Everything your chama runs on.

One number. Any phone. Free to start.

Prices, money, savings, records and papers, kept in one place and reached by dialling. Works on every handset sold in Kenya. Start this morning, registered or not.

Market prices
No prices collected yet today. They arrive by 5am on trading days.

Is Esoko for me?

Type what you do.

Search in English or Kiswahili — seremala, fundi, mama mboga, boda, chama, kanisa. Every kind of work is included. The result shows which papers apply to yours.

Try:

What Esoko does

You choose what you use it for.

Each one works on its own and none of them requires another. Open what you need, leave the rest closed, and add to it whenever you want.

Today’s prices

What your goods are selling for at markets near you, checked before you buy or sell. Ask by dialling any time, or switch on a morning SMS if you want one.

Getting paid

Take payment where you trade, send money to a supplier, and have a buyer’s money held until you deliver. Every fee is shown before you confirm.

Group money

Weekly contributions, merry-go-round turns, who has paid and who has not, loan votes, and a register your treasurer can print for the meeting.

Your trading record

Every sale, contribution and repayment builds a record of what you actually earn. It belongs to you and nobody else sees it unless you say so.

Papers and certificates

Registrations, permits and licences from the bodies that issue them — kept together, checked for expiry, printable and verifiable.

What it opens

Credit, insurance and buyers who will contract you. Offered when your record qualifies, never before, and only if you agree to share it.

Every day

What works from the first day

Prices, payments and your group’s money are available as soon as you join, at no charge, with nothing to fill in and nothing to bring.

Payments in, payments out, and money held until delivery

Take payment where you trade. Send money to a supplier. When a buyer orders from you, their money sits in escrow where you can see it, and moves to you the day you deliver.

If a payment does not confirm, Esoko says so plainly and tells you not to send it twice. Somebody works on it and you get an SMS.

Your group’s money, visible to the group

The treasurer posts contributions once; every member gets a receipt by SMS and can check the balance without asking anyone.

Loan decisions go to a vote members can cast by dialling, so the ones without smartphones are not left out. Arrears are shown to the office-bearers only.

Papers & certificates

When you are ready for paperwork — and not before

You can use everything above without registering anything. Esoko issues none of these: each comes from the body with the authority to issue it.

RecordIssued byGovernment fee
Group registrationMinistry of Labour & Social ProtectionKES 1,000
Business registrationBusiness Registration ServiceKES 1,050
KRA PINKenya Revenue AuthorityFree
eTIMS registrationKenya Revenue AuthorityFree
Mediation certificateJudiciary Mediation DirectorateFree
Single business permitCounty governmentsBy county
Food handler's certificateCounty governmentsKES 500
Trading recordEsokoFree

These are the ones most people need. Esoko will hold any certificate you have — NEMA, KEBS, PSV, liquor, health, export, professional body, whatever your work requires. Government fees go to the issuing body at its published rate.

Institutions

Bodies and institutions connected to Esoko

See what each one requires →

These bodies issue; Esoko holds and proves. Nothing on a certificate is Esoko’s word — it is the issuer’s, recorded with the date it was given and the date it runs out. A verifier checks the code and sees the issuer’s name, not ours.

Counties

Anywhere in Kenya, from any phone

Esoko works in all 47 counties. Wherever you are, you can join, hold your record, keep your papers and use your group’s money by dialling.

The counties below are where field officers sit with people in person and where daily market prices are collected so far. Everything else does not depend on the list.

Elgeyo MarakwetKiambuNairobiNakuruTrans NzoiaTurkanaUasin GishuWest PokotKisumuMachakosMombasa+ 36 more counties

See what your county requires →

How to join

A few minutes, five questions, no documents.

STEP 1

Dial *483*77#

Or open esoko.co.ke. Pick English or Kiswahili first; everything after follows your choice.

STEP 2

Name, number, county, what you do

Plus where you stand today — registered or not, in a group or not. Your identity card and any papers come later.

STEP 3

Choose what you want sent

Prices, receipts, expiry warnings — pick which of these you want, and nothing else arrives.

Esoko will never ask you for your PIN

Joining is free and stays free. Nobody from Esoko will call or text you asking for your PIN, or ask you to pay anything to register. If someone does, it is not us — call 0709 000 000 and tell us.