The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and the UK government’s Mobilising Institutional Capital Through Listed Product Structures (MOBILIST) programme (MOBILIST) have announced a new partnership to improve investment towards sustainable development in Kenya via the listed market. 

The partnership was announced on Tuesday in Nairobi at an event bringing together key players in the Kenyan financial industry, regulators, investors, and current and prospective issuers to discuss opportunities to enable public market transactions that mobilise private capital towards the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

John Humphrey, His Majesty’s Trade Commissioner for Africa who is on a three-day visit to Kenya delivered the keynote address.

MOBILIST provides investment capital, technical assistance and support to enable SDG-focused projects to overcome the key barriers that prevent them from listing on a stock exchange.

By expanding the universe of listed instruments that institutional investors can use to invest in emerging markets such as Kenya, MOBILIST intends to unlock new sources of capital to fund sustainable growth and development in these economies.

“Mobilising investment solutions in Kenya are vital to economic growth as they provide a platform for Kenyan businesses to raise the capital they need to expand their operations, increase cross-border trade, and employ more Kenyans – and at the same tackle climate change and achieve critical development goals,” Humphrey said.

Frank Mwiti, NSE’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “The strategic partnership between the NSE and MOBILIST aligns with our new strategic focus aimed at enabling the NSE to play a more dynamic role in mobilising and channelling capital to sectors that have the most significant capital needs, with a special focus on sustainable development. As a market, we will continue providing a pivotal intersection connecting capital to investment-grade opportunities in Kenya for sustained economic growth.”

MOBILIST seeks to partner with financial institutions at the core of capital markets and will engage with and accept proposals from NSE’s network of brokers, investment banks and promoters of public offerings.

While MOBILIST can only deploy equity capital, the programme can provide debt securities issuers with technical assistance funding.