The bourse's 2025-2029 strategy points to an AI-themed fund for a market with only two ETF listings, but no formal launch timeline has been announced.
Nairobi Securities Exchange is positioning itself toward what could become East Africa's first AI-focused exchange-traded fund, but the bourse has not formally confirmed a product or launch date. The idea sits inside the exchange's 2025-2029 strategic framework, which names AI and blockchain as technologies for future financial products and targets 50 diverse funds, while Kenya's National AI Strategy for 2025-2030 signals broader state support for AI adoption. An AI-themed listing would be significant for a market that has listed only two ETFs, the Barclays NewGold ETF in 2017 and the Satrix MSCI World Feeder ETF in July 2025. Regional precedent is still limited: the Johannesburg Stock Exchange listed the IVYA ETF, an actively managed fund focused on global AI companies, in March 2026. Earlier reporting cited CEO Frank Mwiti as saying the NSE wanted to give Kenyan investors easier local access to AI-linked companies through a shilling-denominated product and was studying references such as Microsoft, Anthropic and OpenAI, while reserving the option to delay a launch if global AI valuations looked overheated. The current strategic framing, however, does not confirm a timeline and says the AI ETF concept has no linkage to blockchain tokens, crypto assets or decentralized finance, with blockchain mentioned as an internal technology rather than an asset class for retail investors. Investor wealth on the NSE rose by more than KSh 1 trillion in the first seven months of 2026, taking market capitalization close to KSh 4 trillion. The next signals will be the pace of fund launches under the plan, the Capital Markets Authority's approval pathway for thematic ETFs and the IVYA ETF's performance over the next two to three quarters.