Safaricom silent on Mali money market fund as Ziidi officially launches

Kenya’s largest telco, Safaricom, remains tight-lipped about the fate of Mali, its first money market fund launched in 2020, as it aggressively pushes Ziidi, the newly launched replacement.

Ziidi, which received regulatory approval in November 2024, is a partnership between Safaricom, Standard Investment Bank, ALA Capital Limited, and Sanlam Investments East Africa Limited. However, its rollout has been marred by controversy, with customers left in the dark about Mali’s status while Safaricom intensifies efforts to onboard users onto Ziidi.  

At a Friday media briefing that coincided with M-PESA’s 18th anniversary, Safaricom said Ziidi has already recorded over one million sign-ups with over KES 6 billion ($46 million) in funds. Some users were allegedly moved from Mali, which sparked a legal dispute with Mali’s fund manager, Genghis Capital. 

In December 2024, Genghis Capital accused Safaricom of migrating customers to Ziidi without their consent. The firm also claimed Safaricom deliberately orchestrated a liquidity crisis that would trigger mass withdrawals from Mali amid ownership disputes over the fund.  

The situation worsened in late December 2024 and January 2025, when Mali experienced persistent technical failure that prevented some customers from withdrawing funds or signing up. While the service remains frozen for new registrations, Ziidi remains fully operational, which fuels the speculation that Mali is being phased out.  

Both funds currently appear on Safaricom’s M-PESA app. Safaricom and Genghis Capital were contacted multiple times for comment but did not respond. 

By September 2024, Mali was Kenya’s 17th-largest collective investment scheme managing KES 3.1 billion ($24 million) in assets and bringing in KES 11.6 million ($89,000) for Safaricom in the first half of the year. 

Kenya’s investment funds have seen significant growth, with total assets under management rising 13% to KES 254 billion ($1.9 billion)  in June, up from KES 225 billion ($1.7 billion) in March, according to data from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA).  

During the same period, money market funds remained the dominant choice, accounting for KES 171.2 billion ($1.3 billion) and 67.4% of total investments. The remaining assets were distributed across fixed-income, equity, and other investment categories.