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African Stock Investment Competition Takes a New Direction in 2012

JOHANNESBURG, South-Africa, February 22, 2012/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The African Stock Investment Competition starts off a new year by taking a new direction and launching new offerings to catalyze investments in Africa by educating the next generation of economic leaders.

The pilot of the African Stock Investment Competition (ASIC) in 2011 was a success with over 150 students signing up to participate from North America, Africa, and Asia. 2012 will bring a lot of new things to ASIC's offerings.

"Last year we learned a lot from doing the pilot of ASIC, " says Lauri Elliott, Director of Afribiz Media and CEO of Conceptualee, Inc.,"First and foremost, we confirmed what we already knew. Very few students across the globe are getting properly educated about business, investment, trade, and entrepreneurship in Africa, including in African countries." Elliott adds that perceptions will not change about Africa and it will not be a mainstay of global business until it is as common to talk about and interact on business in Africa as it is for North America or Europe.

In 2012, ASIC will continue to offer a quiz competition, covering all African stock exchanges with individual students participating. This will occur in October 2012. The team virtual trading competition, with opportunities to simulate trading on the Johannesburg or Nairobi stock exchanges, will re-start in Spring - .

In addition to ASIC's two competition platforms, ASIC will offer free course content, which can be used to embed African business and investment topics into existing university courses, to university faculty around the world. The course is called, "Exploring Business, Investment, Trade, and Entrepreneurship in Africa,"(EBITEA). It is produced by Conceptualee, Inc. in conjunction with its two sister brands, Afribiz and Africa the Good News.

To prepare university faculty to use EBITEA, Conceptualee is offering a free online faculty workshop on April 17-18, 2012. The workshop will also be recorded and available for download after the conclusion of the workshop. Faculty should sign up so that even if they don't attend, they will get notice of the availability of the workshop recording for download.

To register for the online faculty workshop, go to http://explorebusinessafrica.eventbrite.com.

EBITEA will also offer other opportunities for faculty and students to engage on doing business and investment in Africa in 2012. Download the program schedule from http://media.globalbizconcierge.com/afribizdocs/standard-media-partnership-package-2012.pdf.

To learn more about ASIC, visit www.africanstockcompetition.com.

To learn more about business, investment, and trade in Africa, visit www.afribiz.info.

To get positive and insightful news about all aspects of Africa, visit www.africagoodnews.com.

For further contact:

Darlene Tolbert

Communications Office

Conceptualee, Inc.

+1.704.819.3333 (Phone)

+1.704.800.7499 (Fax)

comm@conceptualee.com (Email)

About ASIC

The African Stock Investment Competition (ASIC) exposes and educates university and college students around the globe about the emerging region of Africa. Students learn about different African capital markets, providing exposure to developing regions' dynamics. Students get an inside look at emerging market stock exchanges in Africa while competing to win cash and prizes by participating in online activities and building the best performing stock investment portfolio.

About Conceptualee

Conceptualee, Inc. (www.conceptualee.com) is a strategic and innovation think-tank, as well as a new venture, concept, and brand creation firm. It focuses on emerging and global markets, particularly Africa.

Key services offered include visioning, concept development, strategy development and management, cultivation/incubation, early-stage implementation, and growth stage transition.

About Africa the Good News

Africa the Good News (www.africagoodnews.com) is a business with the vision of highlighting the progress that Africa has made over the past years and enabling a critical mass of people both on the continent, and abroad, to formulate and promote a positive vision of what the future may hold for this remarkable continent. It has a new and greater mandate to "Share the Good in Africa with the World" and to reach out, connect, and engage Africans, African Diasporans, and others interested in Africa.

Africa the Good News accomplishes its mandate through an online media portal, publications, and tools designed to enhance knowledge, discussion, and conversation about Africa.

About Afribiz

Afribiz™ (www.afribiz.info), a brand of Conceptualee, Inc., focuses on catalyzing and growing trade, information, business, technology and innovation, and capital flows between Africa and other global markets, both developed and emerging. Afribiz products and services are divided into six areas - media and broadcasting, publications, projects, promotion and public relations, platform development, and professional services.