Equity Group Holdings invested a record $771 million (about Shs3.1 trillion) in social impact and sustainability programmes across its markets in 2025, supporting initiatives in education, healthcare, agriculture, business development and environmental protection.
The investment is highlighted in the group’s latest sustainability report, launched in Nairobi this week under the theme A Sustainable World is a Transformed Africa.
The report details the group’s efforts to combine business growth with social and economic development through its Tri-Engine Model, which brings together commercial performance, social impact and environmental sustainability.
Equity Group Managing Director and Chief Executive James Mwangi said the results showed that businesses could make profits while contributing to development.
“Our 2025 performance demonstrates that commercial success and sustainable development are not competing priorities, but mutually reinforcing drivers of long-term prosperity,” he said.
Gift Shoko, Managing Director and Chief Executive of Equity Bank Uganda, said the group’s sustainability agenda was aimed at addressing the needs of the communities in which it operates.
“In Uganda, our ambition is to ensure that banking contributes to lasting economic and social progress,” he said, adding that this included supporting business growth and expanding access to appropriate financial services.
Support for businesses, farmers and vulnerable communities
According to the report, Equity’s social protection programmes reached 5.94 million people in 2025 through cash transfers worth $1.34 billion (KSh173.5 billion).
The group also extended $450,000 (KSh57.9 million) in loans to 115 refugees and provided training to another 772.
Small businesses also received significant support, with Equity disbursing about $3.1 billion (KSh404 billion) to micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs). Local suppliers accounted for 90% of the group’s procurement expenditure, valued at $369 million.
Through the Equity Group Foundation, 962,924 MSMEs received entrepreneurship training, while 2.49 million women and young people benefited from financial education.
In agriculture, the group reached 622,525 small and medium-sized farmers with climate-smart financing, training and support to access markets.
Scholarships, jobs and healthcare
The group’s education programmes supported 60,009 scholarship beneficiaries in 2025. These included 29,515 university students, 4,039 students in technical and vocational training and 1,115 global scholars.
Equity also facilitated 9,772 paid internships to help young people gain work experience.
Its partnerships with organisations including IamtheCODE Foundation, Huawei ICT Academy, WorldQuant University, Amazon Web Services and Moringa School have expanded access to digital skills training.
Under the Equity Leaders Programme, 415 innovators secured employment after completing 12-month technology apprenticeships.
In healthcare, Equity Afya, the group’s medical franchise, expanded to 150 outpatient centres in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The facilities have recorded more than 4.62 million patient visits since the programme began.
Shs800 billion in climate-related financing
On environmental sustainability, Equity Group deployed more than $201 million (KSh26 billion) in sustainable and climate-aligned financing during 2025.
The group also recorded more than 47,000 climate-related transactions under the International Finance Corporation’s Climate Adaptation Finance Initiative.
Other initiatives included distributing 75,855 clean-energy products and planting 9.1 million trees, bringing the cumulative number of trees planted to 44.6 million, above the group’s target of 35 million.
The report also highlights measures to assess environmental and social risks associated with lending, conduct additional checks on high-risk sectors and carry out climate stress tests. The group is preparing to adopt the IFRS S1 and S2 sustainability disclosure standards.
Staff numbers and future targets
Equity Group’s workforce increased to 13,370 employees in 2025. Average staff training time rose to 74 hours per employee, compared with 45 hours in 2024, while employee turnover declined from 11.1% to 10.6%.
Speaking at the report’s launch, German Ambassador to Kenya Sebastian Groth called for stronger cooperation between governments, businesses and development institutions to finance sustainable development.
He said public funding should be used to attract private investment, noting that the private sector had the capacity to expand the impact of development initiatives.
Nasra Nanda also highlighted the role banks could play in making sustainable housing accessible to more people, arguing that affordability should consider the long-term cost of living in a home.
Meanwhile, Equity Bank Kenya, the group’s largest revenue contributor, published a Sustainable Development Impact Disclosure outlining seven goals linked to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The bank committed to reporting annually on both the positive and negative effects of its activities.
By 2030, the bank targets allocating 30% of its loans to food and agriculture, 65% to MSMEs and 15% to manufacturing. It also plans to double the number of Equity Afya outpatient centres from 150 to 300.
The report shows that MSMEs accounted for 56.6% of the bank’s loan portfolio in 2025, up from 50.1% in 2023. Lending to women also increased from 18% to 23.9%.
The sustainability strategy covers the group’s banking, insurance, technology and foundation operations in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Equity Group also maintains a representative office in Ethiopia.
