Awards for Excellence 2020
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Equity Bank has been involved in healthcare provision in Kenya since 2015, when it established Equity Afia as an integrated, scalable and sustainable healthcare delivery model through its nonprofit foundation.
Equity Afia runs a franchise of medical outpatient centres, staffed by qualified and experienced doctors who are alumni of the Equity Leaders Programme. These 22 facilities have so far served more than 191,764 clients.
In the months between January and May this year, Equity Afia opened 10 new medical centres, offering primary healthcare services including Covid-19 infection prevention.
The bank has also partnered with Equity Afia doctors and trained 60 final year medics as ‘trainers of the trainees’, as well as arranging to train other medical personnel and offer health talks across the country.
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James Mwangi |
Equity Group is also supporting the local economy with foreign exchange reserves. It has raised additional capital to provide foreign currency loans to micro and small and medium-sized enterprises whose forex revenues from exports, tourism, travel, diaspora remittances and foreign investment have been hit.
The bank, led by chief executive James Mwangi, was pivotal in delivering social change in Kenya long before the onset of the virus. In 2019, it worked with the government and developmental organizations to reach 1.3 million families with social safety net payments. It also works to transform subsistence farming and is committed to planting 35 million trees in Kenya over the next five years.
Equity has also partnered with Mastercard and Kenya’s government to address youth unemployment. It has committed KSh420 billion ($3.9 billion) for business startups and expansion under the Young Africa Works Kenya programme, which aims to create five million jobs in the country by 2024.
