How to buy shares with M-PESA

Two ways to buy shares with M-PESA

You can buy NSE shares with M-PESA in two ways. Ziidi Trader, in the M-PESA app, buys and holds the shares for you in a pooled account, so you need no CDS account. A licensed broker opens a CDS account in your own name, and you send money to it from M-PESA through the broker's paybill. Both reach the same order book at the exchange; what differs is who holds the shares, the charges and how you get money out. As published by Safaricom, the NSE and the firms named, 24 September 2026:

Sources: Ziidi Trader FAQs (updated 6 May 2026), ABC Capital's fee schedule, Genghis Capital's FAQ (T+3, dividends, transfers), CDSC on Dosikaa and Safaricom's 2026 AGM notice. This is a description of two routes, not advice on which one to use.

What Ziidi Trader is

Ziidi Trader is a service Safaricom launched with the Nairobi Securities Exchange on 10 February 2026. It sits in the M-PESA app and lets you buy and sell shares listed on the NSE, and corporate bonds, from your phone. Safaricom says it "operates under the oversight of the Capital Markets Authority" (launch release).

The shares are not registered in your own CDS account. Safaricom's FAQ says: "You do not need to open a CDSC account. All trades are executed via an omnibus account operated by the licensed broker." The FAQ does not name that broker; the terms you accept in the app are where to look. Ziidi Trader is open to M-PESA users aged 18 and over, and only in the M-PESA app, not by USSD (Ziidi Trader FAQs).

Do not confuse it with the Ziidi Money Market Fund, Safaricom's fund product in the same Ziidi family. The fund starts at KES 100, can also be reached on *334#, and earns interest rather than owning shares (Ziidi MMF page). Shares go up and down in price and can be worth less than you paid.

Step by step: buying on Ziidi Trader

1. 1

   Activate Ziidi Trader

   Open the M-PESA app, go to Financial services and select Ziidi Trader. Accept the terms and conditions, complete the account verification and risk acknowledgement, and enter your M-PESA PIN. A notification confirms it.

2. 2

   Pick the share

   In the Ziidi Trader mini-app, select Trade, then the company. Use the name or ticker, for example SCOM for Safaricom.

3. 3

   Enter price and quantity

   Tap Buy, then enter the price you are willing to pay and the number of shares. One share is allowed. See Your first order: market vs limit for how the price you enter decides whether the order fills.

4. 4

   Review and confirm

   Read the trade summary, tap Buy Shares, Proceed, Buy Shares again, and confirm with your M-PESA PIN.

5. 5

   Wait for the outcome

   You get two notifications: one that the request was received, one with the result (filled, partly filled or not filled). The market trades from 9.30 am to 3 pm, Monday to Friday; after 3 pm you can only view your portfolio.

An order fills only when someone is selling at your price. If it does not fill, or fills only in part, the unused money is reversed to M-PESA after the market closes that day. Fuliza cannot be used to pay for shares (Ziidi Trader FAQs).

Brokers you fund by M-PESA paybill

The broker route gives you a CDS account in your own name (see How to open a CDS account in Kenya). Once it is open, you move money in with Lipa na M-PESA, Pay bill, using the broker's business number and your CDS number as the account. These three firms publish their paybill on their own websites; the table copies each one as it read on 24 September 2026. It is not a ranking, and many other licensed firms also take M-PESA.

Licence numbers are from the CMA register for stockbrokers and investment banks. Before paying, confirm the paybill on the firm's own website or app, not from a message or a social media post. Every licensed firm, with its website, is in NSE stockbrokers: list and fees.

Fees and limits

• Ziidi Trader commission: 1.5 % of the trade, on buys and sells (FAQ). The FAQ does not say whether the NSE, CMA and CDSC levies, 0.34 % together on brokers' published schedules, are added on top, so read the trade summary before you enter your PIN.
• Broker route: about 2.1 % below KES 100,000: 1.76 % brokerage (VAT included) plus 0.12 % NSE levy, 0.12 % CMA levy, 0.08 % CDSC levy and 0.01 % to each of the two guarantee funds; about 1.8 % above that (ABC Capital). Minimum commissions and account fees vary; check the firm's fee page.
• M-PESA limits: KES 250,000 per transaction and KES 500,000 a day, fees included. A KES 300,000 order on Ziidi Trader has to be split into two.
• No cap on holdings. Ziidi Trader sets no limit on the number or value of shares in your portfolio.
• M-PESA charges for paying a paybill are not covered here; check them in the M-PESA app before you pay.

Worked example: 10 Safaricom shares at the 23 September 2026 close of KES 36.20. The shares cost KES 362.00. On Ziidi Trader the 1.5 % commission is KES 5.43, so KES 367.43 in total (KES 368.66 if the 0.34 % levies were also charged). Through a broker at about 2.1 % the fees are KES 7.60, so KES 369.60. The price you pay during the session can differ from the close.

What one share costs: Safaricom, KCB, Equity, Kenya Power and KenGen

Since 8 August 2025 shares trade on the NSE in multiples of one unit, and the Odd Lot Board was removed (NSE release, 29 July 2025). So the smallest purchase is one share at the market price plus charges. These are the shares people most often ask how to buy "via M-PESA", priced from KenyaStocks' own closing prices for Wednesday 23 September 2026, with Ziidi Trader's 1.5 % commission added:

Closes change every trading day; each company page shows the latest one. Levies, if Ziidi Trader adds them, and the difference between your order price and the close are not in these figures. The route is the same for every company: on Ziidi Trader, select Trade and the company; at a broker, fund the CDS account and search the ticker.

Dividends to M-PESA

A dividend goes to whoever holds the shares on the company's book closure date. On Ziidi Trader, dividends "are paid via M-PESA Only", straight to your line; the company, not Safaricom, sets the payment date, and the mini-app shows it under the company's Corporate Actions (FAQ). With a broker, the company's registrar pays to the M-PESA or bank details linked to your CDS account (Genghis Capital FAQ). Safaricom's registrar, for example, names M-PESA as the preferred method for dividends below KES 250,000 (AGM notice).

Worked example. Safaricom's final dividend for the year to March 2026 was KES 1.15 per share, for holders on the register at the close of 4 August 2026, payable on or about 4 September 2026 (AGM notice). On 100 shares that is KES 115.00 before tax. Withholding tax of 5 % for a Kenyan resident, KES 5.75, is deducted at source, so KES 109.25 arrives (PwC Kenya withholding tax table, reviewed 17 July 2026). Book closure and payment dates are explained in How dividends work in Kenya.

Selling and getting the money back to M-PESA

1. 1

   Ziidi Trader: place the sell order

   In the mini-app, select Trade and the company, tap Sell, enter the price and quantity, review, tap Sell Shares, Proceed, Sell Shares, and confirm with your M-PESA PIN. It fills only if a buyer takes your price, in full or in part.

2. 2

   Ziidi Trader: the money arrives

   Once the shares are sold, the money is credited to your M-PESA account by the end of the same day.

3. 3

   Broker: sell and wait for settlement

   Sell in the broker's app or by phone. The trade settles on T+3, three working days later, and then you ask the broker to pay the money out to M-PESA or your bank.

To close Ziidi Trader, go to Account, tap Opt out and enter your PIN. If you still hold shares you must first agree to sell them at the market price; the FAQ describes no way to move them to a CDS account instead (FAQ). Shares held at a broker can be moved to another broker with CDS transfer forms 4A and 4B (Genghis Capital FAQ).

How to spot fake Ziidi Trader and M-PESA investment sites

• Ziidi Trader has no website to log in to. Safaricom's FAQ says it is only in the M-PESA app, under Financial services. A web page, WhatsApp or Telegram group, or app from another developer that calls itself Ziidi Trader and asks for a deposit is not Safaricom's service.
• Look-alike addresses exist. On 24 September 2026, ziiditrader.capital redirected to its hosting provider's takedown notice for policy violations, and ziidi.co.ke was billing software for internet providers. Neither is a Safaricom address; Safaricom's pages are on safaricom.co.ke.
• Never share your M-PESA PIN. Safaricom's own Ziidi page puts it in capitals: "DO NOT SHARE YOUR M-PESA PIN WITH ANYONE!" (Ziidi MMF page). Nobody needs it to buy shares for you.
• Pay only a paybill in the firm's name. A licensed broker takes deposits into a paybill or bank account in its own name, with your CDS number as the reference. A request to send money to a personal M-PESA number is a warning sign.
• Check the CMA lists. Match the firm on the CMA register of stockbrokers and investment banks. The CMA's public caution of 15 September 2026 names entities it says operate unlawfully, among them CBEX, QVSE and Kore Exchange.
• Shares carry no fixed return. Prices move every day and dividends depend on company results. An offer of a guaranteed daily or weekly return is not how listed shares work.

For help with Ziidi Trader itself, Safaricom points to Safaricom Customer Care, a Safaricom shop, or the in-app support.

Where to look next

The full route with a CDS account, including tax and buying from abroad, is in How to buy shares in Kenya. Every licensed broker and investment bank, and what each trade costs, is in NSE stockbrokers: list and fees. Latest closes for every company are on the stocks page.