Kenya’s financial market leaders used the 81st United Nations General Assembly week in New York to make a forceful pitch for Africa.
Led by Nairobi Securities Exchange boss Frank Mwiti, they argued that the continent’s biggest investment challenge is increasingly not a shortage of capital, but the ability to channel it into productive businesses and infrastructure.
At the Bullish Africa Summit, held alongside UNGA, NCBA group chief executive John Gachora told global investors that more than $700 billion (Sh90.5 trillion) in annual financing demand across infrastructure, climate finance, trade finance and micro, small and medium enterprises remains unmet.
“Africa’s unspoken opportunity is not a sector, a country or a commodity. It is the chance to finance the systems that let African businesses trade, manufacture, move goods, generate power and reach customers,” Gachora said.
The appeal comes against a backdrop of rising capital flows.
Africa attracted $70 billion (Sh9.05 trillion) in foreign direct investment in 2025, its third-highest annual inflow in 25 years, while private-capital fundraising more than doubled to $5.1 billion (Sh660 billion)
Venture funding stood at $3.9 billion across 506 deals, while diaspora remittances are projected to surpass $100 billion.
The summit shifted attention towards the financial infrastructure needed to convert these flows into factories, trade, power projects and expanding businesses.
That theme was mirrored at home as Kenya’s capital markets showed signs of renewed activity.
Quickmart announced plans to join the Nairobi Securities Exchange through an offer for sale of two billion existing shares, equivalent to 50 per cent of its issued share capital.
The transaction will not raise fresh capital for the retailer; proceeds will go to its existing shareholder, Sokoni Retail Kenya Limited.
The offer is expected around September 30, subject to regulatory approval.
Quickmart operates 72 stores across 16 counties.
The planned listing follows Family Bank’s entry to the NSE earlier this year, adding to efforts to broaden the exchange after a prolonged drought in new listings.
Meanwhile, investors continued to show strong appetite for government paper.
The September 24 Treasury-bill auction attracted Sh41.7 billion in bids against Sh28 billion on offer, a 149 per cent subscription rate.
This is despite yields on the three standard maturities continued to decline.
CBK data puts the 91-day bill rate at about 8.78 per cent.
Equities, however, remained volatile.
After a heavy sell-off that erased about Sh337 billion from NSE market value from the September 3 peak, the market rebounded, with large banks among the principal drivers.
For the week to September 24, NASI rose 5.61 per cent, NSE 25 gained 6.92 per cent and NSE 20 climbed 6.76 per cent, while market capitalisation recovered by 5.61 per cent.
Yet total shares traded fell 23.19 per cent and equity turnover dropped 40.55 per cent, suggesting the rebound was not accompanied by equally strong trading activity.
Bond-market activity told a different story, with secondary-market turnover more than doubling by 104 per cent in yet another indication of investors' continuing appetite for fixed-income assets.
