Equity Bank won three awards at the Global SME Finance Awards 2023. The awards were organized by the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the SME Finance Forum.
Global SME Finance Awards are meant to recognize outstanding achievements in expanding access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses.
Equity Bank 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 honorable 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 165 applications were submitted from 120 different institutions. An independent panel of 85 judges identified 30 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 said “We are honored 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 Bank 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 MSMEs have been trained in entrepreneurship, and a total of Kes 248.3 billion has been disbursed to 269,081 MSMEs under the Young Africa Works Program.
Launched in 2018 and now in its sixth year, the Global SME Finance Awards capture the effective and successful practices of financiers, honoring 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.