Rasebotsa possesses an extensive credit and operational risk management experience within the banking sector and the wider financial services sector.
In his corporate journey, he has proved to be a competent strategist capable of developing strategic plans and activities designed to facilitate competitive growth and superiority.
Rasebotsa’s career began in the banking sector in 1991 where he joined Stanbic Bank Botswana’s Corporate Banking Sector as an Account Executive. He was headhunted two years later to head the then Barclays Bank Botswana’s Corporate Relations team. His career blossomed within the Barclays Africa Group. He rose to Assistant Corporate Credit Director, Barclays Africa and Middle East Regional Office in 2003 before jumping further to Country Credit Director, Barclays Bank of Zambia in 2005 and Risk Director, Barclays Bank, Botswana in 2007.
“I was dedicated and passionate about my work and would always grab any opportunity available for my professional and personal growth,” he says. His entrance into the pension fund and asset management field began in 2009 when he was appointed Managing Director of Glenrand MIB, Botswana. The company was later acquired by AON Botswana around 2013. This saw Rasebotsa joining Coronation Fund Managers Botswana as CEO. As a result of hard work, he was headhunted in April 2015 to become General Manager at JCDecaux Botswana, formerly Continental Outdoor Media Botswana. In July 2016, African Alliance Botswana employed him as CEO.
His journey at African Alliance has been interesting. He says he has observed that the asset management industry is becoming increasingly competitive, with new entrants having entered in the last few years and thereby offering clients a variety of investment options.
Rasebotsa notes that some of the challenges that the industry currently faces are low levels of financial literacy, an increasing regulatory burden, the latter in keeping with global trends because of instances of unfortunate incidents that have raised negative perceptions about the industry.
Through African Alliance Botswana and the African Alliance Group, the investment manager offers a suite of investment products spanning money markets and equity and fixed income asset classes both in Botswana and internationally. “We recently entered the Impact Investment field whose prospects we are excited about,” he says. “AA Botswana has been operational in for 21 years to-date and throughout this period has served its clients with the utmost professionalism, consistent investment performance, resilience and unquestionable ethics.”
Impact investing is a strategy that aims to generate specific beneficial social or environmental effects in addition to financial gains. Impact investments may take the form of numerous asset classes and may result in many specific outcomes. Rasebotsa explains: “The point of impact investing is to use money and investment capital for positive social results. The strategy seeks to generate financial returns while also creating a positive social or environmental impact. Investors who follow impact investing consider a company’s commitment to corporate social responsibility or the duty to positively serve society as a whole.”
But there is a general belief in Botswana that asset/fund management companies heavily rely on management of pension funds, especially the Botswana Public Officers Pension Fund (BPOPF), with little focus on any other alternative form of investment. We put this to Rasebotsa and he asserts that the retail and institutional sector is sizable and contains a lot of potential for companies such as African Alliance. But, he says, as is the case in most economies, the size of the pension fund segment is larger than that of retail. “We also offer unit trusts and bespoke investment solutions across asset classes, investing in Botswana or international capital markets,” he adds.
A unit trust is an investment that enables one where an investor pools their investment with others who have similar investment objectives.
Rasebotsa says the pooled assets are actively managed by an investment manager with the intention of obtaining improved investment outcomes. The total value of invested money is split into equal portions called units. “Investors can buy or sell units of the investment pool,” he explains.
“Unit trusts are a very convenient and low cost way of investing in financial markets that otherwise may be difficult to access. Investors achieve a diversified portfolio, thereby reducing specific risk. Investment decisions are delegated to experts in the investment industry, thereby increasing the likelihood of superior investment outcomes.”
Unit trusts, he adds, offer peace of mind in that they are regulated and approved for marketing by the Non-Banking Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA).
They offer an investor the ability to benefit from professional investment management services in a diversified investment portfolio at low cost and with smaller investment sums. This, Rasebotsa says, is chiefly because of the power of collective investing and economies of scale that such funds offer.
African Alliance has four domestic unit trusts in the offing. Rasebotsa mentions African Alliance Botswana Liquidity Fund (AABLF), which is the company’s capital preserving flagship and money market product whose objective is to maximise returns through active management of a portfolio of low risk money market instruments and bonds. This unit trust is suitable for investors who looking for the flexibility of a call account at a higher rate.
Rasebotsa speaks of the African Alliance Botswana Enhanced Yield Fund (AABEYF). Since inception, he says, it has been four years of astounding performance on the African Alliance liquidity plus product. “Having a customer-centric team, we created a portfolio that served our clients who were looking for a medium to long term investment that could provide higher returns than that of the liquidity fund on a capital preserving environment,” he explains.
“The fund provides a happy medium between bond and money market products in terms of risk, return and liquidity. It is suitable for investors looking for above cash returns and prepared to assume moderate to low degrees of price risk/volatility.”
The company also has the African Alliance Botswana Value Fund (AABVF), its long-term capital growth portfolio with consistent moderate risk. Rasebotsa explains it thus: “Our clients get exposure to a balanced suite of domestic assets, equities, bonds and cash. AABVF is suitable for investors who are prepared to assume a higher degree of price risk/volatility compared to shorter-dated money markets, in exchange for a higher return. We also provide bespoke solutions that have the ability to provide specialised solutions that cater for an individual’s or institution’s risk and return expectations and tolerances.
According to Rasebotsa, these products can be bespoke or tailor-made for high net worth individuals or organisations through the African Alliance unit trust offerings which are open and available for investment by individuals. He was responding to the stereotype of people who usually associate fund managers with institutional investors and pension funds.
Rasebotsa wants it known that Botswana has a lot of high net worth individuals and private investors who can benefit from tailor-made investment products from African Alliance.
