Investors poured into Safaricom’s Ziidi Trader platform on Tuesday as QuickMart Supermarket opened its initial public offering (IPO), signaling a strong retail appetite for a slice of one of Kenya’s fastest-growing supermarket chains.
A reliable source monitoring activity on Ziidi Trader told The Star that the platform recorded traffic of more than 100,000 users at a given time during the day, with the heaviest activity between 10am and 2pm.
“I noted a huge traffic between 10 am and 2 pm. I’m not the right person to divulge this, but it surpassed the traffic witnessed when Kenya Pipeline and Family Bank IPOs were launched,” the source said.
Safaricom, the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) or the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has not officially confirmed the figures.
Ziidi Trader was launched by Safaricom in February in partnership with the NSE and operates under CMA oversight.
It allows M-Pesa customers to buy and sell NSE-listed shares through their mobile phones without having to go through the traditional process of opening a brokerage account.
The platform accounts for a significant share of NSE trading activity, underscoring the potential of mobile investing to widen participation.
The supermarket is offering two billion ordinary shares at Sh7.50 each, representing 50 per cent of its issued share capital.
The minimum investment is 500 shares, meaning an investor can enter with Sh3, 750.
The offer is targeting at least Sh15 billion and is the latest major equity offering seeking to deepen public ownership of a Kenyan business.
Unlike a primary capital raising, the QuickMart offer is a sale by existing shareholders.
Founded in Nakuru in 2006 as a small family-owned outlet, the retailer has expanded to 72 stores across 16 counties following its merger with Tumaini Supermarkets.
It is now Kenya’s second-largest modern grocery retailer by store count and turnover, with an estimated 15 per cent share of the formal grocery market.
The company generated Sh50.4 billion in revenue in the year ended December 2025 and adjusted profit after tax of Sh1.7 billion.
Revenue grew at a compound annual rate of 18.4 per cent between 2021 and 2025, while first-half 2026 revenue reached Sh27.3 billion.
QuickMart recorded about five million customer transactions a month in the first half of 2026, while its Q-Points loyalty programme had about 2.5 million members.
Loyalty customers accounted for about 74 per cent of sales during 2025 and the first half of this year, giving the retailer a sizeable pool of repeat customers and purchasing data.
The listing of Quickmart is coming at a time when wholesale and retail trade is reporting a marked recovery after years of erosion that followed the collapse of Tuskys, Nakumatt and Uchumi Supermarkets.
The sector expanded by 3.5 per cent, accounting for 6.2 per cent of the sources of Kenya’s economic growth between 2021 and 2025.
The opportunity for formal retailers, however, remains substantial.
Data cited in QuickMart’s IPO materials indicates that modern trade accounts for only about 24 per cent of Kenya’s grocery market, leaving the bulk of food and household purchases in informal channels.
The modern grocery market is expected to continue expanding as urbanisation, convenience and changing consumer habits push more spending towards organised retailers.
QuickMart plans to capitalise on this shift by opening between 10 and 15 stores annually and eventually taking its network beyond 100 outlets.
Its strategy also includes expanding online shopping and delivery partnerships, improving category management and increasing operational efficiency.
The retailer is also positioning itself as a cash-generating business. It operates an asset-light model, leasing rather than owning most stores and relying heavily on direct-to-store supplier deliveries.
This limits the amount of capital tied up in property while allowing faster expansion.
The company has said its board intends to target a dividend payout of at least 80 per cent of annual profit after tax, paid semi-annually.
The IPO has also attracted conditional backing from the International Finance Corporation, which has committed to purchase up to $15 million, or about Sh1.94 billion.
This accounts for roughly 13 per cent of the IPO and 6.5 per cent of QuickMart’s post-listing share capital.
The commitment remains subject to IFC board approval and is not an endorsement of the offer.
At the launch, CMA chairman Ugas Mohamed urged investors to remain informed while reminding QuickMart that public ownership would bring greater obligations on transparency and accountability.
Nairobi bourse chief executive officer Frank Mwiti said that the listing represents the transformation of a local Nakuru enterprise into a publicly owned national business.
The offer closes on October 30. The results will be announced on November 6, while trading is expected on November 12.
