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Employee Enrolment
Employees enrol in the ESPP during an open enrolment window, choosing their monthly deduction amount within your scheme limits.
Monthly Payroll Share Investing
Enable your employees to buy shares in your company every month through salary deduction — affordably, automatically, and directly in their own name. Shares Saver manages the full ESPP administration: deduction processing, share purchase or allotment, CSCS registration, and employee dashboards.
An Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) — sometimes called a Share Purchase Scheme or Employee Share Savings Plan — allows employees to purchase shares in their employer company on a regular basis (typically monthly) through automatic salary deductions. It is one of the most inclusive and accessible forms of employee share ownership: employees invest consistently, building up a shareholding gradually over time, without needing to make large lump-sum investments.
For Nigerian listed companies, an ESPP is typically administered alongside a payroll deduction arrangement. Participating employees authorise a monthly deduction, and Shares Saver handles the rest — from coordinating with your payroll team through to registering purchased shares in each employee's own name on the CSCS.
ESPPs are particularly effective for companies with large workforces across multiple locations, as the administration is fully digital and scalable. They are also a powerful financial wellness benefit — helping employees build long-term wealth through direct ownership of shares in the company they work for.
Employees enrol in the ESPP during an open enrolment window, choosing their monthly deduction amount within your scheme limits.
Each payroll cycle, Shares Saver provides your payroll team with deduction instructions. Deducted amounts are held in a designated scheme account.
On each purchase date, the accumulated deductions are used to purchase or allot company shares according to your scheme rules.
Purchased shares are registered through the CSCS directly in each employee's own name — making them a direct, named shareholder.
Each employee's Shares Saver dashboard updates to show their new shareholding, transaction history, and current market value.
As a named shareholder, each employee is entitled to dividends. Shares Saver supports registration of employee bank details with the company registrar for direct dividend payment.
Regular monthly investing through salary deduction harnesses the power of pound-cost (or naira-cost) averaging — employees buy more shares when prices are lower and fewer when prices are higher, smoothing out market volatility over time.
For employees, a monthly deduction feels manageable — ₦5,000 or ₦10,000 per month is less daunting than a lump-sum investment. Over a five-year period, consistent monthly investing accumulates into a meaningful shareholding that employees would not otherwise have built.
For your company, the ESPP is a retention tool: employees with a growing stake in the business have a direct financial incentive to stay and contribute to long-term success.
Naira-cost averaging
Monthly buying smooths out price volatility over time
Automatic and disciplined
Salary deduction removes the need for employees to actively invest each month
Direct CSCS registration
Employees own shares in their own name — real, registered shareholders
Dividend entitlement
As named shareholders, employees receive dividends directly to their bank account
Long-term wealth creation
Consistent monthly investing builds meaningful wealth over a 3–10 year horizon
An Employee Stock Purchase Plan (ESPP) is a formal arrangement through which a Nigerian listed company enables its employees to purchase company shares on a regular basis — typically monthly — using deductions from their salary. The company coordinates the purchase and ensures that acquired shares are registered in each employee's own name through the CSCS. ESPPs are one of the most accessible forms of employee share ownership in Nigeria.
Each participating employee authorises a fixed monthly deduction from their salary. Shares Saver coordinates these deduction instructions with your payroll team each month. The deducted amounts are used to purchase company shares — either through a market purchase or from a company allotment — and the acquired shares are registered in each employee's CSCS account in their own name.
Yes. Your scheme rules define the minimum and maximum deduction amounts, but participating employees typically choose their own deduction level within those limits. Some schemes allow employees to increase or decrease their deduction at set intervals (e.g. annually). Shares Saver's platform tracks each employee's deduction elections and processes them each payroll cycle.
Offering a purchase discount is optional. Many Nigerian companies offer shares at a small discount (e.g. 5–15%) to incentivise participation, particularly for market purchase-based ESPPs. Allotment-based ESPPs (where the company allots new shares to employees) may instead be structured at par or market value. Shares Saver can administer both structures.
Purchased shares are registered through the CSCS directly in each employee's own legal name. They become a registered shareholder from the date of registration. Employees can view their shareholding and value in their Shares Saver dashboard. Schemes may include a lock-up period during which shares cannot be sold — Shares Saver tracks and enforces lock-up periods in line with your scheme rules.
There is no regulatory minimum number of participants for an ESPP in Nigeria. Companies with as few as 20–30 participating employees and those with several thousand participants can all be accommodated by Shares Saver's platform.
Help your employees build wealth through direct share ownership — managed by Shares Saver, the employee share plan provider for Nigerian listed companies.