Retail Share Trading Picks Up as Ziidi Trader Gains Ground at the NSE

Kenya’s stock market is drawing renewed participation from small investors as Safaricom’s mobile trading platform, Ziidi Trader, pushes more retail users into share trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

New disclosures from Safaricom show that 84,000 accounts bought shares through the platform between February and March, just weeks after its launch. Total registrations reached 511,000 users during the same period, reflecting strong public interest in mobile-based investing even as active trading remained lower than sign-up levels.

The platform allows M-Pesa customers to trade listed shares directly from their phones without opening traditional brokerage accounts, reducing one of the barriers that has historically limited participation in Kenya’s capital markets.

Trading data from the Nairobi Securities Exchange shows Ziidi Trader processed 268,840 transactions worth Sh772.2 million between February 10 and May 6. Its share of overall market turnover fluctuated between 1 percent and 2 percent during the period, with daily market share peaking at 4.27 percent on March 30.

The strongest activity came immediately after launch. More than 9,300 trades were executed on February 11 alone, while the highest daily turnover was recorded on February 16 at Sh28.98 million.

Despite the increase in transaction volumes, trade values on the platform remained relatively small compared with the wider market. Average Ziidi deals stood at Sh2,872.60, far below the broader market average of Sh63,950 per transaction, underscoring the continued dominance of institutional and high-net-worth investors in overall market turnover.

The growth in mobile-led investing comes as the NSE attempts to address a long-standing participation problem. Millions of investor accounts exist within Kenya’s capital markets system, but only a small fraction trade consistently.

The current retail expansion push also revives memories of the 2008 Safaricom IPO, which drew large numbers of first-time investors into the market but failed to sustain long-term trading activity among many small shareholders.

Ziidi Trader forms part of a broader strategy by the exchange to increase active retail participation by simplifying access through mobile infrastructure rather than traditional broker-led onboarding.

“This confirms that ordinary citizens are now actively participating in Kenya’s capital markets,” said Eric Ruenji.

The platform was developed jointly by Safaricom, the NSE and Kestrel Capital. Users trade using existing M-Pesa verification credentials and PIN authentication, while purchased shares are held through an omnibus structure managed by Kestrel Capital.

Its impact was also visible during the recent Kenya Pipeline Company IPO, where 36,000 out of 73,000 retail participants submitted applications through the mobile platform.

At the close of the offer, William Ruto and John Mbadi credited the system with widening public participation in ownership of state-backed assets.

The exchange is now targeting 9 million retail investors by 2029 as it leans more heavily on digital channels to expand market access. Still, the larger challenge for the market may extend beyond onboarding users to sustaining regular participation after entry.

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