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- Pension Fund’s Investment Costs Break the billion-shilling mark
Pension Fund’s Investment Costs Break the billion-shilling mark
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Hello 👋🏽 It's Brian from The Kenyan Wall Street.
In today's newsletter, we analyze how much it cost NSSF to invest your pension across different portfolios.
Also read :
Why the property market is now on a cautious stride
How inaccurate data jeopardizes the education sector
The gov't loves to tax fuel…yet EVs are coming
Pension Fund’s Investment Costs Break the billion-shilling mark
By Harry Njuguna
The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) racked up a record KSh 1.10 billion in investment-related bills in FY2024/25, with external fund manager fees alone taking nearly seven out of every ten shillings.
The surge, up 61% from the previous year, has raised eyebrows over whether higher costs truly deliver superior returns or simply fund fancier mandates. NSSF has broadened its portfolio into equities, real estate, and alternative assets, a shift that tends to attract heftier fees.
Custodian and advisory costs climbed alongside, reflecting the expanding complexity of managing KSh 575 billion in assets. Yet the fund reported a strong 22% return, nearly doubling last year’s performance. As NSSF grows bolder in private markets, calls for transparency and benchmarking of investment fees are only likely to intensify.
Read the full article here >>>>>
Waiting for the fog to lift
By Fred Obura
Kenya’s property market is entering a cautious phase as developers hit pause ahead of the 2027 elections. Speculative commercial projects are slowing, while attention shifts to resilient segments such as affordable housing, Grade A offices, and Special Economic Zones where demand and structured financing offer some security.
Rising borrowing costs and political uncertainty are prompting a strategic focus on completing existing developments rather than launching new ones. Yet even amid this restraint, rental yields in Nairobi and its commuter towns are climbing, hinting at pockets of opportunity for the patient investor.
Read the article here >>>>>
INSIGHT: Kenya's School Enrolment Data Gaps Expose Deep Fault Lines?
By Chelsy Maina
Kenya’s school enrollment data is riddled with gaps, leaving hundreds of thousands of learners at risk of losing funding they are technically entitled to. Official records overstate or misreport numbers, creating a system where some active schools are underfunded and defunct ones still receive public money.
Meanwhile, delays in verifying closures and updating records mean policy frameworks for consolidation or closure are poorly enforced, while accountability and transparency suffer.
Without urgent reform to strengthen data integrity, Kenya’s basic education financing will continue to misalign spending with actual needs, undermining equity and efficiency.
Read the full article here >>>>>
EVs are here, but fuels fund the exchequer
By Brian Nzomo
Kenya’s growing fleet of electric vehicles is set to unravel one of the government’s most lucrative revenue streams: the Road Maintenance Levy. Already, EV adoption caused a KSh 2 billion shortfall in 2025, a figure projected to explode as electric vehicles become mainstream. The shift highlights a looming dilemma: fuel taxes have long funded roads, but cleaner mobility threatens the model, with no clear alternative revenues in sight. Policymakers may soon face the developed world to determine what and how future EV owners will pay into the nation’s infrastructure wallet.
Read the article here »»»»»
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Upcoming Events : InvestKenya Announces the Upcoming Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) 2026
Taking place at the Radisson Blu Upper Hill on March 25, 2026, the 4th Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) 2026 is set to be the largest and most impactful investment promotion conference in Kenya’s history. Register here »»»»»
During KIICO 2026, Kenya will also host the 2nd COMESA Investment Forum on March 26 and the Africa Green Industrialization Initiative (AGII) on March 27th.
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Today in History
A British punitive expedition began to crush the Kingdom of Benin, machine-gunning and burning towns, killing an unknown number of Edo inhabitants, destroying palaces and sacred sites in a campaign the attackers framed as cleansing “fetishes,” and looting what became known as the Benin Bronzes.
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