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OLD MUTUAL FOUNDATION
How Old Mutual Foundation is Securing Kenya’s Future
Kenya faces two defining challenges that will shape its future prosperity: financial vulnerability among households and increasing pressure on critical environmental ecosystems. While financial inclusion has expanded significantly over the past decade, financial wellness remains elusive for many citizens. At the same time, the degradation of key water towers and forest landscapes continues to threaten livelihoods, biodiversity and climate resilience.
For the Old Mutual Foundation, these challenges are inseparable.
Through a long-term strategy focused on financial education and environmental conservation, the Foundation is helping strengthen both household resilience and ecological sustainability to create lasting value beyond traditional philanthropy.
Empowering Financially Resilient Communities
Although more than half of Kenyans are financially included, only a small proportion are considered financially healthy. Bridging this gap has become a core focus of the Foundation’s work.
In 2025 alone, Old Mutual Foundation reached more than 30,000 people directly through financial education programmes while extending its digital financial literacy content to over 2.2 million Kenyans. By combining classroom learning, community engagement and digital platforms, the Foundation has created one of the country’s largest financial literacy initiatives.
Its flagship programmes, Old Mutual Learn Think Do and Old Mutual On The Money, equip communities with practical financial management skills. Through partnerships with schools, universities, TVET institutions and organisations, the Foundation has built a scalable model that reaches learners at multiple stages of life.
The Foundation’s long-term ambition is equally significant. Between 2026 and 2028, it plans to expand its reach to hundreds of thousands of learners annually, contributing toward a broader target of reaching five million individuals with financial education content by 2030.
Responding to Kenya’s Financial Wellness Gap
The urgency of this work is reflected in findings from the Old Mutual Financial Wellness Monitor 2025. While financial confidence among working Kenyans is improving, many households continue to navigate significant pressure. Only a minority report having surplus income at month-end, retirement preparedness remains low, and many individuals continue to rely on borrowing to meet day-to-day expenses.
At the same time, the research reveals strong intent among Kenyans to build financial security, with most respondents setting savings goals and actively seeking opportunities to improve their financial position.
This gap between aspiration and capability presents a significant opportunity for intervention. By investing in financial literacy at scale, the Foundation is helping transform financial inclusion into meaningful financial wellbeing.
Restoring Kenya’s Critical Ecosystems
Alongside its financial education initiatives, environmental conservation has emerged as a second pillar of the Foundation’s impact strategy.
Working with the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Kenya Forest Service (KFS), WWF Kenya and county governments, the Foundation has supported the restoration of degraded forest landscapes across some of Kenya’s most important ecological zones. Its work spans the Aberdare Range, Kaptagat Forest and, most recently, Chepalungu Forest in Bomet County.
These landscapes play critical roles as water towers, biodiversity reserves and climate-regulating ecosystems that support millions of livelihoods across the country.
In the Aberdares, the Foundation has helped rehabilitate 60 hectares of degraded land, contributing to the protection of a catchment area that supplies water to Nairobi and surrounding counties. Through partnerships in Kaptagat, the Foundation has supported indigenous tree planting and broader conservation efforts aimed at safeguarding one of Kenya’s key water and carbon ecosystems.
Most recently, the Foundation launched a major rehabilitation programme in Chepalungu Forest, supporting the restoration of 100 hectares within an important watershed linked to the Mara and Sondu river systems.
Collectively, these initiatives have established Old Mutual Foundation as an active partner in Kenya’s national restoration agenda.
Employee Volunteers Driving Impact
A distinguishing feature of the Foundation’s approach is its emphasis on employee participation. Staff continue to support financial education and conservation programmes across the country through organised volunteering efforts.
This approach extends the impact of financial investment by mobilising employee skills, strengthening organisational culture and embedding sustainability into the company’s broader identity.
A Model for Collaborative Impact
As it looks ahead, the Foundation is increasingly focused on partnership-led growth. Its strategy calls for deeper collaboration with like minded partners to expand impact and accelerate scale. This reflects a growing recognition that neither financial resilience nor environmental restoration can be achieved by a single institution acting alone.
By combining financial education, environmental stewardship and strategic partnerships, the Old Mutual Foundation is helping build a stronger foundation for Kenya’s future.
In a landscape where businesses are increasingly expected to create measurable social value alongside financial returns, the Foundation’s work offers a compelling example of how corporate purpose can translate into meaningful national impact.
