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Will ‘Ziidi Trader’ revolutionize retail investing?
Kenya's #1 newsletter among business leaders & policy makers
Hello 👋🏽 It's Brian from The Kenyan Wall Street.
In today's newsletter…
Safaricom launched Ziidi trader today. What is this promising platform intended to do?
CBK has cut rates to 8.75% but bankers urge caution
KPLC Power Sales hit record highs as demand soars
Will ‘Ziidi Trader’ revolutionize retail investing at the NSE?
President William Ruto at the launch of the ‘Ziidi Trader' by Safaricom held at the Exchange
By Harry Njuguna & Brian Nzomo
Safaricom has launched the new platform for stock trading into M-Pesa, lifting a long-standing social constraint. With Ziidi Trader, buying shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is no longer an act reserved for the initiated; those fluent in brokers, forms, and financial patience, but something that now sits beside airtime purchases and electricity bills.
Early trading volumes suggest that the friction, more than the risk, had been the true barrier, and that once removed, Kenyans are willing to step into the market with startling speed. It is a reminder that financial participation is often shaped not by ambition but by design, and that infrastructure can quietly redraw who belongs where. If this moment holds, Ziidi Trader may mark a new dawn for retail investing in Kenya; one where capital markets finally speak the language of everyday life.
Read the full article here >>>>>
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CBK’s Tenth Consecutive Rate Cut
KBA Chairman Raymond Molenje
By Harry Njuguna
The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) has slashed the benchmark CBR by 25 basis points to 8.75%, marking a record 10th consecutive easing move. As inflation remains subdued at 4.4% and private-sector credit picking up at 6.4%, there is an atmosphere of caution from the Kenya Bankers Association, which had urged the central bank to hold at 9.00%, warning that further cuts risk complicating the ongoing shift to risk-based lending and that food-driven inflationary pressures remain a latent threat. Read what they said here »»»»»
Across the border, Uganda’s central bank opted for caution, keeping its benchmark rates unchanged as Africa’s February monetary policy week begins.
A Deal without a Signature
By Fred Obura
According to a court ruling, a deal that never quite existed on paper was nevertheless found to be real. Apparel shop LC Waikiki’s months of meetings, timelines, and preparations with logistics firm, Bolloré, were treated by the court not as flirtation but as commitment, sufficient to create legal obligation. The ruling suggests that modern commerce, impatient with formalities, can still be bound by its own choreography. For companies accustomed to walking away before signatures are exchanged, the case offers a sobering reminder that intention is sometimes legible in behavior alone.
Read the full article here >>>>>
OPINION : Why Kenya's Investment Case Stands Above its African Peers?
The city of Nairobi
By John Mwendwa, CEO - InvestKenya
Kenya is quietly rewriting the rules of investment in Africa, not with a single flash of reform but through patient, methodical change. Across approvals, project preparation, and sector packaging, the country is making it possible for capital to move from curiosity to execution without the usual bottlenecks. Digitized processes, legal reforms, and curated project pipelines are turning abstract opportunity into something almost tangible, almost immediate. For investors tired of chasing deals across bureaucracy, Kenya is beginning to feel like a place where ambition can land and actually take root.
Read the opinion article here >>>>>
Power Sales Soar Amid Higher Demand for Electricity
By Harry Njuguna
Kenya’s power grid crossed a threshold in 2025, when electricity consumption quietly began behaving like that of an industrializing economy rather than a tentative one. Monthly demand pushed past 1,000 gigawatt-hours not once but twice, signaling a structural shift as factories, businesses, and households settled into heavier, more consistent use. Supply kept some pace due to higher domestic generation and rising regional imports from Uganda and Ethiopia. In the background hum of transformers and transmission lines, a new energy baseline appears to be locking in, brighter and more demanding than before.
Read the whole article here »»»»»
Heads Up
On your watchlist
Upcoming Events : InvestKenya Announces the Upcoming Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) 2026
Taking place at the Radisson Blu Upper Hill on March 25, 2026, the 4th Kenya International Investment Conference (KIICO) 2026 is set to be the largest and most impactful investment promotion conference in Kenya’s history. Register here »»»»»
During KIICO 2026, Kenya will also host the 2nd COMESA Investment Forum on March 26 and the Africa Green Industrialization Initiative (AGII) on March 27th.
Read more about it here »»»»»
Today in History
The Wagalla massacre would begin to unfold in Wajir as Kenyan security forces executed a brutal operation ostensibly to seize illegal arms, leaving hundreds dead and marking one of the darkest chapters in the nation’s post-independence history.
Keep up with what’s happening on our X and LinkedIn pages. Stay updated with the latest financial news on our website The Kenyan Wall Street.