Safaricom Launches Ziidi Trader, Enables Share Trading via M-PESA-How It Works

Safaricom has launched Ziidi Trader, a new platform that allows Kenyans to buy and sell Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) listed shares directly through the M-PESA app.

The platform was officially launched on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, at the Michael Joseph Centre in Westlands, Nairobi, in partnership with the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and Kestrel Capital.

President William Ruto, who presided over the launch, described Ziidi Trader as a transformative step in liberalising financial services and expanding access to wealth creation opportunities for ordinary Kenyans.

“This platform represents a decisive turning point in how citizens engage with the stock market. It opens the doors of market participation wider than ever before, dismantling long-standing barriers that have locked out many willing investors,” President Ruto said.

Safaricom Launches Ziidi Trader Platform, Enabling Share Trading via M-PESA

Safaricom Chief Financial Officer Dilip Pal said the launch of Ziidi Trader marks the next phase in the evolution of M-PESA, from a payments platform to a tool for long-term wealth creation.

“With Ziidi Trader now live on the M-PESA platform, we are extending M-PESA beyond short-term transactions into long-term wealth creation through securities trading on the NSE,” Pal said.

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He added that Safaricom has invested heavily in transforming M-PESA into a cloud-native, AI-enabled platform, improving reliability, security, and fraud detection to support innovative services such as Ziidi Trader.

How Ziidi Trader works

Safaricom Chief Financial Services Officer Esther Waititu explained that the platform builds on existing solutions such as Pochi La Biashara and Ziidi Money Market Fund, which help MSMEs separate personal and business finances while earning interest on idle funds.

“We are moving customers from purely transactional use of money to long-term investments. With Ziidi Trader, users can buy even one or two shares and earn dividends directly,” Waititu said.

She added that financial literacy will be a key pillar of the platform to help users understand capital markets and investment risks.

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According to Safaricom, Ziidi Trader has already shown strong early performance. In its first three days of public testing, the platform accounted for 7,500 trades out of 14,900 total trades at the NSE, representing about 2% of the total value traded.

“What this shows us is the huge potential of retail investors to participate meaningfully in the capital markets,” Waititu noted.