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Equity Bank will be looking to deviate from loans to finance regional SMEs across its markets and instead seek partnerships to grow the value chains for the businesses.
The lender’s chief executive officer James Mwangi, told The Star that previous partnerships with 16 French development banks have been principally on credit where the lender gets dollar-denominated credit.
It has received in excess of $2.4 billion (Sh129.5 billion) for onward lending to regional markets in recent years.
He spoke on the sidelines of a partnership with French Sovereign Wealth Fund BPIFrance.
However, Mwangi said a new partnership will signal a shift from conventional credit arrangements to a more integrated and strategic collaboration.
“We want to partner together to facilitate trade. So there is a component of doing trade finance together, opening lines of credit, and opening guarantees together as a joint initiative to facilitate customers. But we also want to play a catalytic pivotal role in creating a bridge between Africa and France,” said Mwangi.
He noted that this collaboration enables the lender to de-risk investments for French companies seeking to invest in Africa through syndicated loans in local and foreign currencies.
The lender will be looking to ride on the inroads that it has made in the French-speaking Democratic Republic of Congo and strengthen its ties with France.
“We want to use this relationship to bring European companies to invest in Africa so that we stem the challenge of exporting raw materials. We want them to bring their technology, their capital, their entrepreneurship,” said Mwangi.
Equity Bank says it is positioning itself as a regional hub for BPI France and other partners, extending its influence across the seven East and Central African countries where it operates.
Mwangi reiterated that Equity Bank’s established presence in the region provides it with deep market insights and operational synergies, enabling it to catalyse sustainable development in Africa.
“Essentially, Equity is making Nairobi to become the regional financial hub. And maybe looking at the investment, the different countries require different investment. So how are you going to go about that? We are using the Equity presence in those countries,” added Mwangi.
“That is why we have restricted ourselves to East and Central Africa because Equity is already in those markets, it understands. So what it will do is to syndicate. We already understand the investment and the legal framework in each of the countries.”
This year’s Inspire and Connect East Africa was held by BPIFrance in Nairobi, featuring Kenya and French businesses.
The forum seeks to use partnerships to advance FrancoKenya relations, especially in the business front.
This is in preparation for France hosting the France-Africa summit in 2026 in Kenya.
“ The essence of the agreement is in preparation before then, we want to prove and showcase what we can do together to facilitate business people and entrepreneurs to start collaborating. This agreement creates a bridge between us and France where we bring Europe into Africa and take Africa into Europe in terms of trade,” said Mwangi.
by JACKTONE LAWI