NAIROBI - Kenyan telecoms operator Safaricom on Tuesday launched stock trading for investors on its M-Pesa mobile ‍phone financial platform, ‍a move that could bring millions of new small investors ​into the bourse.

M-Pesa was one of the global pioneers of mobile-phone-based money transfer service ⁠in 2007. Its user base has grown to 35 million customers in Kenya ⁠and it now ‌offers an array of financial services including savings, banking and investment products.

The new stock-trading product, called Ziidi Trader, will allow M-Pesa ⁠users to directly buy shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, without the need to open a brokerage account, Safaricom said. The company, in which South Africa's Vodacom holds a 40% stake which it is in the ⁠process of increasing, did not ​say how many customers it expects to use Ziidi Trader, or whether it will be expanded ‍into other M-Pesa markets like Ethiopia.

Safaricom will work with Nairobi-based brokerage Kestrel Capital on the ​implementation of Ziidi, it said.

Ziidi Trader accounted for an average of 40% of trades at the bourse since it went live on Monday, Safaricom said, representing 5% of total daily trade volume.

The NSE, which is one of Africa's top bourses by market capitalisation, says it is targeting 9 million active retail investors by the end of 2029. It did not disclose its current number of retail investors.

Ziidi Trader's launch comes in the wake of ⁠a strong rally at the NSE, which has ‌benefited from growing allocations to emerging-market stocks since last year.

The initiative also fits in to the strategy of Kenyan President William Ruto, who faces ‌re-election in ⁠August next year, of enabling more Kenyans to participate in capital markets.