African pension capital mobilised for continental growth

The Batseta Winter Conference 2026, which took place between in June at Sun City, brought about an opportunity for the retirement fund industry to discuss how collective worker contributions can be transformed into sustainable infrastructure and long-term economic prosperity.

Delegations of trustees, principal officers, policymakers, and asset managers from across the continent gathered under the theme “C°Africa – The Power of One Degree”

A significant milestone achieved during the event was the official launch of the African Asset Owners Platform for Infrastructure Exchange (APIX) Institute Programme. Following days of intense pan-African strategic dialogue, delegates participating in this inaugural initiative have moved on to Johannesburg for site visits to key infrastructure developments, turning conference theory into practical, collaborative action.

Thinking global, acting local

Among the strategic discussions held during the three-day conference, a session presented by Momentum Investments Portfolio Managers John-Morgan Bezuidenhout and Taruvona Mashamhanda challenged the industry to pioneer a framework of integrated thinking for Africa-based portfolios.

Their presentation provided a roadmap for applying world-class institutional investment discipline while remaining deeply sensitive to regional regulatory, economic, and social realities.

According to Taruvona Mashamhanda: “The growing debate around sustainable investing highlights why ESG should be viewed as a practical risk management tool rather than a marketing exercise. For investors, the real value of ESG lies in its ability to uncover risks and opportunities that may not be immediately visible through traditional financial measures alone”.

Overcoming regional asset scarcity

Several data-driven insights regarding the Southern African investment landscape were put forward. In regions like Namibia, for example, regulatory frameworks (such as Regulations 13 and 15) successfully mandate that pension funds retain at least 45% of their assets locally.

As domestic savings pools are exceptionally large relative to local GDP, there is an acute shortage of free float in listed equities. Consequently, nominal government bonds have emerged as the deepest, most liquid instruments, frequently outperforming listed equities over the long term.

In Namibia, major balanced funds are heavily constrained by a lack of market depth, resulting in nearly identical asset allocations across competing managers. As at the end of September 2025, Namibian Investment Managers’ Asset Allocation was 52% Namibia, 31% South Africa and 17% offshore. No allocation was made to the rest of Africa.

Localisation: The strategic resolution

To differentiate in an environment where underlying portfolios look structurally identical, Momentum demonstrated that the focus must shift to where and how funds are managed.

Historically, portfolio management for regional mandates has been outsourced back to South Africa. However, under shifting African outsourcing and FIMA standards, the responsibility sits with financial institutions to build genuine domestic capability.

By transferring core portfolio management, trading, and analyst functions into domestic markets, pension capital can actively combat regional structural challenges. John-Morgan Bezuidenhout, Portfolio Manager at Momentum Asset Management Namibia expressed: “With broad unemployment at 54.8% in Namibia, localising these specialised financial roles can help create jobs, build skills, strengthen the economy, and keep value within the country”.

A blueprint for pan-African collaboration

Concluding their address, Bezuidenhout and Mashamhanda showcased their operational framework as a scalable model for cross-border collaboration across South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, and Lesotho.

The model successfully embeds local African portfolio managers within local jurisdictions to ensure direct market accountability and regulatory compliance. Simultaneously, these regional professionals remain fully integrated with a centralised investment platform, benefiting from shared global research, rigorous peer debate, and strict alignment with internationally recognised responsible investment frameworks like the UN PRI.

By moving beyond rigid offshore templates and executing a strategy of pragmatic, localised stewardship, the Momentum team’s presentation demonstrated that small, aligned incremental shifts – the “power of one degree” – can successfully steer the momentum of African pension capital toward sustained continental growth.