Equity Bank Kenya has announced its partnership with multinational consumer goods company Unilever.
Unilever has a reach of about 190 countries with connections to some of the world’s most recognized brands dealing in food and refreshments, beauty and personal hygiene, and home care. Its partnership with Equity Bank is aimed at strengthening supply chains and making products more accessible within the region.
The Unilever and Equity Bank partnership details
Unilever has established several key partnerships across Africa to enhance its operations, strengthen supply chains, and address challenges faced by SMEs, particularly in Kenya and East Africa.
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The partnership opens up a door for a majority of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME’s) aimed at expanding their product reach, improving their product delivery for their clients, and enabling them to access credit services more easily and at a subsidized rate.
The Equity Bank Kenya Managing Director, Moses Nyabanda, emphasizes the institution’s readiness to empower locally grown businesses in the region, regardless of their size or reach.
The SME’s environment in the region
SMEs in Kenya and East Africa struggle to secure affordable financing as a result of the high interest rates applied on loans in the current banking sector, lack of collateral, and bureaucratic hurdles, while unreliable supply chains, driven by poor infrastructure and limited technological adoption, in the sustenance and growth of the sector.
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Equity Bank’s contribution to SME’s empowerment
By investing approximately Kenya shillings 2.4 billion annually, Equity Bank Kenya has committed to providing emerging businesses under the Unilever ecosystem a number of benefits including providing financial relief to businesses through the issuing of tailored working capital financing to Unilever distributors who will in turn have access to credit facilities expanding the product reach as the distributors have a lessened burden.
Implications of the Equity partnership Kenyan and East African market
The Equity Bank and Unilever collaboration fosters a conducive environment for the creation of an easily accessible credit system tailored to each individual businesses needs and a great help to the growth of Kenya’s trade system in particular as it is responsible for 83.5% of total employment, with around 16.7 million people employed in this sector in 2023.
“We are delighted to continue empowering our business partners through this transformative partnership with Equity Bank, enabling them to access affordable financing, build capacity, and unlock new commercial opportunities,” Unilever East Africa’s Luke Ochieng who serves as its current managing director shares his enthusiasm towards partnering with Equity as he looks forward to seeing the transformative power of collaboration.
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