The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) has received a dividend of UGX 42.6 billion from Airtel Uganda for the year ended 31 December 2025.This comes in shortly after the pension fund credited members with a record 22.53% interest rate.
While handing over the dividend cheque, Airtel Uganda Managing Director Sumendra Sahu described the declared rate for the 2025/26 financial year as “mind-boggling,” saying it was likely the highest in the fund’s history. About UGX 5.44 trillion has been credited to members’ accounts.
NSSF bought about 4.21 billion Airtel Uganda shares for roughly UGX 199 billion when the telecom listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange in 2023. The public offer price was UGX 100 per share.
Meanwhile, Patrick Ayota NSSF managing director, said a volume discount brought the fund’s effective cost to UGX 47.17 per share. “By end of June 2026, the shares had climbed to UGX 152, a gain of over 100%,” Ayota revealed.
This means NSSF now holds about 10.6% of Airtel Uganda on behalf of its 2.6 million members.
According to the managing director, Airtel dividends have also grown over the years.
“NSSF received UGX 8 billion when Airtel first listed and UGX 31.7 billion for 2024 and with the latest payout, cumulative dividends stand at UGX 82.3 billion,” he said.
He estimated that about UGX 250 billion is needed to pay one percentage point of interest, meaning Airtel contributed roughly two points of the 22.53% rate.
“Airtel still represents an amazing value for this country,” Ayota said, adding that NSSF is a long-term investor and reviews each holding annually, selling only when it judges a stock’s value to be exhausted.
Clarifying on the fund’s performance that led to the historical interest payout, Ayota credited the return to diversification across Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda, and across sectors including telecoms, banking and breweries.
At the end of June, about 76.8% of assets were in fixed-income instruments, 18.4% in equities and 4.8% in real estate.
Assets under management grew 26%, from UGX 26 trillion to UGX 32.8 trillion.The fund has raised its 2035 target from UGX 50 trillion to UGX 80 trillion.The voluntary savings scheme, launched 22 months ago, has attracted over 120,000 members with UGX 217 billion.
Ayota said half of savers hold less than UGX 100,000, with deposits starting at UGX 5,000 through mobile phones. He credited Airtel for negotiating affordable transaction costs.
He also said benefit processing time has fallen to about 3.8 days over the last three months, from 5.6 days, and that the fund’s cost-to-income ratio is about 7%.
On social media rumours dismissing the returns claiming that the fund invested in drug cartels or crypto, Ayota said such skepticism reflects how Ugandans “sometimes don’t believe good news.”
Sahu used the opportunitalso announced that Airtel Uganda is the first operator in the country, and the second in Africa after the Democratic Republic of Congo, to launch satellite-powered mobile connectivity through a partnership with Starlink.
He said it will bring coverage to places where terrestrial networks are hard to build, such as Bwindi National Park, the Rwenzori Mountains and islands on Lake Victoria-URN. Give us feedback on this story through our email: kamwokyatimes@gmail.com
