CPF Group bets on its new ‘future-back growth strategy’ to boost numbers

By Steve Umidha

Financial services provider CPF is looking past the next election cycle, and will attempt to avoid the pendulum swings of recent years and embrace long-term growth policies.

In its ambitious Strategic Plan for 2024-2028, the firm’s management said that it is already taking palpable actions to reenergize its staff and customers as it seeks to build on macroeconomic-related accomplishments and reexamine (or even reimagine) the organization’s identity, how it works, and how it grows.

That was the rallying call on Tuesday when the company’s top leadership and its key stakeholders convened for this year’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Nairobi.

It was a clear – cut memo from its long-serving group Chief executive Hosea Kili; A future-back thinking. Which is a way to develop a clear vision of an organization’s intended future and to anticipate and grasp opportunities for breakthrough growth— and to stop doing the things that are becoming impertinent.

“As we navigate through a complex global economic environment, CPF is well-prepared with comprehensive strategic measures to mitigate risks and capitalize on opportunities.”

The firm’s objective is to go beyond its established ways of doing things, future-back’s iterative and non-linear approach which better enables an organisation like CPF to reinvent a core business or flailing function as well as develop a disruptive, beyond-the-core products.

“One of such products is Save As You Spend product,” said Kili in his address.

Further adding that the Group, which covers the Local Authorities Pension Trust (LAPTRUST), the County Pension Fund, and the CPF Individual Pension Plan, is ready to benefit from current markets shifts, consumer preferences change, and the emergence of new technologies to solve today’s problems and those on the horizon.

“Our focus remains on delivering value to our members through innovative solutions and prudent financial management.”

The plan, according to Kili serves as a blueprint for not only maintaining the company’s leadership role in its jurisdiction’s markets but also for venturing into new frontiers through strategic geographical diversification.

“It is aligned with the Government of Kenya initiatives is anchored on a set of core values, sustainability, professionalism, integrity, innovation, respect, and teamwork. These values underpin our commitment to achieving the plan’s central theme: accelerating growth,” reads the plan in part.

The 2023 Financial performance 

The LAPTRUST DB scheme reported a reduction in net assets from Sh31.26 billion in 2022 to Ksh 26.99 billion in 2023, largely due to increased normal withdrawals as the scheme’s membership ages and transitions to retirement.

Active membership numbers also declined from 15,842 at the beginning of 2023 to 14,771 by year-end, attributed to retirement and other natural exits.

Conversely, the CPF Individual Pension Plan (IPP) exhibited remarkable growth, with membership surging by 113% to 23,229 by the end of 2023, compared to 10,931 members in 2022, with a closing fund value of Sh 2,884,203,000.

The County Pension Fund maintained a steady performance, with net assets closing at Sh 36,966,121,000 in 2023. Additionally, active membership saw a significant increase of 12.2%, rising to 76,593 from 68,280 in the previous year.