HOW EQUITY BECAME THE KENYAN DREAM

By George Marenya

Economists, historians and sociologists alike may debate for a lifetime whether there is any single thing we can claim to uniformly define the dreams and aspirations of a nation, country or people.

Yet over the years, corporations have held claim to the souls and desires of the whole society. At some point, or even today, CocaCola claimed custodianship of the American Dream.

It really helped that Hollywood was ready to lend a helping hand. The Coke can, bottle, logo was a ubiquitous part of many a blockbuster movie.

Do we have a company that epitomizes the Kenyan Dream? What parameters should we use to gauge this? How can we validate their own campaign jingles?

In my considered opinion, the trophy goes to Equity Bank. The parameters I will rely on include (  but are  not limited)  to the following: impact on the lives of the general population, changes brought about in banking and wider industry, hope given to individuals and businesses, feel good effect and patriotism.

Equity more than any other group I know became kings of mobilization well before the digital era. They walked around villages convincing others to trust them with their money and savings. This was done the hard way. Agents and employees had to sit down, one on one with clients and prospects.

Long before they became the financial behemoth they now are, they had won over the hearts of the population. This is something no creative, no messaging can buy you.

It may be easy to forget, but facts are stubborn. No bank worth its name wanted to be found in Nairobi’s River Road. It was claimed the place was dangerous!

Keep to your lane

But essentially, the low income segment of Kenya was being told, at least tacitly that banking was not their thing. They had no business opening a bank account let alone accessing a loan(s) from a bank. Yes, they were being told to keep to their lane. What else does a person need to do to make you feel inferior!

These days when you look through your window in Umoja, Kayole or Kawangware and see a bank ATM or branch, thank Equity Bank for it.

Just like the beginnings of Coke in a pharmacist’s shop and small buckets as dispensers, Equity started from the ground up. In fact, its beginnings were in rural Murang’a, then Karatina before baby-step moves to Jeevanjee Gardens.

These moves were later solidified when Equity became a full-fledged bank in 2004. Thus began D-Day. They had landed at Normandy as it were. And just as it were D-Day signaled the beginning of the end of Hitler, the era of big banks shifting paper and merely trading in bonds was over.

The people had taken over banking. The man from the fringes would and still does walk into the banking hall with a swagger and walk out chin up.

So began the era of the small businessman. Banks no longer touched him with a ten-foot pole but embraced him, thanks to the Equity revolution. Indeed, the Jua-kali man as the small scale trader is euphemistically called would now live his dream.

The patriotic man is not the one who shouts loudest at political rallies or other podium. No.  He is the one who creates change, develops society and builds the individual to his full potential. That is the Kenyan Dream and it is synonymous with Equity.

Beyond banking, Equity has had serious impact on education and financial literacy.

Its flagship programme, Wings to Fly, has seen thousands of children from challenged backgrounds access education and become useful members of the society. Hundreds more have been enrolled in Ivy League Universities in the world.

The cumulative impact of this programme, when its history is finally written, is unrivalled in the history of the continent.

Equity also revolutionized digital banking. With investments into the billions of shillings, access to banking services can be done on the go using extremely efficient and user-friendly apps developed over the years.

Millions more have been trained on financial literacy, bookkeeping and basic accounting through the Financial Literacy for Africa (FiKA).

The Kenyan Dream of self-reliance has been greatly enabled by Equity. By scaling up its services and morphing into a high impact enterprise, Equity is now present in Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This has given it international visibility and affinity, the last requirement for a Dream brand.