OUR PERFORMANCE
CFO'S FINANCIAL REVIEW
The Fund remained steadfast amidst the increased scrutiny from the different oversight bodies by demonstrating our dedication to transparency, accountability, and integrity. We remain committed to becoming the Social Security Provider of choice through continuous improvement and learning from past missteps. We continued to demonstrate our commitment to making lives of our members better amplified by our expanded mandate that includes coverage of all private entities irrespective of number of employees, expanded voluntary space and allowing for product innovation. In FY 2022/23, the Fund achieved commendable results on its major KPIs including growth in income, contributions, and asset size, however, regional economic uncertainty led to a temporary significant increase in the unrealised foreign exchange exposure which subsequently affected the bottom line. Nonetheless, our efforts continue to be dedicated to growing members savings and consistently providing a return that surpasses the 10-year average inflation rate.”
Mr. Stevens Mwanje, Chief Financial Officer About the Finance Department
As a finance function at the Fund, we continue to embrace innovative approaches that integrate advanced technologies for improved processes, harness data analytics to provide valuable insights, and developing an agile team to achieve our vision of becoming a valued business advisor delivering key insights for strategic decision making.
Achievements
The Finance Department Strategic Plan (2019 – 2023) laid a strong foundation for us to effectively position ourselves in this continuously changing business landscape. As this plan reaches its conclusion, we have made remarkable progress toward becoming a fit for purpose and future ready Finance department that is able to appropriately support the Fund in achieving its Vision 2025 strategy and beyond. This is despite the uncertain operating environment characterised by regulatory changes (the NSSF Amendment Act 2022), Covid-19, and local, regional and global economic uncertainty. Specifically, for FY 2022/23, we were able to achieve the following milestones.Heightened focus on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance)
We continue to demonstrate our commitment to conducting our business in a sustainable manner through incorporation of ESG considerations into our core strategies and operations. This year marks the inaugural release of a dedicated and separate ESG report highlighting our ongoing efforts to create long-term value for our stakeholders in a sustainable manner. ESG reporting was previously done within the main integrated report.
Real time reporting and segmentation:
We continue to aim at attaining full insights driven reporting to enable value adding and timely decision making. This year, we took further steps to deliver a dynamic daily report that communicates key metrics to management. Whereas this has been key, we are equally dedicated to improving our segmented reporting practices that enhance the granularity of information reported.
Process improvements:
Having embraced several new technologies and systems, we purpose to continuously refine them to remain aligned with the evolving business needs and operating environment. Key achievements this year included automated bond and equity computations, and improvements on the electronic Petty Cash Solution.
Business Advisory:
Aside from our internal advisory drives within the Fund, we extended our support to two external entities during the year. Notably, we successfully supported Kiira Motors Corporation with adopting International Financial Reporting Standards. Additionally, building upon the progress of the previous year, we supported an additional business under the Hi-Innovator programme with business development services specifically related to financial modelling and business planning.
Looking ahead, we are excited at the prospect of continuous change and the opportunities presented to the Fund by the NSSF Amendment Act 2022 that has expanded the Fund’s mandate.
We have fully embraced our role of ensuring financial excellence that propels the Fund towards achieving its strategic objectives. This excellence is evidenced by the awards that we continuously win at both the regional and local level.
Notable awards received for FY 2021/22 include:
These awards are evidence of our dedication to excellence but also highlight our commitment to embracing best practice in reporting. This is critical in demonstrating transparency and accountability to our members, government, and all other stakeholders. As a Finance Function, we remain committed to ensuring that we do not only sustain this excellence but also continuously evolve with the changing operating environment.
The Economic Environment Impact on the Fund
The appreciation of the Uganda shilling against the Kenya shilling affected the value of our investments held in Kenya. The Fund holds significant amounts of government bonds and Equity securities in Kenya.
Additionally, the rising interest rates in the developed economies and the political jitters in Kenya led to a reduction in investment capital inflows into the country but also capital flight. The All-Share price index declined on all the regional securities exchanges between June 2022 and June 2023 on account of diminished trading activity, but also increased sell-offs by international investors who liquidated their investments in emerging and frontier markets because of preferential rising interest rates in the US and Europe.
The rising commodity prices, exchange rate fluctuations and falling share prices led to a general rise in the Fund’s operational expenditure, foreign exchange losses on regional investments and capital losses on our regional equity investments, respectively.
Operating environment
During the year, the Fund supported the various oversight bodies which were carrying out audits and investigations. The Fund demonstrated its commitment to transparency and accountability throughout the process. A few concerns were raised, and the Fund is committed to ensuring that these are all addressed. Our robust business processes, technology, and people ensured the exercises were conducted seamlessly with minimal disruptions to the business.
On the side of regulation, the National Social Security Fund (Amendment) Act 2022 expanded the Fund’s mandate to include all private employers irrespective of the number of employees but also opened up the voluntary space. It also allows the Fund to develop innovative products to meet the diverse needs of our customers. This necessitated an alignment of our business model to accommodate this new mandate. Several initiatives both internal and external are already underway to ensure the needs of our new customers are met.
Business and Financial Performance
The Fund achieved commendable performance across most of its key performance indicators. Realised Income, Cost of Administration, Contributions all exceeded their budgeted expectations. However, total assets slightly fell short of the target due to higher-than-expected benefit payouts.
Additionally, the Fund recognised a significant unrealised foreign exchange loss on the regional investments, especially the ones held in Kenya because of the loss in value of its currency against the Uganda shilling.