The Kenyan delegation is dotted with top financial market honchos Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) boss Frank Mwiti "Kenya is a ripe destination for long-term capital." Yet the continent continues to capture only a fraction of the global capital available to investors.
The problem, African executives argue, is not simply a shortage of money. They are attributing this to inability to connect capital with credible, investible opportunities and provide investors with enough information to assess and price risk. “Ultimately, we do not lack capital.
What we lack is the plumbing,” Mwiti said, referring to the mechanisms needed to mobilise and direct domestic savings into productive investment. The NSE is pursuing three broad strategies, including closer cooperation with government on policy and regulation, engagement with pension funds, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds and DFIsl.
It is also gronting the development of structured investment products such as infrastructure funds. But Mwiti says the biggest effort will be directed at domestic capital. About 80 per cent of the NSE’s effort, he said, is focused on mobilising capital within Kenya and across Africa.
The OECD estimates that African pension funds and insurance companies collectively hold about $775 billion in assets.