By Victor Adar
It was pure joy last month when Simon Wafubwa walked into a roomful of over 300 participants, from Government officials to industry stakeholders, during the launch of Enwealth Financial Services at Crown Plaza Hotel in Nairobi.
The born again chief executive whose academic background is BSC (Mathematics) with specialty in Actuarial Science, and MBA in Strategic Management, puts up strong arguments on the retirement benefits industry assets thanks to tremendous growth from Sh50 billion in 2000 to Sh814 billion in 2015. He is fastidiously glad that the industry will hit the projected Sh1 trillion mark by end of 2016 should the growth momentum of the assets base be maintained at 10% annually.
“This is a clear indication of the critical role that the pensions industry plays in the economic growth agenda of the nation,” Wafubwa says, confident that they will attain market leadership position in pension management within three years.
A mere five years ago, Enwealth Financial Services – formerly Liberty Pension Services – showed its intentions to take the lead in reinventing pension services. It is now flying to Diaspora to move what they do best (pension schemes) closer to a global business front, seeking to increase participation of people further afield thanks to Expatriates and Diaspora Retirement Fund that is registered with the Retirement Benefits Authority.
By nature, those who are outside the country see no sense in investing locally, perhaps due to lack of information in terms of available investment vehicles or maybe because of fear of risking. The scheme is exempt from tax based on the provisions of the Income Tax Act, and is opening doors to Kenyans in the Diaspora who have a predilection to saving at home rather than overseas. But as the old adage goes, charity begins at home, Enwealth also plans to grow its footprint into the African region with a more comprehensive product offering that includes the post-retirement healthcare funds for retirees. “The Diaspora social security agenda has not been the focus of many players in the pensions market for a while,” says Wafubwa.
“We have developed the first ever Diaspora social security. As we embark on the next phase of this journey, we expect to leverage on technology to drive our market share from 5% to 20%.”
If you look across the territory of those who retired gracefully, you can tell that pure value of a particular firm is seemingly not all that made them subscribe to a pension scheme but also the confidence, the assurance of solid, and sound investment. The vibrant retirement sector calls for good work in scheme administration, retirement benefits training and consulting.
Industry research shows that most people at retirement are living longer as a result of improved health care services and general quality of life. This poses the need for effective social security benefits designs that are sustainable. In line with this, Enwealth has already positioned itself to diversify into insurance services through which members can access health insurance at retirement through partnership with various medical underwriters.
The independent pension fund administrator is retooling its products by adopting a new strategy that will see it roll out more ICT driven innovations targeting the Small Medium Enterprises market with the underlying objective of enhancing pension coverage from 15% towards 30%. Wafubwa says this dream has seen them craft innovative social security financial solutions that have not only created employment opportunities to serve more than 100 clients but also seen them grow to manage a fund value of over Sh40 billion in a very short time.
Explaining what the company does and how it grew, he says that in the diversified market, the rise of independent pension administrators comes as a result of both large and small companies outsourcing the management of their pension schemes to a “dedicated resource.” What it means is that, the dedicated resource focuses on offering specialized pension services that seeks to grow each client’s portfolio.
“We have grown simply by remaining committed to relentless value adding to our clients pension schemes through the various services that we provide so that they are guaranteed a secure future,” he says.
Today, Enwealth Financial services accounts for approximately 5% of the market share in the pension administration service segment providing products and services; including pension schemes administration services, retirement benefits consulting services, retirement planning training services (over 1300 clients trained to date throughout Kenya), trustees training services, as well as retirement consulting services.
A wake up call
The recent developments in the banking sector where assets remained locked up in grounded banks, to be sure, dimmed some of the pension funds’ assets. And it is only innovative modelling of the financial markets both from the legislative and risk management perspective to enhance the security of the member’s savings. To Wafubwa, the future is still bright; it is the evolutionary nature of business driven by various environmental factors such as new technologies that is pushing organisations strategic change management like never before.
Further, the ability to innovate from within and without, and then quickly deliver viable products and services to customers makes the difference between success and failure. “It is clear that there is a greater need for development of people skills within companies, and harnessing the natural talent of employees, who already understand the nature of the business is key,” he says.
But a midst the usual challenges, the guy on the driving seat of Enwealth still have more reasons to smile. They have been recognized by the Industry and voted the second best pension administrator of the year 2014. Thus, this rebrand is in deed a natural progression that is expected to take the company to higher heights of performance. And he seems to have packaged himself differently, as what makes him happy being: “Seeing our staff grow both in terms of personal and career to attain their life goals is an exciting thing for me,” he says.
Professional CV
Founder and CEO of Enwealth Financial Services Limited
A cumulative experience of over 15 years in the pension industry, having worked in various firms within the country and regionally in countries such as Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda
He is a council member of the Association of Retirement Benefits Schemes
Part time Lecturer – Pension Trustees Certification at the College of Insurance (Kenya)
