By Nahashon Mungai, Executive Director of Global Markets, Standard Investment Bank; Portfolio Manager, MANSA-X Special Fund
BRANDVOICE | Paid Program ⓘ
For decades, Africa’s financial conversation has centered on attracting foreign capital. Yet the continent’s next financial revolution will not be driven by overseas investors—it will be powered by mobilizing African capital more effectively.
Across Africa, billions of dollars remain concentrated in government securities, bank deposits and illiquid real estate, leaving investors exposed to inflation, currency depreciation and subdued long-term growth. The continent does not suffer from a shortage of savings; it lacks investment vehicles capable of preserving and compounding those savings in an increasingly interconnected world.
Kenya has quietly demonstrated that there is another way.
Since its launch in 2018, Standard Investment Bank’s MANSA-X has pioneered Kenya’s Special Funds market by introducing a regulated collective investment vehicle that applies investment principles more commonly associated with hedge funds—including global diversification, active portfolio management and absolute-return investing—within Kenya’s Collective Investment Scheme framework.
It challenges the long-held belief that sophisticated global investment strategies were the preserve of wealthy international investors and demonstrated that Kenyan investors could access institutional-quality portfolio management through a regulated, transparent and professionally governed structure.
Its influence extends beyond the success of a single fund. It challenges the assumption that wealth preservation should rely primarily on treasury bills, bank deposits or domestic real estate. Instead, investors could diversify into global equities, exchange-traded funds, fixed income, commodities and alternative investments to reduce concentration risk and protect purchasing power.
The numbers reflect this transformation. According to the Capital Markets Authority’s Collective Investment Schemes Quarterly Reports, Money Market Funds accounted for more than 90% of Kenya’s industry assets in 2021. By March 2026, their share had declined to 51.9% of the sector’s KSh 851.7 billion in assets.
Special Funds have become the fastest-growing segment of Kenya’s collective investments industry. MANSA-X now manages more than $1.3 billion across its conventional and Shariah-compliant strategies and is on course to become the country’s largest Collective Investment Scheme. Its significance lies less in its size, and more in what it represents: African investors are willing to embrace globally diversified investment strategies when they are offered through transparent, well-regulated and professionally managed investment vehicles.
This transformation did not happen through innovation alone.
Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority deserves considerable credit for recognizing that protecting investors and encouraging innovation are complementary objectives.
By establishing a clear regulatory framework for Special Funds and subsequently Alternative Investment Funds, the authority provided fund managers with the confidence to innovate while maintaining rigorous standards of governance, disclosure, custody and investor protection.
Kenya’s experience offers an important lesson for policymakers across Africa: the best regulators do more than supervise markets—they help create them. Markets flourish when regulation provides clarity, consistency and room for responsible innovation.
Regulation alone, however, cannot build an industry. Every mature financial market is supported by strong industry associations and self-regulatory organizations that promote professional standards, investor education, ethical conduct and constructive engagement with policymakers.
Around the world, alternative investment associations have helped establish best practices, improve transparency, attract international capital and develop industry talent. Africa should pursue the same path.
The Kenyan model is also highly transferable because many African countries already possess the essential ingredients. Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Botswana, Namibia, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Côte d’Ivoire all have established capital markets that could support regulated alternative investment industries.
Read more about the special funds industry on the Forbes Africa website at https://www.forbesafrica.com/brand-voice/2026/07/29/why-kenyas-special-funds-industry-holds-lessons-for-africa
