Big save

KSh3 000 – that’s all it will take for Kenyans to be able to participate in the country’s first-ever mobile bond platform.

Called M-Akiba, this government bond is delivered through a partnership with Safaricom’s M-Pesa service, and is set to launch in the next couple of weeks. This means that any Kenyan with a mobile phone and a central deposit account will be able to invest (with the minimum rate requirement, of course). Previously, the minimum investment was KSh50 000.

According to an AFKInsider report, just over 10% of the East African country’s citizens save on a regular basis – compared to 22% in neighbouring Uganda and Rwanda. However, with a potential 23 million Kenyans participating in the US$47 million (KSh5 billion) government infrastructure trading bond, this number should improve considerably.