Equity bank has become the newest member of the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) finance forum.
The SME finance forum is a global membership network that brings together technology companies development finance institutions and financial institutions to share knowledge and promote the growth of SME.
Matthew Gamser, CEO of the Forum said, “200 million businesses worldwide need financing to invest, grow and create new jobs”.
He further said that they were proud to have Equity Bank join their network of more than 150 members who work to expand access to finance for small and medium businesses
Mary Wamae, Executive Director of Equity Group said, “Our vision is to be the champion of the socio-economic prosperity of the people of Africa. We value integrity, innovation, and respect for our clients,”
Mary Wamae further said,” becoming a part of the SME Finance Forum touches on each of these values as we learn of the latest innovations in SME finance and build our relationship management skills with global leaders of this industry”.
The G20 Global Partnership established the SME Finance Forum for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) in 2012 as a knowledge center for research, data and best practice in promoting SME finance.
This comes almost a year after Equity bank was named as the SME Bank of the year, Africa in November 2018 at the prestigious International Finance Corporation (IFC) global SME Awards 2018.
In April 2019, Equity bank Kenya acquired Ksh. 10 billion syndicated loans from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) for it to extend its loan book to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and climate-friendly investments in the country.
Equity bank converted into a full-fledged commercial bank in 2004. Since then, equity group has become the largest bank by market capitalization according to the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The bank offers retail banking, microfinance and related services.
Equity bank has subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Rwanda and DRC. Equity Group recently signed a parliamentary agreement with Atlas Mara, which will see the bank’s entry into Zambia and Mozambique. The group opened a commercial representative office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in July 2019.
