Old Mutual Investment Group’s recently launched first ever unit trust fund in Uganda has hit the $18 million mark in six months since its launch in September last year, officials have said.
“The unit trust we launched in September 2023 has seen tremendous growth. As of the end of December, 2023, we were at about $14 million and after the first quarter, we are now averaging about $17 and $18 million,” Daniel Opiyo, the head of marketing and business development at Old Mutual Investment Group told the UG Bulletin on Tuesday.
A unit trust is a collective investment scheme that pools contributions from investors who share a common investment objective. The pooled funds are strategically invested in a diversified portfolio of financial securities, including equities (shares), bonds, cash, bank deposits, and more.
Launched in September last year, the Dollar unit trust by Old Mutual Investment Group saw KCB appointed as the trustee and Stanbic bank as the custodian.
The dollar unit fund seeks to diversify and add to the quality of the investment opportunities on the market but will also help to guide clients to grow, leverage, protect, and transfer wealth, company officials announced at the launch.
Speaking on Tuesday, Opiyo said such a tremendous growth in the first six months of the first ever Dollar unit trust in the country is something to jubilate about.
“This has something it says about the economy. It says something about people’s need for alternative investment. Ordinarily, as a country we were investing in Uganda Shillings and this has grown to about shs.15 trillion as at the end of December,” Opiyo said.
“Having a dollar investment therefore gives people and alternative where they can invest in hard currency giving them options to diversify their investment which is a good initiative.”
He said the Dollar unit trust offers and opportunity for Ugandans and other people in the diaspora to invest and buy goods as one of the trading options.
