How to buy Safaricom shares online
By Nairobi Stocks Review
For any prospective Safaricom investor, the first order of business should be to know how to buy Safaricom shares. If you are the inquisitive type, you may also want to know who owns Safaricom. You may be able to buy Safaricom shares online depending on the stockbroker you choose.
Before getting into the details on how to buy Safaricom shares, let’s familiarise with the company first. Safaricom is headquartered in Nairobi and it primarily provides mobile phone services such as call, text and internet. It also operates the widely popular Mpesa mobile payments platform.
Who owns Safaricom?
Safaricom started as a unit of Telkom Kenya in 1990s. At some point, British company Vodafone made a huge investment in the unit and took charge of running the business. In 2021, the largest Safaricom shareholders are South Africa’s Vodacom, the Kenyan government and public investors through the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Where and how to buy Safaricom shares
Safaricom shares are listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange under “SCOM” ticker symbol. If you want to invest in Safaricom shares, you will need to have a CDS account. You can open the account with a bank or stockbroker. (Read How to open a stock trading CDS account in Kenya).
Once you set up the account, you will decide the amount of Safaricom shares you want to purchase and place your order. Keep in mind that the minimum number of shares you can buy is 100 shares.
How to buy Safaricom shares online
You may want to trade shares online for convenience. With online access, you can buy and sell stocks anywhere and anytime. You may be able to buy Safaricom shares online if you choose a stockbroker that supports online trading.
The rollout of online stock trading in Kenya is only beginning. Presently, stockbrokers that allow you to buy and sell Safaricom shares online are Suntra Investment Bank, Kingdom Securities, Faida Investment Bank and Dyer and Blair. The others are and KCB Capital, Old Mutual Securities, SBG Securities, Kestrel Capital, Genghis Capital and Sterling Capital. (Read How to choose the best stockbroker for beginners).
How to buy Safaricom shares with Bonga Points
Safaricom partnered with a number of stockbrokers to enable its subscribers spend their Bonga Points toward stock investing in Kenya. Safaricom subscribers earn Bonga Points every time they spend money on the company’s services.
You can buy Safaricom shares with Bonga Points at Kingdom Securities, Suntra Investments, Dyer & Blair Investments, Old Mutual Securities and AIB-AXYS. The other stockbrokers that allow buying NSE shares with Bonga Points are Faida Investment Bank, Francis Drummond, NCBA Capital and ABC Capital.
To buy Safaricom shares with Bonga Points, you can dial *126# on your phone or go to MySafaricom app. You will be required to enter your broker’s paybill number and your CDS account number. Bear in mind that five Bonga Points are worth Ksh1 when buying shares on the NSE Kenya.