Safaricom launches Ziidi Shari'ah, an Islamic money market fund on M-PESA

Safaricom puts a Shari'ah-compliant money market fund inside M-PESA from KES 100, while regulators and MPs try to answer what happens to a phone number — and the money tied to it — when its owner cannot be reached.

Featured · Fintech

The fund is open to eligible M-PESA customers through My OneApp or *334#, from KES 100 with KES 10 top-ups. GulfCap Investment Bank manages and administers it, KCB Bank is the trustee and GulfCap's Shari'ah Supervisory Board oversees compliance. It avoids interest-bearing instruments, using profit-sharing and other permitted structures, and excludes alcohol, gambling, tobacco, conventional interest-based banking and weapons. Returns accrue daily but vary with the underlying investments; the announcement gives no rate or track record. Deposits and withdrawals via M-PESA carry no transaction charges, withdrawals go to the wallet, and 15% withholding tax is deducted automatically. It is not limited to Muslim customers — the label describes how the money is invested. The Capital Markets Authority approved the product in February 2025, and says it is working on a wider governance framework for Shari'ah-compliant investments. Still unstated: fund size, current yield and withdrawal timelines. It sits beside the conventional Ziidi fund launched in 2025.

Source: Techweez

Market charts on a screen — Ziidi Shari’ah puts a Shari’ah-compliant money market fund inside M-PESA from KES 100

TELCOS

The CA tells MPs how a recycled number is meant to be handled

CA Director-General David Mugonyi appeared before the Public Petitions Committee on 6 October, answering a petition from Thomson Kerongo and Asiago Stephen about inactive Safaricom lines being deactivated and reassigned without adequate notice. His account of the 2026 framework: after more than three months of continuous inactivity the operator must try to reach the subscriber using SIM-registration details, including alternative numbers and emails; that process runs another three months; a number inactive beyond six months can then be deactivated and recycled after public notice, with a published list and a USSD check. Numbers can be whitelisted for illness or imprisonment. The hard case came from chairperson Janet Sitienei: a deceased relative's SIM believed to hold money the family cannot reach. The CA offered no recovery mechanism, and the wider inquiry is expected to involve Safaricom, the CBK and the Unclaimed Financial Assets Authority. Mugonyi also said agents often skip collecting alternative contacts, and the CA is weighing having operators handle SIM registration directly.

Techweez

INFRASTRUCTURE

Dan Kwach returns to Cassava for its AI data centre push

Less than a year after leaving for a senior role in Madagascar, Dan Kwach is back at Cassava Technologies as Executive for AI Data Centres at Africa Data Centres, announcing it on LinkedIn. He previously led ADC's East Africa business and left in December 2025 after 19 years. Cassava's Nvidia programme centres on an "AI factory" — GPU capacity sold as a service — which is being deployed in South Africa, with Kenya, Egypt, Morocco and Nigeria to follow. In Nairobi, ADC's NBO1 at Sameer Industrial Park has four data halls and 7.5 MW of site capacity, though how much is allocated to AI or how many GPUs are installed is not stated. No budget, Kenyan commissioning date or pricing has been announced.

Tech-ish

FINTECH

Equity's Finserve is piloting EMMA, a new mobile money wallet — without a price list

Finserve Africa, spun out of Equity Group in 2018 and licensed by the CBK as a payment service provider since January 2022, has put EMMA on Google Play (100+ downloads) as a pilot it can extend, shorten or end at will. Sign-up works through the app, *765# or the Equitel SIM toolkit, with a National ID, military ID or passport. Money sent to an unregistered person arrives as an SMS voucher and is returned if not cashed in seven days. The catch is what is missing: the listing says "no hidden fees", but the terms point to a separate fee schedule at Cash Merchant outlets, no withdrawal tariff is published, and daily limits and maximum balances have no figures. The listing promises borrowing and saving that the terms do not mention, and an early reviewer says ID verification rejected their Kenyan ID. Without a tariff, the article argues, EMMA cannot be fairly compared with M-PESA.

Tech-ish