The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
As Uganda’s pension sector expands in scale, complexity, and strategic importance, the conversation around coverage, innovation, and long-term sustainability has never been more urgent. With assets now exceeding UGX 30 trillion and new schemes emerging to serve both formal and informal workers, the industry is undergoing a quiet but decisive transformation. At the centre of this evolution is the Uganda Retirement Benefits Regulatory Authority (URBRA), whose mandate on supervision and market conduct continues to shape the direction of retirement savings in the country. At the recently concluded Pan African Pension Conference (November 26-28, Diani, Kenya), Daisy Lynda Nabakooza, Chief Manager Supervision and Market Conduct at URBRA, offered insights into the state of the pension industry in Uganda, emerging innovations, and the reforms driving higher participation across the workforce.
Q: How would you define the pension industry in Uganda, and what is the penetration rate?
Nabakooza: The pension industry in Uganda comprises 66 retirement savings schemes regulated by URBRA (as of June 2025), facilitating long-term savings for retirement through both voluntary and compulsory contributions. The 66 comprise three mandatory schemes, 47 occupational/employer-based schemes, 14 umbrella schemes, and two individual/informal sector schemes. As of June 2025, sector assets had grown to approximately 30 trillion Uganda shillings, majorly attributed to an increase in contributions and an increase in investment income. The penetration rate is approximately 15-18% of the working population, with approximately 3.1 to 3.4 million savers of an estimated 15 million workers, representing coverage mainly of the formal sector. The immediate challenge facing the pensions sector is low coverage, as evidenced by the low penetration rate. Nearly 85% of Uganda’s workforce (most of whom are non-salaried workers) are not saving for old age. Low coverage is partly due to the design of the retirement benefit system, which excludes informal sector workers. Informality therefore presents specific issues in retirement income provision, and these cannot be addressed by extending conventional retirement benefit arrangements to these workers.
Q: As the officer in charge of market conduct at URBRA, what trends are you seeing in the industry geared towards increasing penetration?
Nabakooza: Key trends include growth in voluntary retirement savings, increased employer and employee participation in umbrella schemes, and rising assets under management. We are also seeing a positive shift towards voluntary and micro-pension schemes, digital onboarding, and partnerships with organised groupings and existing saving platforms such as SACCO networks, FinTechs, and mobile money platforms. There is also greater emphasis on financial literacy, transparency, and consumer protection, which are strengthening public confidence and participation in the sector. We have also noted more innovation in products that encourage wider participation, including flexibility and ease in contribution remittance as well as access. We are seeing schemes adjust their frameworks to better accommodate the needs of the informal sector, including intermittent access and targeted benefits that meet the social needs of contributors. Increasingly, there is a sustained focus on improving regulatory frameworks and enhancing member confidence to bring more informal sector workers into pension schemes
Q: What is Uganda doing to interest and capture young savers?
Nabakooza: Uganda is promoting innovative pension products tailored for the informal and youthful workforce – Including integrating technology such as mobile-based savings platforms, flexible contribution options, and targeted financial education campaigns. Efforts are also underway to integrate pensions into gig and digital economy ecosystems to attract younger contributors, meeting the contributors at their point of convenience. URBRA’s financial literacy strategy has also incorporated the use of platforms that are predominantly utilised by the young people and deploys young people to conduct the literacy sessions to have more peer-to-peer engagements.
Q: Which asset classes form the largest share of pension fund investments in Uganda?
Nabakooza: Pension funds in Uganda typically invest in a diversified portfolio comprised mainly of government securities, equities, corporate bonds, real estate, and fixed deposits. As of June 2025, the sector investments were invested 82.4% in Government Securities, 11.2% in quoted equities, 2.7% in immovable property, 1.4% in unquoted equities, and Cash and demand deposits, fixed deposits and other investments carrying less that 1% each. There is growing interest in alternative investments such as infrastructure and private equity, and in turn the need to revise the URBRA’s prudential investment guidelines to facilitate prudence and oversight over the changing investment spectrum
Q: What are some of the innovations taking place in the pension industry?
Nabakooza: Key innovations in the pension industry are reshaping how schemes operate and how members engage with retirement savings. One of the most notable developments is the rise of mobile sign-up and contribution platforms, alongside digital pension management applications, dashboards, and member self-service portals. These tools have significantly enhanced flexibility and ease of remitting contributions, improved transparency and accountability, and expanded pension coverage to the informal sector by fostering greater trust and confidence. Another major area of innovation is the development and adoption of advanced supervisory technology. Regulators are increasingly using data-driven supervision and analytics to support risk and compliance management, which in turn promotes more efficient and prudent oversight across the sector. Additionally, pension schemes are progressively embracing ESG-aligned investment frameworks. This shift reflects a growing recognition that investment decisions must incorporate sustainability considerations. Beyond focusing solely on returns, schemes are now integrating environmental, social, and governance factors into their investment strategies, accompanied by sustainability reporting to track impact. There is also growing interest in alternative investments, with ongoing discussions on positioning pension funds as a viable source of long-term capital for private sector growth and infrastructure development. This trend is contributing to the deepening of capital markets and presents pension funds as an increasingly important alternative to dwindling foreign aid.
