The wealthy and not so wealthy cash in on a record 787% rise in value Xan Rice in Nairobi The Guardian, Tuesday February 6 2007 Article history. The main index has risen 787% in dollar terms since 2002, making it one of the worlds best performing markets.

The hottest show in Kenya takes place every weekday morning in a dark auditorium on the first floor of a central office block in the capital.

There is a mad rush for seats when the doors open at 10.30am. Sharp-suited businessmen jostle with taxi drivers wearing hand-me downs; women with sleek mobile phones squeeze in next to farmers from the countryside.

All eyes are fixed on the white screen at the front. A huge spreadsheet appears, packed with numbers that slowly change. Geoffrey Wachira, a 27-year-old moneychanger, smiles. "My shares are up again," he whispers.

Kenya has gone share crazy. The incredible performance of the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) - which is next to the public auditorium and provides the live share-price feed - is the talk of the country. From 2002 to 2007, the main NSE index rose 787% in dollar terms, according to Standard & Poor's, the investment research firm, making it one of the world's best-performing markets.

Jimnah Mbaru, the NSE chairman, said: "We have several stock market billionaires [1bn shillings equals ?7.2m]. We've stopped counting the multimillionaires."

Stories of overnight wealth creation have created a huge frenzy for shares from people who have never invested in the stock market before. When KenGen, the state's biggest electricity company, listed its shares last year, there were queues at brokerages all over the country. Local media reported how small-scale farmers were selling their cattle to buy the shares. Banks suddenly offered "share loans" to people who had been considered unworthy of credit.

The KenGen offer was more than three times oversubscribed, and 70,000 people were allocated shares. The price quadrupled on the first day of trading. Demand for a stake in last year's other big listings - including Eveready, the battery maker, and Scanad, an advertising company - also dwarfed supply. By the end of the year, 15bn shillings of new money had poured into the market, and the index had risen 60%.

The Kenya Association of Stockbrokers said the success of the new listings meant that close to a million Kenyans now owned shares. Amish Gupta, chairman of the association, said: "Suddenly we have got the mass market buying stocks, not just the elite." Most new investors today are aged between 22 and 40, he added. "Savvy men and women looking for quick returns."