M-PESA, Kenya’s leading mobile money platform, has just made trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) easier for everyday Kenyans.
On Tuesday, Safaricom announced the launch of Ziidi Trader, a new service on M-Pesa that allows users to buy and sell shares on the NSE directly from their phones, simplifying stock trading and opening up investment opportunities with a tap on their smartphone.
The platform will enable the over 37 million M-Pesa users to buy and sell stocks the same way they send money to a friend or pay for utilities like electricity.
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Announcing the launch, Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said,
“Ziidi Trader is a powerful step in democratizing wealth for our customers. For eighteen 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.”
Also speaking during the launch, Kenyan’s President William Ruto said the initiative is meant to bring ordinary workers into formal investment spaces that were once difficult to reach. Ruto further linked the platform to efforts aimed at empowering small-scale traders and transport operators, saying it gives them new financial options.
Ziidi Trader’s launch comes in the wake of a strong rally at the NSE, which has benefited from growing allocations to emerging-market stocks since last year.
Established in 1954, the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is the leading stock exchange in East Africa offering world class trading facilities for both its local and foreign investors looking to gain exposure to the country’s rising economy.
2025 was a standout year for the NSE, marked by robust gains across major indices and significant increases in market value pointing to strong investor confidence and renewed interest in Kenya’s capital markets.
One notable highlight was the market capitalization hitting historic levels. By late 2025, the total value of all listed shares approached and even crossed KES 3?trillion, a milestone not seen in prior years.
Despite strong performance in 2025 including rising market capitalisation and record increases in share accounts the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) continues to struggle with low participation from everyday Kenyan investors.
While headline figures suggest vibrant market activity, a closer look reveals a significant gap between market growth and the average Kenyan’s involvement in the stock market. At the end of 2025, data released by the NSE showed that only about 2.5?% of trading activity was attributed to retail investors, a tiny share compared to institutional involvement.
The launch of Ziidi trader on M-Pesa seeks to address this gap in Kenya’s capital markets that stockbrokers and investment banks have yet to fully resolve. Traditionally, retail investors needed to open a brokerage account and go through administrative processes to get connected to the NSE. With Ziidi Trader inside M?Pesa, this hurdle is now reduced or eliminated.
Users can simply opt into the mini?app directly from the M?Pesa interface, no paperwork, separate logins, or broker onboarding steps are required. Safety checks like know?your?customer (KYC) are handled using existing mobile money credentials.
By embedding stock trading within an app that over 37 million Kenyans already use daily, the platform makes investing feel as familiar as sending money or paying bills on a phone. Ziidi Trader accounted for an average of 40% of trades at the bourse since it went live on Monday, Safaricom revealed, representing 5% of total daily trade volume.
Notably, Ziidi Trader taps into M?Pesa’s massive user base tens of million creating a dramatically larger pool of potential new retail investors. By making the stock market accessible through an app already embedded in everyday life, the initiative could accelerate the number of everyday participants far more quickly than traditional brokerage channels alone.
The NSE, which is one of Africa’s top bourses by market capitalisation, says it is targeting 9 million active retail investors by the end of 2029.