EQUITY NAMED AFRICA’S SME FINANCIER OF THE YEAR AT THE 2023 GLOBAL SME FINANCE AWARDS

 Equity has been honoured with three prestigious awards at the Global SME Finance Awards 2023. The awards were organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the SME Finance Forum to recognize outstanding achievements in expanding access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses.

Equity received two  platinum awards for  ‘SME Financier of the Year – Africa’ and  ‘Product Innovation of the Year’  for its  ‘pay with Equity” solution. Additionally, the lender received an honourable mention in the  ‘Women Financier of the Year’ category. The awards were announced during the Global SME Finance Forum 2023 in Mumbai, India, where a record one hundred and sixty five  applications were submitted from  one hundred and  twenty different institutions. An independent panel of eighty  five   judges identified  thirty  winners across all categories.

The Global SME Finance Awards provide an opportunity for financial institutions and fintech companies to showcase and share their good practices and knowledge. They are organized by the SME Finance Forum and endorsed by the G20’s Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI).Dr. James Mwangi, Equity Group Managing Director and CEO, expressed his appreciation for the recognition, saying :  “We are honoured to receive this recognition from the IFC and the Global SME Finance Awards. This reflects our commitment to continually innovate our financial solutions to cater to the diverse needs of SMEs, individual women, women in groups, and women-led SMEs among others, and to continue to empower them and enable them to foster growth and wealth creation.”

Equity has made a collaborative effort to support SMEs and women in business by innovating financial solutions to meet their needs. To date, a total of 2,417,019 women and youth have been trained in financial education, 448,169 micro, small and medium enterprises (  MSMEs)   have been trained in entrepreneurship, and a total of Kshs. 248.3 billion has been disbursed to 269,081 MSMEs under the Young Africa Works Programme. Launched in 2018 and now in its sixth year, the Global SME Finance Awards capture the effective and successful practices of financiers, honouring the innovative products and services for SME clients that have achieved impressive results in expanding finance and services to SMEs and the institutions that undertake those efforts. This year’s award categories included  : SME Financier of the Year, Product Innovation of the Year, Best Financier for Women Entrepreneurs  and Sustainable Bond of the Year.