Buying Safaricom shares is one form of investing, the process of using money to potentially generate profitable returns.

We know all investments carry a varying degree of risk: the value of investments can fall as well as rise because they are subject to market volatility, and you could get back less than you invest.

But once you’ve decided you’re comfortable with the risks involved in investing in shares in the stock market, your next step in this article is to learn how you can buy Safaricom stocks in Kenya;

How to buy Safaricom shares online

Shares and stocks mean almost the same thing – they are financial instruments used by public companies to raise capital – but stocks largely represent the holder’s part ownership, in this case, Safaricom, while shares are the small units you will get when you buy them.

Only shares in publicly traded companies are available for purchase and sale, and Safaricom is one of them. It is the largest mobile operator in Kenya, listed on the Kenyan stock exchange Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) as SCOM in its Main Investment Segment.

When you buy SCOM shares, you own a slice of Safaricom PLC as a shareholder, and you stand to receive final dividends at the end of each financial year.

In the last three years, Safaricom has been paying shareholders between Ksh48 billion and 55 billion on average, and in the previous year, 2023, each received a dividend per share amount of Ksh1.20.

Safaricom’s lucrative dividend yield reflects its long-standing policy of returning value to shareholders, and you might be considering investing in its shares: How do I buy shares in Safaricom?

Step 1: Open a CDS account

A CDS account is a Central Depository System, a fully-fledged automated financial market infrastructure that holds and enables the transfer of fungible securities, such as shares, stocks, and equities, allowing investors to trade them in a centralized system.

In Kenya, CDS is operated by CDSC, the Central Depository & Settlement Corporation Limited, on approval by the Capital Markets Authority to register accounts for new investors and banks wanting to trade in securities listed in the Nairobi Stock Exchange and other non-listed ones, maybe in the Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS).

So, to start buying Safaricom shares, you must have a CDS account. To register one as an individual, you need;

* 2 clear passport-size photographs
* A copy of your original ID or a valid passport
* Certificate of incorporation for companies
* Certificate of registration for organizations

Download the CDS account registration form CDS 1, fill in the details, attach the required documents, and sign before your Central Depository Agent (CDA), a bank, or a stockbroker authorized by CDSC to open securities accounts.

Your CDS account will be ready in less than 24 hours, and you can now proceed to the next step;

Step 2: Download the Dosikaa app

Dosikaa is an online trading app by CDSC designed to make the Kenyan capital markets accessible to everyone through smartphones. It is available on major app marketplaces like Google Play and App Store for iPhone users.

After downloading the app, sign in using the email and phone number used during registration, and your CDSC account will be linked immediately. Here, you are ready for the final step:

Step 3: Buying Safaricom shares

Upon accessing your CDSC account via Dosikaa, you will see the stockbroker or the bank that helped you with account opening, and you can make real-time order placement to buy Safaricom shares.

To facilitate any share purchases online, an investor deposits funds through the stockbrokers since the mobile application only serves as an intermediary between the investor and the broker to aid in stock trading.

The good thing is when you want to buy Safaricom shares and your stockbroker is not listed on Dosikaa, you can create other CDS accounts with different brokers within the app and buy the shares.

What is the minimum amount to invest in Safaricom shares?

You don’t have to have a lot of money to start investing. First, opening accounts with CDSC and brokerages is free, and then you can purchase Safaricom shares.

In the previous annual general meeting of Safaricom shareholders, they emphasized that the minimum amount of shares to be bought by first-time investors is 100 units, which may cost roughly between Ksh1,300 and Ksh1,500 now that in NSE, it goes for approximately Ksh13 per share.

Can you buy Safaricom shares via Mpesa?

Note that you cannot just start buying Safaricom shares from nowhere. Ignore the articles providing wrong information. Before you send money to strange Mpesa pay bill numbers, know that if you intend to trade in shares listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange, you must have an account with the central depository system CDSC for a faster, easier, and safer way of trading at the exchange for Mpesa only provides a means of depositing money in your CDS accounts and receiving dividends later on after holding and growing your Safaricom shares.