March 2024
21Mar

Africa Is Aging. Will It Become A Real Population Bomb?

Africa is the most youthful continent, with 70% of sub-Saharan Africa under age 30. With high fertility rates and objections to birth control, the youth population will continue to grow. Investing in young people is important for the continent’s transformation, but Africa also needs to prepare for a growing older population that will present new issues in the decades ahead. By the end of this century, Africa will be home to almost 40% of the world’s population, including a 15-fold growth in older adults, from...

March 21, 2024
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November 2023
28Nov

Africa running out of time to sort looming pensions crisis

An expert at the ongoing 4th Annual Conference of the African Pension Supervisors Association (APSA) in Kampala has said urgent steps need to be taken to reverse a trend in which the continent has only 10% pension coverage of its population. Sundeep Raichura, Group Chief Executive Officer Zamara says that before African experts can talk of extending pension coverage, they must first admit it has no working pension system, in order for the leaders to focus on getting home grown...

November 28, 2023
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13Nov

Kenyan Aging Study Aids Sub-Saharan Africa’s Population Shift

The population of Africa is the youngest in the world-but that is expected to change rapidly in the coming decades. Over the next three decades, the proportion of older Africans will triple across the continent. This population will nearly quadruple in Kenya, one of the most rapidly aging countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. And yet demographers report that robust longitudinal data to address the economic and health-related consequences of this demographic transition are largely missing. The Longitudinal Study of Health and Ageing in Kenya (LOSHAK), a...

November 13, 2023
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06Nov

Africa could come to the rescue of the aging world

Big change is coming to the world. This is not entirely because of global warming. Change is also occurring because of a sharp decline in the rate of human fertility. In the developed world, women are having fewer children than ever before. Demographers have determined 2.1 children per woman as a critical threshold below which the size of the population would begin to decline. In North America, Europe and Australia the rate is well below this level with the...

November 6, 2023
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03Nov

CrusaderSterling Pensions bags Africa’s Most Innovative Pensions Fund Management Company of the Year 2023 award

CrusaderSterling Pensions Limited (CPL) has been honoured for its exceptional dedication and innovation at the 4th Africa Financial Technology Congress (AFTC), where it was awarded “Africa’s Most Innovative Pensions Fund Management Company of the Year 2023.” This recognition serves as a testament to CrusaderSterling Pensions’ unwavering commitment to delivering financial solutions that empower individuals to secure their financial futures. The company has consistently demonstrated its ability to embrace technological advancements, implement new strategies, and adapt to the evolving needs of its...

November 3, 2023
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October 2023
20Oct

Preparing for an Aging Africa: Data-Driven Priorities for Economic Research and Policy

By Madeline E. Duhon, Edward Miguel, Amos Njuguna, Daniela Pinto Veizaga & Michael W. Walker The over-60 population in Sub-Saharan Africa is expected to grow rapidly in the coming decades, tripling between 2020 and 2050. Despite this explosive projected growth, few countries in the region have implemented policies designed to support older populations. Further, little research in economics has specifically examined aging in Sub-Saharan Africa, though many opportunities exist for economists to generate research evidence to inform the design of...

October 20, 2023
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11Oct

PIAFRICA 2024: Shaping The Future Of Pension Funds And Alternative Investments In Africa

PIAFRICA 2024, the 7th edition of the Pension Funds and Alternative Investments Africa Conference, is set to take place on February 28th – 29th, 2024, at the Intercontinental in Mauritius. This distinguished event brings together Pension Fund Managers, Investment Managers, Institutional Managers, and industry leaders for a groundbreaking gathering. The overarching theme of the event revolves around exploring new investment avenues, especially in alternative investments, and addressing the challenges that accompany them. PIAFRICA is not just a conference; it’s a...

October 11, 2023
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September 2023
14Sep

How Africa’s pension funds are financing the continent’s infrastructure gap

African countries have huge infrastructure needs, and governments need private investment to help meet them, particularly considering increasing climate impacts and green development agendas. Local pension funds and other institutional investors are a significant but untapped source of finance. Two examples of pension fund consortiums, in Kenya and South Africa, offer promising models for engaging Africa’s institutional investors in closing the infrastructure financing gap and meet the continent’s growing infrastructure development needs. In just three years, these two consortiums have...

September 14, 2023
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06Sep

Pension fund CPF eyes stake in Africa Finance Corporation

Pension fund CPF Financial Services is set to make an equity investment in the Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) as it seeks to diversify its investments from traditional asset classes. CPF managing director Hosea Kili made the revelation on Monday even as he remained tight-lipped on the value of its proposed investment in the pan-African lender. “We will discuss the details of the investment including the value of the equity with our fund managers in due course. This is part of our...

September 6, 2023
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August 2023
22Aug

ESG investing by pension funds in Africa is not a demand problem

Africa’s value tomorrow will be, in large part, determined by what is preserved today. The investment world is locked in a raging debate around “values vs value” in financial returns consideration. Opponents of ESG investing approaches believe that it is primarily the role of governments to fight climate change. Their responsibility, they contend, is to maximize shareholder returns, climate concerns notwithstanding. After all, government taxes them. The missing link in this argument is optimization. Portfolio optimization, the objective of...

August 22, 2023
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