Nairobi Securities Exchange CEO Geoffrey Odundo. [Photo/BuisinessDaily]Nairobi Securities Exchange CEO Geoffrey Odundo has assured that it will withstand political shock and emerge stronger.
According to Odundo, the current political standoff had impacted negatively on the performance of Kenya’s stock market.
He however reiterated that Kenya’s stock market resilience and its ability to recover much faster from such shocks.
“We’re hopeful that our own political issues will be put to bed soon. We are looking at a couple of IPOs next year and the government is also looking at ways to restart the privatisation programme. We believe that if we get two companies from the infrastructure and energy sectors, interest from the corporate side will spark and this will help in market recovery,” he said.
Mr Odundo was speaking at the 7th Annual EFG Hermes London Conference, where opportunities in the Nairobi Securities Exchange were discussed on-stage with a large gathering of global investors, fund managers and financial institutions.
“We are very committed to having pension funds enhance liquidity in the market. We are looking at how direct property ownership can be reduced from 20% to 2% to support the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) market,” Mr Odundo said.
He said the regulator will work closely with other stakeholders to increase access and education for retail investors through the use of technology.
“Kenya has a very advanced mobile money platform that we have successfully leveraged. We are encouraging the rollout of products on that platform. This year, we launched a retail mobile bond for the government of Kenya. That’s just a start in educating the public on capital market securities,” he said.