki Clarke urged other students to participate in the stock market game.
While not divulging full details from his winning strategy, Clarke, a student of Queen’s College, said he concentrated mainly on the Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago capital markets, noting that “there is a lot of money to be made”.
“My main strategy would be basically buying and selling Trinidad and Jamaican stocks basically daily,” he said.
“I think the game has really helped me with its AI platform in developing my skills and also financial literacy and because of this my career path has been completely altered. Since I started the game, it’s really shown me different career options which I can take.”
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