Collective investment schemes (unit trusts) let an investor own a professionally-managed, diversified basket priced at a daily net asset value (NAV). Tanzania’s iTrust family spans the risk ladder — from a money-market fund to a growth fund. The headline returns are real; the important work is understanding what each fund actually holds.
A money-market fund — short-dated, high-quality instruments for liquidity and capital preservation. ~5% return; the lowest-risk rung. Use: cash management and dry powder.
A fixed-income fund — government and corporate debt for a steady yield (~5.7%) with monthly payouts. Moderate risk. Use: income and a lower-volatility complement to equities.
A balanced/growth fund — the standout performer, +103.9% since its Dec-2024 launch (NAV ~138 at end-2025; ~TZS 90bn AUM). Higher risk — and the composition deserves a close look (below).
iGrowth’s headline is a diversified balanced fund (~65% equity mandate). Two independent methods say otherwise. NMB Bank’s own 2025 share register shows the fund held 4,687,509 NMB shares at 31 Dec 2025 — marked to market, ~38% of fund NAV in a single stock. A separate cross-check (solving for the weight that explains the fund’s NAV moves against NMB’s rally) implies 38–41%. The fund is ~87.7% equity-like, and its celebrated record is, in attribution terms, substantially one trade — concentrated banking beta into NMB’s re-rating.
The implication: iGrowth is best understood as a concentrated single-name bank position with stabilisers, not a diversified vehicle. That is not a criticism of its returns — it is a statement about the risk an investor is actually taking. Size it as bank exposure, and check each fact sheet for the current NMB weight.
Units price once daily at NAV. iTrust switches between iIncome and iGrowth carry no exit fee; a 1% exit fee applies to payouts or moves to iCash. Processing takes ~3 working days, so a round-trip costs roughly 0.3–0.5% plus foregone carry in transit — cheap, but not free, and once-daily pricing matters for a fund whose largest holding gaps on news.
The backdrop genuinely favours bank equities: system credit is compounding ~23.6% year-on-year against ~6% GDP growth, non-performing loans near 2.9%, and positive real policy rates — with no inflation emergency forcing the Bank of Tanzania to tighten. The sector thesis is sound; the question for an iGrowth investor is concentration, not direction.
Choosing among them: iCash for liquidity, iIncome for yield and lower volatility, iGrowth for equity upside — sized for the single-name bank risk it carries. A blend across the three is how the risk ladder is meant to be used.