Equity Group’s 2024 sustainability report highlights the Group’s efforts in impacting communities and transforming lives through the Group’s resources, infrastructure, and brand. The Group’s sustainability efforts are part of the Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan (ARRP), a blueprint for Africa’s transformation with pillars in primary sectors, manufacturing and logistics, trade and investment, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), social and environmental transformation, and technology-enabled ecosystems.
In 2024, Equity Group had banking operations through subsidiaries in Kenya, DR Congo, Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, Tanzania, and maintained a representative office in Ethiopia. Apart from these subsidiaries, the Group had other subsidiaries including Equity Bancassurance Intermediary Limited, Finserve Africa Limited, Finserve Africa Trustees Limited, Equity Life Assurance (Kenya) Limited and Equity Investment Bank. The Group spent KES 33 billion on employees in 2024, up from KES 32 billion in 2023, and women in permanent employment accounted for 44% of Group-wide employees, up 2.7 percentage points from 2023.
35 Million Trees Planted in 2024
The Group, through its initiatives, planted a total of 35 million trees which was a growth of 10 million relative to 2024. The Group has also seen USD 52 million worth of charcoal and kerosene saved through clean cookstoves and solar home systems, and has distributed USD 28.5 million worth of clean energy products. The Group also reached 446,975 households, (which is more than 3% of Kenya’s 13,886,126 households), and impacted 1.68 million individuals through renewable energy products. More than USD 430 million was disbursed to eligible products in mitiation and adaptation in renewable enrgy, energy efficiency and climate smart agriculture. The Group’s water harvesting and storage programme saw more than 105 million litres of water stored.
Equity Afya Available Across all Counties
Equity Afya, which is partly manned by healthcare professionals from the Wings-to-Fly program, is the Group’s foremost effort in the health pillar of its sustainable efforts. Through Equity Afya, the Group has established a franchised network of outpatient clinics, equipped mefical facilities, upskilled healthcare workers, and capacitated health systems countrywide. The Group’s efforts in the health pillar target establishment of 1,000 clinics by 2030 to broaden access to affordable and healthcare services. Further, the Group plans expansion of operations into more subsidiaries to extend the model to other regions by leveraging existing networks and infrastructure.
“At Equity Group, our sustainability journey is defined by a dual ambition: to bring the world to Africa and to take Africa to the world—an ambition driven by the transformative vision of the Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan (ARRP).” – Dr. James Mwangi, Equity Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer.
Over USD 3 billion in Loans Disbursed to MSMEs
Through the Young Africa Works Kenya initiative, Equity Group has empowered young entrepreneurs including women and marginalised youth by equipping them with training and providing financial solutions. The Group has enhanced its efforts in the MSME sector by providing training and disbursing loans. Towards this end, Equity Group, the Equity Group Foundation, and the Mastercard Foundation, have trained over 600,000 MSMEs since 2011, and disbursed nearly USD 3 billion in loans to MSMEs. MSMEs in Kenya accounted for nearly 90% of total employment and contributed to nearly 30% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Over 1 Million Refugees Reached
Across its refugee cash transfer interventions, the Group reached 0.43 million, 0.28 milllion, 0.24 million and 0.17 million refugees in Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Kenya, respectively, disbursing USD 59.77 million, USD 54.82 million, USD 88.80 million and USD 35.06 million, respectively, making for a total of USD 238.45 million disbursed across 1.1 million beneficiaries. Other interventions that impacted refugees include USD 0.9 million in loans extended, basic financial literacy training for 99,413 refugees, secondary and tertiary education, mentorship and career training for 6,011 refugees in Kakuma and Dadaab, and the establishment of an Equity Afya facility in Kakuma to drive access to affordable and high-quality healthcare services.
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