The number of wealthy Kenyans investing outside the country has increased, with most of them putting their cash in foreign-backed mutual funds.
Paul Njoki, the head of Standard Chartered Bank's wealth management in Kenya and East Africa says rich Kenyans now prefer investing abroad due to the risks in the local economy.
Njoki says investment in mutual funds has gained popularity among this group of Kenyans. A mutual fund is an investment vehicle created when many investors put their money together in a bid to invest in securities such as stocks, bonds, money market instruments and other assets. “While these funds are not risk-free, they offer another avenue for investment and diversification of assets,” said Mr Njoki in a recent interview.
“They offer many benefits such as taking advantage of emerging markets, commodities boom, or business cycle of different markets,” he added.
The trend represents a departure from the past when deep-pocketed Kenyans preferred investing locally in real estate, land and bank accounts in foreign capitals.
In 2016, 900 Kenyans transformed into dollar millionaires according to Knight Frank’s 2017 wealth report, pushing the number of Kenya’s super rich to 9,400 in 2016. This was an eight per cent increase from the 8,500 the previous year.
The new list of rich Kenyans includes 30 individuals whose net-worth is more than $10 million (Sh1 billion ) each, 10 ultra-high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) with over $30 million (Sh3 billion) each, and two top dollar millionaires with more than $100 million (Sh10 billion.)
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They steal money from the treasury and call it theirs... shame on them and shame on us kenyans for letting it happen and continue to happen