The number of equity trades every day has been doubling or tripling on the Nairobi Securities Exchange after Safaricom launched its retail-focused Ziidi trading platform. The platform opens buying and selling shares to nearly 38 million active subscribers of Safaricom’s M-PESA mobile money platform and strips layers of form-filling and investment minimums.

The daily number of deals has soared since pilot trading started on Ziidi on 5 February. There were 24,357 trades yesterday 12 February (according to the Nairobi Securities Exchange daily report) and 25,773 trades in equities on 11 February, the highest ever recorded on the Nairobi bourse. Ziidi started piloting on 5 February and reporter Harry Njuguna writes in the excellent Kenyan Wall Street: “Activity jumped to 8,713 deals on day one, accelerated to 12,893 on 6 February, reached 14,300 on 9 February, and touched 15,700 mid-session on 11 February before closing even higher.

“The shift marks a clear break from the recent norm of roughly 4,000–7,800 daily trades recorded between October and January, suggesting a structural lift in participation rather than a temporary spike.”

The NSE recorded KES 2.4 billion ($18.9m) in value of equities traded on 10 February, KES 1.8bn on 11 February and KES 1.3bn on 12 February. The most actively traded share was Kenya Power with 3,039 trades followed by Safaricom with 2,921 trades and other active counters were KenGen, Absa, Co-op Bank, Equity, KCB, CIC, Kenya Airways and Britam, writes Njuguna, although he doesn’t say which day.

Graphic by Kenyan Wall Street

The NSE continues to soar to new heights, the NSE All Share Index closed 12 February at 213.02, up from 209.65 the day before, after a strong climb in prices from a low of below 86 in November 2023. Njuguna wrote “five stocks at all-time highs—Equity, I&M, KCB, StanChart and Sameer—and six others hitting multi-year peaks, including Safaricom and Kenya Power. The breadth points to a market-wide rally rather than a sector-specific move.”

President Ruto launched Ziidi

Kenya’s President William Ruto launched the Ziidi trading platform at the Nairobi Securities Exchange on 10 February. According to the Star newspaper, he said it is transformative and will democratize capital markets, allowing those at the bottom of the economic pyramid to grow wealth in capital markets: “This platform represents a decisive turning point in how citizens engage with the stock exchange. It opens the doors of the market participation wider than ever before, dismantling long-standing barriers that have locked out many willing investors and bringing opportunity closer to all citizens.”

The national Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda prioritizes inclusivity for those at the bottom of the economic pyramid. According to a report in Citizen Digital, President Ruto said the innovations are democratizing public assets and transforming ownership, allowing ordinary Kenyans to participate confidently in wealth creation through the capital markets.

“I believe in the capital markets, and I believe in the potential of the capital market to work with the public sector to unlock the potential of this great nation.” He said the Government is leveraging the capital markets as a central pillar for mobilizing capital to deliver a KES 5 trillion ($38.8bn) national transformation plan: “We remain committed to working with all stakeholders to build markets that are deep, efficient and accessible, markets capable of financing innovation, empowering enterprise and advancing national priorities.”

NSE Chairperson Kiprono Kittony said the capital market is opening opportunities by leveraging digital innovation. According to Citizen Digital he said the goal is to ensure access to investment is not a privilege of a few but a right for all who aspire to participate in the country’s economic growth: “Today we are opening the doors of the Kenyan capital markets to millions of Kenyans, empowering them to engage, invest and grow their wealth through a simple, secure and innovative platform incorporated on the M-PESA platform.”

Safaricom’s Chief Finance Officer, Dilip Pal represented CEO, Peter Ndegwa, at the launch, according to the Star report: “Ziidi Trader is a powerful step in democratizing wealth for our customers. For 18 years, M-PESA has transformed how Kenyans live, work and do business.”

“Today, in partnership with the NSE, we are extending that impact to how our customers build and grow their wealth. Our ambition is to be a trusted partner in powering digital lifestyles, making investing simple, convenient, and accessible to everyone, everywhere.”

This report on The Exchange Africa cites him as saying: “Our ambition is to build Africa’s leading purpose-led digital financial ecosystem, one that seamlessly brings together payments, savings, credit, investments, government services, developers, and partners under a single, trusted platform.”

The NSE said it targets 9m active retail investors by the end of 2029. Previously published figures show 200,000 active participants out of over 1.4m Kenyans who own shares (2.5% of the population).

How does Ziidi work?

The platform makes share trading easily accessible to all account holders at M-Pesa and features in the screen menus on the mobile phone app along side money transfers and bill payments. Users opt in, select the listed companies they want to invest into and execute the trades using their M-Pesa balances.

According to The Exchange Africa report: “Ziidi Trader is also designed to be more than a simple trading portal. The platform integrates corporate actions, portfolio analytics, and real-time data on top movers and counter-level performance directly within the app. This empowers users with the information needed to make informed decisions, fostering a new generation of financially savvy Kenyans.”

Ziidi uses stockbroking member of the NSE, Kestrel Capital, as its sole executing broker. Kestrel holds all the shares in an omnibus account at the Central Depository System (CDS) operated by the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC).

This means that users do not need to go through the usual forms and Know Your Client (KYC) processes to open accounts with a stockbroker and the CDS. According to Kenyan Wall Street, the Safaricom-Kestrel omnibus account preserves rights to dividends and voting.

Trades settle within the M-PESA app, providing a single interface. The Exchange Africa says that although while standard NSE equity trades are settled on T+3 (transaction date plus three days), Ziidi Trader accounts will be credited as soon as trades are matched on the exchange. The platform relies on Safaricom’s existing M-PESA KYC credentials to onboard users and facilitate trades.

Ziidi has indicated that it will charge fees closer to 1.5% per trade, lower than the usual broker commissions and other charges which total 1.8%–2.5% for each trade for both buyer and seller. In many cases there were minimum transaction sizes.

For more information, see the Safaricom website including this Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) page.

Safaricom moves into wealth management

Previously Safaricom had been offering payments, savings and borrowing. on 21 January 2025 Safraicom launched Ziidi Money Market Fund in partnership with two fund managers, Standard Investment Bank and ALA Capital, and said the fund was opened in December 2024 and had already attracted over 450,000 subscribers and over KES 2.85bn in assets under management. Savers can deposit as little as KES 100 and interest accrues to the Ziidi wallet daily, allowing compounding.

According to this report in The Trading Room assets under management (AUM) surged 1,061.5% to September 2025 to KES 15.1bn and the number of active customers rose fast to 1.15m. The report adds that interest by Kenyans in Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) is also rising: “The surge was primarily driven by an increase in CIS resulting from new approvals and additional funds registered in the previous quarters.. as well as the general growth of existing CIS. The increase can also be attributed to intensified marketing efforts by the fund managers, easing of interest rates, and stable inflation.”

The company has also introduced Ziidi Shariah, offering inclusive, Shariah‑compliant options.The funds and the Ziidi trading app are regulated by the Capital Markets Authority. In July 2023, the Central Bank of Kenya has launched the DhowCSD upgrade to its central depository, making it possible to buy and invest in Treasury bills and bonds using mobile apps and web interfaces, and this was reported to have over 95,000 users by August 2024.

IPOs on Ziidi

Share offers including the initial public offering (IPO) of Kenya Pipeline Company are also offered on Ziidi. The KPC offer closes on 19 February and interest and discussion are widespread in Kenyan media and social media.