Investors’ perspectives on the use of mobile trading platforms in Tanzania: The gaps and opportunities

Mobile trading platforms are expanding access to capital markets by enabling investors to open accounts, access market information, place orders and monitor portfolios via mobile apps or web portals. Yet Tanzania-specific evidence that foregrounds investors’ lived experiences of usefulness, usability, trust, cost and risk remains limited. Anchored in the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and its extensions emphasising trust and perceived risk, this qualitative study examined perceived opportunities and barriers to effective and sustained use of mobile trading platforms among Tanzanian investors with two objectives: to identify the perceived opportunities for the use of mobile trading platforms among investors in Tanzania, and, to identify the perceived barriers to investors’ effective and sustained use of mobile trading platforms in Tanzania. The study’s targeted population of 31 investors with at least three months’ platform exposure was recruited through purposive and convenience sampling and interviewed using a semi-structured guide. Data were audio-recorded, translated and analysed using inductive thematic analysis, with subset double coding and Cohen’s kappa used to check agreement. Five opportunity themes emerged: improved access to market information and transparency, portfolio visibility and personal recordkeeping, faster execution with reduced dependence on intermediaries, convenience and time efficiency and investor learning and confidence building. Barriers clustered into four themes: high internet cost and unreliable connectivity that create transaction anxiety during order confirmation; trust, fraud anxiety and security concerns alongside unclear help or dispute pathways; usability limitations like confusing navigation, unclear error messages and limited analytics; and onboarding friction plus broker linkage delays. Overall, investors view mobile trading as useful, but sustained participation is constrained by low-resource infrastructure and confidence-related frictions. The study highlights practical priorities, including low bandwidth optimisation with clear confirmations, stronger in-app safeguards and support guidance, improved decision dashboards and streamlined onboarding and service integration. Moreover, this study provides rare Tanzania-grounded evidence on post-adoption mobile trading use and translates investors’ lived experiences into practical design and service priorities that can improve trust, usability and sustained participation in the capital market.