Kenya Opens Its Capital Markets to a New Wave of Funds
KENYA · MARKETS
Key Facts
—The wave: Kenya’s market regulator cleared 13 firms and schemes. It also cleared 26 unit trust sub-funds — one of its broadest rounds in years.
—New managers: ADAR, Entrust and Everstrong join as fund managers. They cover infrastructure, private equity, property and energy.
—New schemes: Two umbrella trusts, Cinemark and Karsis, add 19 sub-funds. They cover money market, fixed income, private debt and mixed funds. They come in shillings, dollars, euros and sterling.
—Fintech first: Frictionless Enterprises, trading as Power, links payroll systems to money funds. Staff invest straight from the payslip.
—Niche licences: Istithmaar Lulu Maknoon becomes a Shariah REIT manager. Saffron Coffee Marketers becomes a licensed coffee broker.
Kenya capital markets are widening fast. The watchdog has cleared 13 firms and schemes and 26 unit trust sub-funds. The round adds investing from the payslip, a Shariah property manager, and funds in four currencies. Everyday savers get far more to choose from.
What changed in Kenya capital markets
The CMA is the market’s watchdog. Its new batch of licences covers fund managers, advisers, a REIT manager, a coffee broker and digital sellers. News of the round came out this week as the approvals hit the market.
The timing is no accident. Kenyan savers keep moving money out of bank deposits and into funds. The new shelf of products is built to catch that flow.
Three new fund managers join the field: ADAR Asset Management, Entrust Advisory and Everstrong Asset Management. They cover closed-end schemes, wealth management, infrastructure, private equity, real estate and energy. Older managers won room to grow too. Absa, Dry Associates, Madison and Tradiam all got new sub-funds approved.
An adviser licence for Finaltus rounds out the batch. The round touches nearly every corner of the sector. It covers managing money, advising on it, selling it, and trading the crops behind it.
Investing from the payslip
The biggest licence may be the least glamorous. Frictionless Enterprises trades as Power. Its software links employer payroll systems to fund managers. Staff can put money into licensed money market funds straight from their pay.
The firm has graduated from the watchdog’s test sandbox to a full licence. Other African watchdogs are watching. They too want digital investing to grow from experiment into plumbing.
Kenya has form here. This is the country that taught the world mobile money with M-Pesa. Now it points the same digital plumbing at saving and investing, not just payments.
Selling funds to everyday people has always been the sector’s bottleneck. Move salary into a fund in a few taps, and the formal market finally reaches you.
Islamic finance and coffee join the shelf
Istithmaar Lulu Maknoon won a licence as a Shariah REIT manager. It can now raise money and put it into property ventures that follow Islamic finance rules. The licence opens regulated property investing to savers whose faith bars interest-based products.
At the other end of the economy, Saffron Coffee Marketers was cleared as a coffee broker. Kenya trades its prized arabica on a licensed exchange. Broker licences tie the crop into the same market rules as funds and shares.
Kenya has a large Muslim population, but its mainstream finance world has long served it poorly. Regulated, faith-friendly products pull that money out of informal channels and into the open market.
Four currencies, new risks
The two new umbrella schemes are Cinemark and Karsis. Their sub-funds span money market, fixed income, mixed assets and private debt. They come in Kenya shillings, US dollars, euros and sterling. For savers long stuck with shilling deposits, that is real new choice.
It also imports new risks. As the Kenyan Wallstreet’s analysis notes, private debt and multi-currency funds are not stand-ins for plain money market funds. They carry different risks: liquidity, valuation, currency and credit. They will demand clearer disclosure and more investor training, per the outlet’s report on the licensing round.
Why it matters
East Africa’s money hub is picking up speed. The Nairobi bourse ended a years-long listings drought in 2026. The watchdog is widening who can manage money, and how people can invest it. Deeper and more varied home markets let African economies fund themselves.
Nairobi wants to be the region’s global money hub. Breadth is the furniture that ambition needs: Islamic products, multi-currency funds, digital rails.
Dollar and euro sub-funds matter most to Nairobi’s large expat and diaspora crowd. They often earn in one currency and save in another. The new wrappers spare them the workarounds of the past.
For foreign investors and expats in Nairobi, the upshot is a wider, better-policed menu. It runs from dollar money funds to Islamic property funds. The licensing wave is quiet news that adds up.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did Kenya’s CMA just approve?
The CMA licensed or approved 13 firms and schemes plus 26 unit trust sub-funds. The list spans fund managers, two umbrella unit trusts, an investment adviser, a Shariah REIT manager, a coffee broker and a payroll-investing platform.
What is Power and why does its licence matter?
Power is the trading name of Frictionless Enterprises. It links employer payroll systems to licensed money market funds, so staff can invest straight from their pay. Its move from sandbox to full licence makes digital fund selling official in Kenya.
What does the Shariah-compliant REIT licence allow?
Istithmaar Lulu Maknoon may raise money and put it into property ventures that follow Islamic finance rules. It serves savers who avoid conventional interest-bearing products.
What risks come with the new multi-currency funds?
Private debt and multi-currency sub-funds carry different risks from everyday money market funds. Analysts say their growth will need clearer disclosure and more investor training.
Connected Coverage
Kenya’s markets are stirring on several fronts: Family Bank’s listing ended East Africa’s IPO drought, Vodacom took control of Safaricom in a $2.1 billion deal, and the continent’s bourses are moving towards a single trading market.
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