Starting from January 2026, investors looking to put their money in the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) will be able to buy and sell shares on M-Pesa.
This will come following the successful piloting of the Ziidi Trader mobile platform by Safaricom and the NSE. The new platform will allow for deposits and withdrawals directly to and from M-Pesa, in a move that will reduce entry barriers for retail investors seeking to access the capital markets.
The Ziidi Trader platform follows the successful launch of the Ziidi MMF which was launched in December 2024. The Money Market Fund allows Kenyans to invest their money directly from their mobile phones. It offers free deposits and withdrawals to and from M-Pesa, with the minimum amount one can invest set at Sh100.
As at September 2025, Ziidi had 1.15 million customers representing an estimated 47.9 percent of the 2.4 million individual investors in unit trust schemes as per the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) June 2025 register.
To buy and sell shares on M-Pesa, investors under Ziidi Trader will not be required to open an individual share trading account with M-Pesa as has been traditionally happening.
“The solution makes coming to market seamless… Leveraging M-Pesa makes it fairly seamless, and there is the ability to scale given the platform is already used by millions of people,” NSE chief executive officer Frank Mwiti told a local business newspaper.
The new way of trading in shares will mark a fresh milestone in the growth of Kenya’s financial markets, coming after the Centra Bank of Kenya allowed access to treasury bonds through mobile phones.
The CBK currently allows investors to pay for treasury bonds and bills through M-Pesa. This is facilitated through the CBK digital platform known as DhowCSD for transactions of up Sh250,000.
The DhowCSD platform was launched in 2023, and improvised to allow payments via M-Pesa in November 2025.
This platform allows investors to participate in treasury bills and bonds auctions, view auction results, check payment instructions, monitor upcoming corporate actions, and access their portfolio statements.
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