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Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Ugandan unit trust scheme, XENO Investment Management Limited, is eyeing the Kenyan market with its online platform to tap into the country’s retail investors.
Launched in 2017, XENO executives said XENO Kenya received all the regulatory approvals to set up operations.
“This year marks our first foray into a new market extending what Ugandans have come to love and enjoy about XENO to our brothers and sisters across the continent,” said the firm’s chairman, Aeko Ongodia, in the 2023 annual report.
“I have never been more confident about the future than I am now because XENO’s tools and products are enabling tens of thousands of people to future-proof their finances by investing their current savings with the help of professional guidance. And we are just getting started.”
This comes barely a year since XENO successfully built and tested a new functionality dubbed AutoSave that enables customers to set up an automatic deposit to their XENO investment account by directly debiting their MTN Mobile Money wallet for a set amount at a set frequency.
The firm plans to extend the AutoSave feature to the bank accounts and all its customer touchpoints to enable them to set up automated direct debits from their banks to their XENO investment accounts.
XENO unit trust scheme posted Shs42 billion in assets under its management for 2023 invested across various classes including money markets, bonds, and domestic and regional equities, according to the firm’s annual financial report.
The number of new customers who registered to start their investment journey with XENO doubled to 100,000 during the same period under review.
Uganda has five licensed unit trusts including UAP-Old Mutual Financial Services Limited, ICEA Lion Asset Management Limited, Britam Asset Managers Uganda Limited and Sanlam Investments East Africa Limited.
Over the years, the country’s unit trust funds have recorded an increase in assets under its management hitting Shs 1.5 trillion in January last year.
