GenAfrica eyes retail investors with new unit trust business

The launch of the collective investment scheme by the legacy fund manager represents a move away from the corporates as Gen Africa’s core clientele base.

“In the current market environment, we realized that we have grown as a much corporatized entity with limited access for the retail investor. The unit trust business now allows us to democratize access to the investments space,” noted GenAfrica Board Chairman Mukite Musangi.

The unit trust will require a minimum investment of Ksh.500, 000 even as GenAfrica allows retail investors to start off with investments below the cap.

“It’s not a barrier saying you must start at this point but it’s an engagement to build a culture of savings. You don’t have to start today with Ksh.500,000, once can start lower and build up, The higher minimum balance allows for the investment to be more meaningful to grow to scale,” added Mr. Musangi.

GenAfrica Unit Trusts will add to a growing list of collective investment schemes which the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) puts at 32 at present.

According to CMA data, assets under management by collective investment schemes (CISes) stood at Ksh.145.8 billion having grown by 3.63 per cent as of June 2022.

Nearly half of the assets under management (AUM) are invested in government securities with other notable investment classes being fixed deposits, listed securities, cash & demand deposits, unlisted securities and immovable property.

GenAfrica Managing Director Patrick Kariuki says collective investments remain one of the best avenues for investments by retail investors.

“Instead of investors doing small investments in companies, we can aggregate that to collate and invest in bigger private Equity companies and in the other alternative asset classes,” he said.

GenAfrica has an estimated Ksh.380.6 billion ($3.1 billion) in assets under management.