He Saw the Opportunity in Pensions and Built a Business Managing KES 85B | Fred Waswa

Fred Waswa started working on KSh1,500 a month. After losing his father as a teenager, he became responsible for helping support his mother and siblings, learning early that making money was not enough; you had to know what to do with it. That mindset followed him from his early jobs at Pioneer Insurance and Minet to Standard Chartered, where his salary rose from KSh4,500 to KSh75,000. The money still never felt like enough. Fred ran side businesses, lost money in a failed hotel, accumulated KSh26,000 in debt and, despite being named Minet's Best Employee of the Year, considered leaving his career altogether. He eventually walked away from Standard Chartered to start a pension consultancy from a garage. One of his earliest assignments earned him KSh2.8 million, money he used to buy land and build a house without taking a loan. Today, Fred Waswa leads Octagon Africa Financial Services, managing more than KES 85+ billion in assets. In this conversation, he traces the decisions, risks, failures and financial lessons that took him from KSh1,500 to building a regional financial services business, while sharing his perspective on Kenya's pension industry, long term investing and why he sees money as seed: something to grow before you spend it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Access all our links in one place: https://lnk.bio/Financially_Inc 💹 Ready to start trading? 🧑‍🏫 Learn how to trade: https://lnk.bio/fxpesa 📲 Open a demo trading account: https://bit.ly/DemoAccountYT 📈 Start live trading: https://bit.ly/LiveAccountYT --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Episode Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:45 The KSh150 Raise That Changed Everything 03:12 Starting Out on KSh1,500 08:26 Losing His Father at 14 14:18 Learning to Make Money Grow 21:05 The KSh26,000 Debt 29:42 From KSh4,500 to KSh75,000 37:16 The Decision to Leave Standard Chartered 46:08 Starting From a Garage 54:32 The KSh2.8M Two Week Job 01:04:15 Building Octagon 01:15:42 How Kenya’s Pension System Changed 01:27:18 Why Your Income Is Never Enough 01:36:04 Money Is Seed 01:41:52 Fred’s Advice on Building Wealth