The vision to start a thriving pensions management services company was conceived by its co-founder, Afriyie Oware, in the year 2010. Axis Pension Trust Ltd was incorporated the same year. The co-founders, Afriyie Oware and Simon Komla Agbenyegah Ayivi, believing in that vision, resigned their prestigious jobs at the time to embark on this entrepreneurial venture. The retirement savings industry had just been liberalized in Ghana by legislation - the National Pensions Act, 2008 (Act 766) - in a major pensions reform in the country.
In addition to the co-founders, startup capital was provided by five individuals whose investment of approximately $120,000 helped bring the business idea to fruition.
The co-founders had a firm belief that misallocation of capital had been and continuous to be the cause of Africa’s underdevelopment. Axis was therefore established to lead the way in efficiently mobilizing, allocating and utilizing local capital for direct investments in avenues that offer high potential for sustainable profitability and national/continental development. It has been the goal of Axis - from the very beginning - to adopt a research-driven approach in implementing its vision, even as it seeks to influence policies on the use of pension funds’ assets in countries it has business operations in.
Summary of Axis Pensions’ Evolution:
(2010 – 2011):
1. Incorporation of :
i. Axis Pension Systems Ltd. - a software company established to develop scheme administration software;
ii. Axis Pension Trust Ltd. - a Corporate Trustee company established to offer retirement savings products to the SME market;
iii. Axis Pension Administration Services Ltd. – established to provide efficient third-party scheme administration services to Ghana's burgeoning investment savings industry. The initial focus of Axis Pension Administration Services Ltd was to administer pension funds of multinational.
2011:
2. Axis Pensions Group was established as a holding company and to provide management services to the three operating companies stated in 1. above.
2012:
3. Axis Pension Trust Ltd. was licensed by Ghana’s National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA) as one of first nine (9) Corporate Trustees to be licensed by the pensions regulator.
2014:
4. A local institutional investor acquired equity stakes in the holding company.
5. Blueprint for Axis’ Pan-African expansion strategy starts, with the goal to establish 10 business subsidiaries outside of Ghana by 2030.
2016:
6. Axis Malawi starts: this is a joint venture company in Malawi established to challenge the status quo and to introduce more innovative products and services into the Malawian retirement savings industry.
7. Axis Pension Trust Ltd (Ghana) wins a continental award as the most Innovation pensions Management Company in Risk Management at the Second African Pensions Awards held in September, 2016 in Abuja, Nigeria.
