The Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF) has paid out a significant P4.2 billion ($310m) in benefits to its beneficiaries during the 2023/24 financial year.
This payout is against the P4.6 billion contribution received from members, indicating an improvement in the value of the fund.
The growth is largely driven by a robust investment drive and strategy by the pension fund, which has seen its assets under management portfolio grow from P94.7 billion to P108 billion in 2024, a 15 percent increase.
The fund’s investments in private equities, local equities, offshore equities, and local fixed interest portfolio have all experienced significant growth.
The investment property wing of the fund experienced the most growth, skyrocketing by 43 percent to reach P1.3 billion from P887 million. Money market securities also saw a 33 percent growth, increasing from P9.9 billion to P13.1 billion.
The fund’s Chief Executive Officer, Moemedi Malindah, attributed the growth to the fund’s strategy of investing in a diverse range of areas, which helps spread risk and enhance returns.
BPOPF serves nearly 150,000 public service members and aims to create value for all of them.
The fund is the largest pension fund in the country and one of the biggest in the region. Its investment portfolio spans across several sectors of the economy, including property, retail, finance and insurance, telecommunication, and power.
According to the Fund Chief Executive Officer, Moemedi Malindah, he said “Growth is not coming from contributions as you can see but it shows that our efforts of achieving growth in the fund are bearing fruits.
Contribution is driven by salary increase and new members but it’s not the driver in terms of overall growth.
Overall growth is driven from purely investment drive in various sectors. We are also grateful that the government has made commitment to contribute P4.6 billion for its members and continue to honour it every year.
The fund has interests and shareholding in notable companies such as Sefalana Group, Choppies, Tlou Energy in its Lesedi Gas to Power project, Letlole La Rona, about 40 percent shareholding in Mascom wireless, and an investment in Hilton Garden Inn Hotel.
