Updated 12 November 2026
The official way to check a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya is to search the Capital Markets Authority’s public licensees register, not a company handbook or a social-media page. The Authority’s register, headed “LICENSEES/ MARKET PLAYERS” and still served on 12 November 2026 at licensees.cma.or.ke, has a separate “APPROVED EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP PLANS (ESOPS)” category at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/16/. That category page, checked the same day, is a table with four official columns: Name, Address, License Number and Website.
On a count of that official ESOPS table on 12 November 2026, there were 15 printed name rows, covering 15 unique names. The official Address and License Number cells were blank on every row. Some rows have a website; some do not. This guide does not paste the names. Search the exact plan name as printed. A later official register would supersede that count. A CMA-approved collective investment scheme, an approved institution or a listed company’s ordinary share is not a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya merely because it appears in a different official category.
On this page
In this guide
What a CMA approved ESOP is
The Capital Markets Authority is the official publisher of this register. The homepage, checked on 12 November 2026, lists approved employee share ownership plans as one category among the Authority’s licensees and market players, alongside approved collective investment schemes, approved institutions, stockbrokers and several other distinct headings. Each category has to be checked on its own page.
This ESOPS table is not the list of CMA-approved money market funds or other collective investment schemes, and it is not the approved-institutions list of exchanges and rating agencies. An employee share plan is approved, or not, on this official heading. Two official names on the 12 November 2026 table refer to plans at the same listed group with different official wording; they are two official rows, not one.
How to search for a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya
To check a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya, ask for the exact official plan name, then open the official APPROVED EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP PLANS (ESOPS) category rather than a general web search.
On licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/16/, the page provides a search box whose official placeholder, checked on 12 November 2026, is “Search by name or license number.” A GET search on that page returns the matching official row, with the same four columns as the full table. Use that search when you already have a plan name. If you are browsing the whole category, the 12 November 2026 table loaded as a single page, so this guide does not invent a later page of names.
The register homepage search is narrower. Its official placeholder is “Search by category name.” A search there looks up the category headings, such as “ESOPS,” not an individual plan. Do not treat a blank homepage search for a company or plan name as proof that the plan is not approved. Open the ESOPS category and search there.
Match the official plan name to the scheme documents or grant letter you were given. The official table identifies a name, and sometimes a website; it does not, by itself, prove that a particular employee grant, vesting date or tax treatment is current.
What the November 2026 count includes, and what it omits
The count below is from the official ESOPS table as served on 12 November 2026, not from a media republication and not from a Business Radar tool. It is the current official snapshot of a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya on that category page. This guide does not paste the names or websites.
There were 15 printed name rows, covering 15 unique names. The official Address and License Number cells were blank on all 15 rows. This guide does not invent licence numbers or addresses that the official table does not print. Where a website is printed, it is part of that official row; where it is blank, this guide does not add one.
The table does not print a licence-issue date, an expiry date, a status badge, the number of participants, the number of shares reserved, or the tax rules that apply to a grant. Those questions sit outside this headcount.
How this sits with buying shares on the NSE
Checking a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya is one official-plan check, not the whole shareholding file. If an employee later sells or transfers listed shares, the dealing steps are those in the published guide to buying shares on the NSE, including the CDS account and the official intermediary. Other CMA “approved” headings, such as approved institutions or approved collective investment schemes, are different lists.
Use the share-dealing guide for a later sale of listed shares. Use the official ESOPS table for the exact plan name of a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya. For a real-estate investment trust held outside an employee plan, use the published REITs in Kenya guide.
What to do if the name is missing
If the plan name you were given does not appear in the ESOPS category, check that you used the official plan title, not only the employer’s trading name, and that you searched the ESOPS page rather than the homepage category search. Then check whether the name is instead listed as an approved collective investment scheme or under another CMA heading. Those are different official records.
If it still does not appear, treat the official table as the current public list and ask the employer or the plan administrator to show the current official CMA approval details in writing. The register answers a narrow question: is this name among the 15 official ESOPS rows counted on 12 November 2026? It does not, on its own, approve a grant, a vesting event or a tax position.
Frequently asked questions
Where is the official CMA approved-ESOP list?
On the Capital Markets Authority licensees register. The APPROVED EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP PLANS (ESOPS) category, checked on 12 November 2026, is at licensees.cma.or.ke/licenses/16/. The register homepage at licensees.cma.or.ke lists that category among the Authority’s other licensees and market players.
How many CMA approved ESOPs are on the register?
On a count of the official ESOPS table on 12 November 2026, there were 15 printed name rows, covering 15 unique names. That is the current official snapshot of a CMA approved ESOP in Kenya on that page, not a later total. The official licence-number cells were blank on every row.
Is an approved ESOP the same as an approved money market fund?
No. A CMA approved ESOP in Kenya appears in the APPROVED EMPLOYEE SHARE OWNERSHIP PLANS (ESOPS) category. Money market funds and other unit trusts appear under approved collective investment schemes, a different official heading on the same register.
What if the plan is not on the ESOPS page?
Search the exact official plan name on the ESOPS category page, not only the homepage category search. If it still does not appear, ask the employer or plan administrator for the current official CMA approval details. A later official register would supersede the 12 November 2026 count.
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