Where we go from here, in order of certainty.
Tanzania and Kenya are the two operational footholds. Everything else lives at a different level of conviction. This page is honest about which is which.
Confidence about direction. Honesty about timing. Direction is settled. Timing depends on regulators, market conditions, and the operational depth we are willing to build before we say we are doing something.
Nigeria · NGX
West Africa’s largest market. NGX Group demutualised in 2021 and operates as a multi-asset venue spanning equities, fixed income, ETFs, and a recently launched derivatives segment cleared through NG Clearing. The market-making programme was relaunched under updated SEC rules in October 2021 and is open to additional Trading License Holders across product classes.
Why now
The NGX ETD market is young (index futures listed from 2026, with single stock futures and stock options on the regulator-approved roadmap). That is the same build-out arc Shabba is engaging in Kenya, on a much larger underlying market. The current MM cohort is small, regional in composition, and the SEC framework has clear entry rules. Active study underway on market structure, fee economics, FX repatriation under post-reform Naira conditions, and what an operationally serious algorithmic provider looks like on the venue.
Johannesburg Stock Exchange
Africa's deepest equity and derivatives market. We are studying market structure, fee economics, member access, and how a Shabba presence would fit alongside the existing JSE liquidity ecosystem. No operational claims here. Just the research is underway.
Continental derivatives integration
East, West, and Southern African derivatives venues currently operate as isolated platforms. Cross-venue connectivity, harmonised product specifications, and shared clearing arrangements are the natural next step for an integrated continental market. We expect to be a participant in that conversation.
Digital asset infrastructure
Tokenised representations of African securities, regulated digital asset venues, and the bridge infrastructure between traditional capital markets and on-chain settlement. The space is moving fast in some African jurisdictions and slowly in others. Worth understanding deeply before committing capital to any specific direction.
Patient, not opportunistic.
Pan-African expansion is a long-horizon project, not a sprint. Each market we extend into gets the same operational depth we are building for Tanzania and Kenya: regulatory engagement before launch, ring-fenced operating entities, local partnerships, and infrastructure that genuinely fits the market structure of that jurisdiction. We are not a firm that scales by replication. We are one set of capabilities that adapts to the markets that need them.