In collaboration with the East African Venture Capital Association (EAVCA) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC), we have developed a Private Equity (PE) Investment Guide with the objective to deepen the understanding of private equity structures among pension fund managers and their trustees to unlock more investments into the asset class. The guide mainly covers three key areas – understanding the asset class and where it sits alongside other asset classes, why and how to invest in PE’s and an overview of the benefits and risks of investing in private equity.
The development of the guide was informed by a market study report that sought to investigate the low uptake of investment by pension schemes. The report cites the knowledge gap on both pension fund and regulatory side and the absence of regulatory oversight of the PE Fund Managers by local regulators as some of the key impediments for Pensions seeking to invest in PE Funds. The study surveyed 18 Pension Schemes from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda alongside 15 PE General Partners from Ethiopia, Kenya and the Ud Kingdom as well as 3 Pension regulators in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania.
Across developed markets the pension industry is the backbone of investments, supporting asset classes such as private equity with the patient capital to deploy in growing businesses and there is a need to up skill both regulators and pension fund trustees to foster a greater understanding of the benefits of investing in PE Funds.
