From jackpot dreams to KSh100 deposits: Kenya’s mobile wealth opportunity
Safaricom has put investing on the same phone Kenyans use to place bets — the question is whether young people will make the switch.
By Oduor Victor
Kenyans can now start investing with the price of a chapati. Since Safaricom launched the Ziidi Money Market Fund in January 2025, small savers have been able to invest directly from M-Pesa with as little as KSh100. The numbers suggest it is catching on. Ziidi’s assets under management more than doubled to KSh18.7B in the year to March 2026, while active customers jumped from 600,000 to 2.2 million.
Safaricom has kept building. Ziidi Trader, developed with the Nairobi Securities Exchange and Kestrel Capital, allows M-Pesa users to buy and sell listed shares from their phones. Ziidi Shari’ah, launched in October with Gulfcap Investment Bank, accepts deposits from KSh10. Chief Executive Peter Ndegwa has described the ambition plainly: making investing simple, affordable, and accessible. Standard Chartered’s Orero Ouma adds that younger investors are now the fastest-growing segment in wealth management.
Yet the same generation is still betting heavily. GeoPoll’s Betting in Africa 2026 survey found Kenya had the deepest football-betting base among six countries surveyed, at 64 per cent. A separate Old Mutual report found that 23 per cent of working youth bet regularly, with 55 per cent doing so to earn extra income and 40 per cent reporting financial difficulty as a result. The two surveys are not directly comparable, but together they sketch a generation pulled in opposite directions.
Mobile investing is expanding. Betting remains widespread. The products to redirect that money now sit on the same phone — but redirecting behaviour requires more than convenience. It requires financial education and discipline.
Ziidi’s daily yield currently sits at approximately 5.8 per cent annually, subject to 15 per cent withholding tax. Verify the current rate in M-Pesa before committing funds.
The future is built, not bet.
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