The story of Kenya's M-Akiba: selling treasury bonds via mobile

This case study examines M-Akiba, the first mobile treasury instrument sold in Africa, launched by the Kenyan government in 2017. While the product successfully attracted new retail investors, it suffered from low uptake due to poor timing, confusing purchase processes, and inadequate customer support.

• M-Akiba was a three-year government bond launched in 2017 designed to broaden the investor base and lower borrowing costs by allowing retail investors to purchase bonds via mobile phones in denominations as low as KShs 3,000 (approximately US$30) with a 10% semi-annual coupon rate.
• The bond experienced significantly lower uptake than expected during both its pilot and official launch. In the March 2017 pilot, only 5,692 investors purchased bonds despite 102,632 registrations. During the official launch on 30 June 2017, only 247.75 million KShs of the offered 1 billion KShs were purchased, despite over 300,000 registrations.
• Despite low volume, M-Akiba successfully attracted a new demographic of investors; 85% of customers had never previously bought a bond, and buyers were spread across all 47 Kenyan counties. The typical investor was urban (51% from Nairobi), formally employed (61%), and university-educated (59%).
• A post-issuance study identified several barriers to uptake, including poor timing (coinciding with elections and changes in bank deposit regulations), a confusing two-stage purchase process, a lack of reminder messages for registered users, and weak customer care that relied on a landline helpline for a mobile product.

APA

TIMOTHYRADIER (2018). The story of Kenya's M-Akiba: selling treasury bonds via mobile. FSD Africa. https://fsdafrica.org/the-story-of-kenyas-m-akiba-selling-treasury-bonds-via-mobile/

Chicago

TIMOTHYRADIER. The story of Kenya's M-Akiba: selling treasury bonds via mobile. FSD Africa, 2018. https://fsdafrica.org/the-story-of-kenyas-m-akiba-selling-treasury-bonds-via-mobile/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=TIMOTHYRADIER |title=The story of Kenya's M-Akiba: selling treasury bonds via mobile |publisher=FSD Africa |date=11 May 2018 |url=https://fsdafrica.org/the-story-of-kenyas-m-akiba-selling-treasury-bonds-via-mobile/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{timothyradier2018story, author = {TIMOTHYRADIER}, title = {{The story of Kenya's M-Akiba: selling treasury bonds via mobile}}, institution = {FSD Africa}, year = {2018}, month = may, url = {https://fsdafrica.org/the-story-of-kenyas-m-akiba-selling-treasury-bonds-via-mobile/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }