Equity Group Foundation has partnered with the United Nations system in Kenya and its SDG Partnership Platform to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs in Kenya by 2030. The partnership will promote and catalyze investments in the SDGs beyond short term cycles, enabling the UN system in Kenya to reach more people on the ground through Equity’s brand in the community.
In addition to the investments, the partnership will also promote social and financial inclusion and improve economic outcomes for human development in Kenya. The two institutions will support Kenya’s transition as an emerging middle-income country through harnessing innovative partnerships, investments and financing, and minimizing reliance on aid.
Speaking at the signing ceremony, Dr. James Mwangi, CEO Equity Group said, “Equity is joining this alliance as the implementation partner for various social impact initiatives aligned to the SDGs with the end goal of trickling down to the local communities. We will deploy USD 6 billion on the SDG Partnership Platform and we expect 5 million MSMEs to benefit from this financing within the region. We are convinced that these enterprises will create at least 5 jobs each. The engine of job creation is enterprises which will also create market for the raw products from our communities and address the issue of unemployment.”
Equity Group through its regional banking subsidiaries, continues to collaborate with UN agencies in Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and in other footprint countries
Through the enhanced partnership, Equity will work with the UN Resident Coordinators Office, the SDG Partnership Platform and the 23 UN agencies in Kenya to accelerate knowledge management for SDG achievement. This will facilitate market access and cross border trade across diverse value chains especially for women and youth entrepreneurs in light of the impacts of COVID-19.
Arif Neky, Senior Advisor UN Strategic Partnerships and National Coordinator SDG Partnerships Platform commented, “This partnership with Equity excites us because many Equity Group Foundation principles are aligned to those of the UN. Working with Equity, we shall connect and catalyze partnerships and investments in the SDGs beyond short term cycles, particularly enabling us to reach the people on the ground through Equity’s network.”
With the prevailing economic trends, Equity will continue to support development agencies to achieve their objectives within their areas of jurisdiction.
Equity has a unique position of co-designing evidence-based socio-economic interventions informed by insights from a customer base of 15 million clients. By leveraging on its implementation model, the Group seeks to deliver efficient and impactful social impact programs, thus guaranteeing a high return on social impact investments.
“Equity has focused to grow its partnerships and champion collaborations with like-minded partners to further our purpose, which is to champion the economic transformation of Africa. We have confidence and trust in the UN system, which has a proven track record of building a brand of care and empathy and whose focus is on people centered initiatives just like Equity,” concluded Dr. Mwangi.