Critical Success Factors for a Micro-Pension Plan: An Exploratory Study

Micro-pension plans are meant to insulate low income earners against old-age poverty. The formulation of such plans requires a delicate balance between economic viability, generation of adequate returns and customized features for the participants. This study sought to determine the pragmatic models for implementation of micro-pension plans, regulatory issues surrounding their operations, challenges to implementation and the strategies that can address the challenges. The data, collected from 1083 informal sector participants, 30 Micro-finance institutions and 20 Savings and Credit Cooperative Societies in Kenya was analyzed by use of factor analysis and visual binary approaches. The study concludes that the ideal micro-pension scheme needs to address governance, administrative, design and efficiency issues to succeed and recommends a multi-model implementation of micro-pension plans in addition to a separate set of regulations to govern the micro-pension plans.