Ziidi Trader Reaches KSh1 Billion in Early Trading Milestone

Four months after opening to retail investors, Ziidi Trader has crossed the KSh1 billion mark in cumulative turnover, adding fresh evidence that digital access is drawing more individual investors into Kenya’s stock market. The KSh1 billion turnover milestone follows KSh1.08 billion worth of trading across 351,440 transactions between February 10 and June 26, with the average trade valued at KSh3,076.69.

The milestone comes as the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) expands its effort to attract more retail investors through digital trading. Developed in partnership with Safaricom, Ziidi Trader is available through My OneApp, the company’s unified platform that combines M-PESA, telecom services and a growing range of digital products in one experience. Rather than requiring investors to navigate traditional brokerage channels, the platform lets users buy listed shares and corporate bonds through an application many already use for everyday financial transactions. Investors can begin with as little as a single share, lowering one of the traditional barriers to entering the stock market.

Performance figures published by the exchange show Ziidi Trader recorded KSh1,081,269,102 in cumulative turnover within its first four and a half months of operation. The platform also reached a 4.27% peak market share on March 30, while maintaining an average market share of 1.50% across the reporting period.

Ziidi Trader Reaches KSh1.08 Billion in Four Months

The milestone matters less because of the headline figure than because of how it was achieved.

Rather than relying on a handful of large institutional transactions, Ziidi Trader’s activity came from 351,440 individual trades, producing an average transaction size slightly above KSh3,000.

That stands in sharp contrast to the wider market, where the average deal size was KSh72,720 over the same period. Each Ziidi trade was therefore worth only a small fraction of a typical transaction executed across the exchange.

The relatively small trade size reflects the platform’s design. By allowing investors to purchase as little as a single share through a mobile interface, Ziidi Trader lowers the capital needed to participate in the stock market. As NSE Chief Executive Frank Mwiti explained, the platform was created “to enable the general public to access our market,” reflecting the exchange’s effort to make investing more accessible beyond traditional brokerage channels.

Small Trades Define the Platform’s Growth

The average trade size offers the clearest insight into how the platform is being used.

While cumulative turnover surpassed KSh1 billion, the average investment per trade remained modest. The data points to frequent low-value purchases rather than concentrated institutional buying.

Over approximately 137 days, Ziidi Trader averaged about 2,565 trades per day and processed nearly KSh7.9 million in daily turnover.

Trading activity also experienced periods of heavier participation.

The highest daily turnover reached KSh28.98 million on February 16, while the platform recorded its busiest trading day by volume on February 11, when users completed 9,320 trades.

Market Share Remains Modest Despite Trading Milestone

Although the platform has attracted strong retail participation, it still represents a relatively small portion of activity on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

An average market share of 1.50% indicates that most equity trading continues to flow through established brokerage channels. Even the highest recorded share of 4.27% reflects a temporary high point rather than a sustained level.

The figures also arrive against a broader challenge facing Kenya’s capital markets. The exchange has about 3 million retail investor accounts, yet fewer than 200,000 trade regularly, underscoring the gap between account ownership and active participation.

Viewed in that context, Ziidi Trader represents more than another digital investment product. It is part of the exchange’s attempt to convert dormant account holders into active market participants by removing much of the friction associated with buying and selling securities.

What the Numbers Mean for Kenya’s Capital Markets

The performance data suggests Ziidi Trader has established itself as an entry point for retail investors rather than a platform competing directly with institutional trading.

Its relatively small average trade size, combined with more than 351,000 completed transactions, indicates that participation is spread across many individual orders instead of a limited number of high-value deals.

The figures also highlight where further disclosure could provide a fuller picture. The exchange has not published the number of registered users, active monthly traders or the distribution of trading activity across listed companies. Those metrics would help determine whether the platform is broadening participation across the market or concentrating activity in a small group of popular stocks.

For now, the available data suggests Ziidi Trader is making measurable progress toward the exchange’s objective of expanding retail participation. The NSE has set a target of growing Kenya’s retail investor base to 9 million by 2029, making Ziidi Trader an early test of whether integrating investing into a digital platform people already use can translate into sustained participation in Kenya’s capital markets.

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