From Nairobi to New York, Lagos and Abu Dhabi, NSE is widening its capital-market reach
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is looking beyond conventional listings as it builds connections with financial centres in New York, Lagos and Abu Dhabi, seeking new ways to connect Kenyan and regional investors with global opportunities while broadening the products and infrastructure available through the local market.
The discussions range from potential American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) and the use of financial data and technology to cross-border IPO participation, potential cross-listings, fixed-income products and deeper links with Middle Eastern investors. The proposed Dangote Refinery GDR in Nairobi offers one of the clearest examples of how that connectivity could work in practice, potentially giving Kenyan investors access to a Nigerian IPO through local market infrastructure.
The push comes as the NSE operates in a market that has regained a KSh4 trillion-plus valuation and is developing new investment products, while major transactions such as the proposed US$2.3 billion acquisition of Diageo’s stake in East African Breweries have demonstrated the scale of international capital already interacting with Kenyan-listed assets.
Dangote shows what cross-border market access could look like
The proposed NSE GDR structure for Dangote Petroleum Refinery and Petrochemicals provides a practical example of the exchange’s ambitions.
The Nigerian refinery IPO opened on September 14, with Dangote offering 4.1 billion shares at ₦525 each. Under the proposed Kenyan structure, investors would apply through local brokers, with Renaissance Capital Kenya aggregating applications before the order is submitted into Nigeria. If shares are allocated, the underlying Nigerian shares would be held in custody and GDRs could then be issued for trading on the NSE and settlement through Kenya’s Central Depository and Settlement Corporation.
The structure would allow the underlying Nigerian shares to remain in Nigeria while creating a Kenyan-traded instrument representing those shares. The proposed GDR remains subject to regulatory approval, with the final ratio, pricing, fees, allocation arrangements and other terms to be established in the approved transaction documents.
The arrangement reflects an idea NSE CEO Frank Mwiti outlined during a September visit to Lagos for the Dangote IPO opening. He said the NSE wanted Kenyan retail and institutional investors to participate, saw Kenya as a gateway for East African capital and was also discussing the possibility of a future cross-listing of Dangote’s shares on the NSE.
That creates a two-way model for the Nairobi market. Kenyan and regional investors could potentially gain access to an asset listed in Nigeria through Nairobi, while companies and projects in the wider African market could use the NSE to reach investors closer to home.
Nairobi is positioning itself as a regional capital gateway
The Dangote transaction builds on the experience of Kenya Pipeline’s IPO, which was structured to allow participation from investors across East Africa.
For the NSE, the significance extends beyond a single transaction. A functioning mechanism for investors in one African market to access securities from another could reduce some of the practical barriers associated with cross-border investing, including access to brokers, custody, settlement and market information.
The proposed Dangote GDR is therefore more than another investment product. It demonstrates how an exchange can sit between companies raising capital and investors located in different jurisdictions.
The model also fits into a broader effort to expand the range of ways capital can enter and exit Kenyan businesses. The NSE has been exploring a secondary investment vehicle with the Nairobi International Financial Centre and other stakeholders that could provide exit routes for private-equity and development-finance investors.
At the same time, the WSA Banking Index ETF has received conditional approval and could become Kenya’s first locally domiciled ETF once the remaining requirements are completed. Together, these initiatives point to a market increasingly built around different securities and investor access routes rather than conventional equity listings alone.
New York offers lessons beyond traditional listings
The NSE’s engagement with New York adds another dimension.
Speaking to Wall Street Africa Co-Founder and CEO Erica Asuma during his visit, Mwiti said many of the challenges Kenya is addressing have already been encountered in more mature markets. He pointed specifically to the New York Stock Exchange’s use of financial news, data, media and technology to expand its market.
The conversation also moved beyond conventional listings into other products, with ADRs among the possibilities being explored. Mwiti did not announce an ADR programme with the NYSE, and the discussions should therefore be understood as exploratory.
The New York conversation is also taking place alongside a wider effort to connect African markets with global investors. Speaking to FINTECH.TV from the NYSE, Asuma said Wall Street Africa sells African market-data products to firms on Wall Street that trade African markets and is developing investment products designed to connect both global and domestic investors with African opportunities.
Asuma described information, data and products as part of the infrastructure needed to connect African markets with the much larger pools of capital available in global financial centres. That provides useful context for Mwiti’s interest in how the NYSE uses financial data, media and technology around its core exchange business.
For the NSE, the lesson is therefore broader than attracting more listings. Investors outside Kenya need reliable information, accessible products and market infrastructure that makes securities easier to research, access and trade.
Data is becoming part of the market-access equation
Financial data sits at the centre of that connection.
An international investor deciding whether to allocate capital to Kenya needs more than a ticker symbol. It needs market prices, company information, sector data, research, corporate actions, liquidity information and mechanisms for executing and settling trades.
The same applies in reverse when Kenyan investors seek opportunities in other African markets.
This creates an opportunity for exchanges and financial-technology companies to package information and market access in ways that make cross-border investment easier. Wall Street Africa’s data business provides one example of that emerging layer, while the NSE’s own discussions around technology and products point toward a similar broadening of the exchange’s role.
The banking ETF adds another part of the equation. Packaging a group of listed banking companies into a single tradable security can make sector exposure easier to access, while also creating a product that can potentially be distributed to investors beyond the market where the underlying companies are listed.
The significance is therefore not simply digital trading. It is the development of an ecosystem around securities, information and investor access.
Lagos highlights the depth of Kenya’s fixed-income opportunity
The NSE’s September engagement in Lagos also exposed another area where it sees room to broaden the Kenyan market.
During his discussion at FMDQ Securities Exchange, Mwiti said the NSE was interested in lessons from Nigeria’s deeper fixed-income market. He pointed to the dominance of secondary trading in government securities in Kenya, relatively limited corporate issuance and the absence of a more developed short-term debt securities market, including commercial paper.
The interest is significant because deeper capital markets require more than equity products. Corporate bonds, commercial paper and other debt instruments can give companies additional ways to raise capital while creating more investment options for institutions and other market participants.
Mwiti also said the NSE and Nigeria Exchange Group were discussing closer collaboration, alongside potential cooperation among brokers, custodians, fund managers and other participants in their respective capital-market ecosystems.
That complements the broader African Exchange Linkage Project, but the direction described by Mwiti is wider than a single market-linkage initiative. It points toward greater cooperation between the institutions that make securities markets function.
Abu Dhabi adds a Middle Eastern investor channel
The NSE’s international outreach has also extended to the Gulf.
At the AFCM Annual Conference in Abu Dhabi on September 29–30, Mwiti participated in a panel examining automation, regulation and the changing needs of investors in the brokerage industry. The discussion brought together representatives from the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, BHM Capital, ADIB Securities, Beltone Holding and Arqaam Capital.
The engagement gives the NSE another reference point for understanding how technology and changing investor behaviour are affecting capital-market intermediaries.
It also comes as the exchange seeks deeper investment links between Kenya and investors in the Middle East and North Africa. Unlike the New York discussions, which focused heavily on data, technology and product diversification, the Abu Dhabi engagement puts more emphasis on investor connectivity, brokerage infrastructure and the evolution of market intermediaries.
Together, the three markets offer different lessons. New York provides a reference for the role of financial data, media, technology and diversified products. Lagos provides a closer African example around cross-border investment, fixed income and exchange collaboration. Abu Dhabi adds the perspective of MENA investors and increasingly automated brokerage infrastructure.
Kenya’s domestic market provides the foundation
The international push is taking place alongside a strengthening domestic market.
The NSE crossed the KSh4 trillion market-capitalisation mark again in September, with the market ending the week at about KSh4.004 trillion after a sharp Friday rebound. Weekly turnover had also risen by 44.75%, while the number of shares traded increased by 26.46% during the period covered by the exchange’s market update.
Those numbers matter because international connectivity ultimately depends on the depth and activity of the underlying market.
Kenya is also developing a wider digital investment ecosystem around the exchange. Retail investment platforms, digital account-opening services and mobile-based financial products have lowered some traditional barriers to accessing financial products, while the broader Kenyan digital economy provides infrastructure that can support more digital forms of investor engagement.
Mobile data subscriptions reached 64.3 million by June 2026, although connectivity alone does not translate automatically into capital-market participation. The opportunity for the exchange is to connect that digital infrastructure with products and information that investors can actually use.
Global capital already has a stake in Kenya
The internationalisation strategy is also occurring in a market that already attracts substantial foreign capital.
The proposed US$2.3 billion transaction involving East African Breweries is one example. Competition Authority approval for Asahi’s acquisition of Diageo’s 65% stake in EABL, subject to conditions, placed one of Kenya’s largest listed companies at the centre of a major international strategic transaction.
That is different from the NSE’s effort to enable Kenyan investors to participate in Dangote’s IPO, but the two transactions illustrate the same broader capital-market challenge from opposite directions.
In one case, international strategic capital is interacting with a Kenyan-listed asset. In the other, Kenyan and potentially East African investors are being given a possible route into a Nigerian asset through Nairobi.
The value of stronger market connectivity is therefore not limited to attracting foreign investors. It can also give domestic and regional investors greater access to African and international opportunities.
The Dangote and Lamu stories show both directions
The two Dangote-related opportunities make that distinction particularly clear.
The proposed GDR concerns Dangote’s existing Nigerian refinery business. If approved and completed, Kenyan investors would gain exposure to that business through a security traded on the NSE, while the underlying shares would remain in Nigeria.
The proposed Lamu refinery is a separate project. Dangote has indicated that the Kenyan refinery could eventually be listed on the NSE, potentially creating a major new local capital-market opportunity if the project proceeds and its ownership and financing structure supports such a listing.
One transaction would effectively bring a foreign African asset closer to Kenyan investors. The other could bring a major East African industrial asset to Nairobi’s capital market.
That two-way flow captures much of what the NSE’s international outreach is trying to achieve.
The exchange is becoming part of a wider financial technology ecosystem
The common thread across these initiatives is infrastructure.
Cross-border securities require more than an exchange listing. They depend on brokers, custodians, central securities depositories, settlement systems, regulatory coordination, investor identification, pricing mechanisms and reliable market information.
The New York conversations add another layer around financial data, technology and media. The Lagos discussions bring in exchange connectivity and fixed income. Abu Dhabi adds automated brokerage and investor-intermediation models. Domestic initiatives such as ETFs, digital investment platforms and the proposed Dangote GDR add additional channels through which investors can interact with the market.
This makes the NSE’s technology agenda broader than simply digitising trading.
The longer-term opportunity is to build a market in which securities, investor information, intermediaries and settlement infrastructure can connect more easily across products and jurisdictions.
Nairobi’s capital-market ambition is becoming broader
The NSE’s engagements in New York, Lagos and Abu Dhabi are occurring in different contexts, but they point in the same direction: expanding the connections around Kenya’s capital market.
The proposed Dangote GDR offers the most tangible example because it translates cross-border connectivity into a potential security that Kenyan investors could trade locally. The proposed cross-listing discussion goes further by raising the possibility of bringing the underlying security itself closer to Nairobi.
New York introduces the possibility of applying lessons from one of the world’s deepest financial markets around data, technology, media and products. Lagos provides lessons from a major African market on fixed income and cross-exchange cooperation, while Abu Dhabi brings another pool of institutional capital and financial-market expertise into the conversation.
For the NSE, the challenge is turning these conversations into functioning market infrastructure, investable products and sustained investor participation.
The exchange already has a domestic market of more than KSh4 trillion, an expanding range of investment products and a growing digital financial ecosystem around it. Its international outreach now points toward a broader ambition: making Nairobi a place where capital can move more easily between Kenyan, African and global investment opportunities.
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