Investment Insights

Kgori Capital investment management firm holds over P5.0bn in assets under management and serving more than twenty of the most sought after blue-chip institutional clients, the firm continues to extent its footprints and climax on dominance and control in the asset investment field.

1. Kgori Capital Botswana has been a force to reckon with in the Investment Management solutions in this country for many years. How does your organization position herself to play a significant role in the growth of our nation’s economy as we move towards vision 2036?

Kgori Capital is a proudly Botswana, 100% citizen owned business that broke the ground in2012. We are committed to our People, our Clients and our Country,for we are aligned to the Government’s Vision 2036 and NDP 11. Vision 2036 is focused on“Prosperity for All” on the pillars of sustainable growth and development for the economy, society, the environment, and governance peace and security. Relatedly, we are deeply passionate and dedicated to being a significant participant in the Botswana investment management industry. This is through playing a leading role ingrowing a stronger savings culture by being a key driving force behind broadening financial inclusion in our society.

2. You are largely involved in a very competitive industry, what is the unique feature which has given your organization an edge above the rest?

Our competitive advantages are our culture of collaboration, the multi specialist nature of our firm and our proven processes which has been refined over more than a decade. We are an owner managed firm where client, firm, and staff interests are completely aligned. We also have a proven track record of generating superior investment return under pinned by a strong, single underlying investment philosophy that is sound and sensible with a long-term orientation. Finally, we have a well-resourced, highly talented and experienced team of investment professionals with strong support from our global strategic investment partners. We are proud to have some of the very best minds in our sector in our team because we believe in employing the best to serve our clients.

3. Business continuity is a major bench marking standard for any efficient solution, how has Kgori Capital tailor made her support system to ensure efficient and timely support to achieve acceptable levels of business continuity for your clientele there by enabling them to realize their corporate goals?

We have engaged a leading global Internet hosting company and data centre operator for support in the event of any threat to normal operations. We also have extensive internal procedures and processes for backups located at various sites which ensure that in the event of a disaster, or an unanticipated interruption,a backup is always readily available. We do testing on a regular basis. Our management team comprises individuals who are specialists in the different and complementary, aspects of operating an investment management firm.We also develop staff by ensuring that they work across departments and in this way, employees gain a holistic view of the organization’s work. All key personnel have an immediate understudy who can step in should the need arise so the loss of an individual results in less impact on the business. It is a close-knit team, and our way of working only further compliments that for the benefit of our clients.

4. As our nation is striving to become knowledge-based society, appropriate manpower is required to drive this vision. Which policy has Kgori Capital adopted in line with manpower recruitment and development? How does Kgori Capital up skill her staff?

Critical to our success is our ability to attract, retain and motivate talented individuals in every area of our business. At inception of the business we established a Staff Trust to align the interests of staff with that of the company and clients.This also enables staff to share in the growth of the company, as well as to incentivise staff to act in the best interest of clients. By awarding shares to qualifying staff, Kgori Capital is able to retain staff which is critical to the success of the firm.The professional development and personal growth of employees is core to the firm maintaining our long term competitive advantage. There is a training policy in place that is encompassed on the following principles: o We encourage a strong coaching culture, on the job training and development. This may include secondment to select organisations

o We also encourage employees to take charge of their lives and to develop themselves, and shall support such efforts within business constraints. The CFA Study Sponsorship and Kgori Capital Employee Bursary Scheme are meant for this purpose.o We have a Graduate Development programme in place which has already seen great success as several of our key team members have developed through this process.o This is why we believe our staff our well-motivated and challenged to give their very best, and they demonstrate this every single day.

5. In the recent past, there was a storm that blew across the investment and asset management sector in the country. This had the potential of bringing any player in this volatile industry to his knees. How did Kgori Capital weather this storm?

As a leader in the Botswana investment management industry, we always embrace good corporate citizenship and the importance of robust governance. We are a firm grounded by strict Values and Principles, and guided at all times by absolute transparency, best practice,and sound corporate governance be fitting the trust our clients and stakeholders place in us. We have always spent much time engaging with stakeholders to get their views on our business and industry before and after the recent storm in our industry. We have been encouraged by their support and considered insights, as well as the clear understanding that Kgori Capital is aligned with their interests. We have been focusing on continuously aligning the business to global best practice governance principles.There has been a lot of change in the sector and for us as a business too.Whilst some has been negative, even this has had purpose, for it has yielded many positive results.Changes in assets under management or reduction in mandates, for example, has given us an opportunity to introspect further. This in turn has led to many improvements to our business but also reaffirmed that our core business and our way of doing business is of world class standard.

6. Technology has currently taken a centre stage in driving business and any business which will not embrace it may not see their next phase of growth. How has Kgori Capital positioned herself to employ technology in her product offering so as to reach a wider clientele locally and regionally?

We continue to make investments in our business, specifically in the technology to enhance our clients’ service experience and to achieve greater operational efficiencies. We also remain extremely vigilant of all technology-related risks.

7. We live in a dynamic world with the needs of organization changing continuously, thus the need of appropriate adaptation to the changes in the market place. How have Kgori Capital tailor made her solutions so as to meet the existing and changing market needs?

Our proudly Botswana business continues to focus on building a world-class investment management firm. The long-term sustainability of the business rests in our continuing ability to add value to all our clients.We continue to invest in our solution offerings, ensuring that they remain competitive and relevant to the changing needs of investors, and are available at their chosen point of access. Through our disruptive investment management approach,focusing on adapting to, and optimising opportunities in the changing conditions, we will challenge existing investment norms and thereby provide innovative investment management solutions.

8. Every organization operates within a given community. Therefore,Corporate Social Initiatives (CSI)should be an integral part of every organization. Which corporate social programs have your organization been engaged in for the past 5 years and how has the brought about positive change to the beneficiaries?

Kgori Capital is a manager that is conscious of its role in Botswana and our purpose is to play a meaningful role in transforming the investment management industries in which we operate. This is into an environment that allows us to produce excellent investment outcomes for our clients.We believe the journey of transformation starts with the transformation of mind-sets. Our corporate citizenship policy thus has education threading all the initiatives we undertake such as the Kgori Press Club, Internship Programme,Unpacking Jargon (Financial Dictionary) and being the Lead sponsor of the Botswana Pensions Society Conferences in 2016 and2017.

9. Operating business in Botswana has its own rewards as well as a fairs hare of challenges. What can you say about the Botswana’s business environment as far as your solutions are concerned?

The trend towards more intensive regulation of the financial services industry continues in Botswana. For the foreseeable future, the agenda looks set to remain demanding and is likely to have far-reaching implications.As a participant in the financial services industry, we fully support the adoption of appropriate regulations that will improve industry wide governance and hopefully lead to an increase in household savings and real growth in the economy. In our view, to encourage broader participation in the financial sector, it is critical that the needs of the investor be safeguarded. We continue to monitor developments to assess their impact on our business.

10. What is Kgori Capital short term(3-5 years) and long-term goal (10-20years)?

We have ambitions to grow the firm in terms of assets under management,number of clients, investment products and distribution channels.We will invest significantly in the development of local skills and capabilities to support these growth ambitions. We are also committed to being a key part of capital market development in Botswana, a task that will require ingenuity and innovation. Our goals include the growth of our unit trust (pooled offerings) business. We have proudly launched two-unit trust strategies this year, Kgori Enhanced Cash Money Market and Kgori Balanced.We will also be working on further Institutional Client acquisition,building on our education campaign directed towards facilitating a savings culture, and promote responsible corporate citizenship and its effect on the environment.Over and above all this, we continue to serve Batswana and our Nation,passionate about playing a meaningful role in growing the market, and the National economy. We want to prove by example that Botswana businesses such as our own really can box with the very best even on an international playing field.