On Tuesday, Safaricom launched Ziidi Trader, a new service that allows M-PESA users to buy and sell shares listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), addressing a gap in Kenya’s capital markets that stockbrokers and investment banks have yet to fully resolve. The platform will enable the over 37 million M-PESA users to buy and sell stocks the same way they send money to a friend or pay for utilities like electricity. To understand why Ziidi Trader feels different, it helps to picture the before-and-after of how ordinary Kenyans have accessed capital markets. “Ziidi Trader is a powerful step in democratizing wealth for our customers. For eighteen years, M‑PESA has transformed how Kenyans live, work, and do business,” Safaricom CEO Peter Ndegwa said during the launch. “Today, in part...