Equity Group Holdings Ltd CEO James Mwangi and Helen Alexander of ProCredit Holdings board after signing a deal that saw Equity acquire ProCredit Bank Congo in 2015. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Equity Bank Enters Ethiopia:The Bank has been given licence to begin operations in the country
June 13 2019…. Equity Bank has set up a Commercial Representative Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
as it prepares to commence operations.
The Bank has appointed Hassan Maalim as the Head of the Commercial Representative Office which will be based
at Kazanchis-Addis Ababa Ethiopia and is expected to be fully operational in July this year.
Hassan brings a wealth of experience having joined Equity Bank in 2005. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree and
an MBA in Finance.
Equity Group CEO and MD, Dr. James Mwangi said, “Having completed Phase One of our expansion, the entry
into Ethiopia is part of our Phase Two expansion in pursuit of our aspiration of being a Pan African Bank with
presence in 10 African countries by the end of the year. This will enable the Bank to continue to scale up and
unlock economies of scale especially in this era of digitization and virtualization of banking.”
The entry of Equity Bank into Ethiopia a country with a population of nearly 100 million people, follows
Ethiopia’s government appointment of a privatization commission and the ongoing reforms which are aimed at
promoting a growing private sector. Ethiopia is now ranked as Africa’s fastest growing economy according to data
from IMF.
Kenya and Ethiopia have been working together on various projects, with the most notable being the LAPSET
project, where they have initiated a massive transport and infrastructure plans to link Addis Ababa to Kenya’s port
town of Lamu. The project also incorporates South Sudan, and comprises construction of ports, pipelines, new
roads, airports and standard gauge railways.
The two countries have completed and operationalized the Ethiopia-Moyale asphalt road and the power
transmission line that would further boost intra-trade is nearing completion.
The entry into Ethiopia comes soon after Equity Group announced the Bank’s entry into Zambia and Mozambique
after striking a preliminary agreement with Atlas Mara Limited to exchange ordinary shares in the Group for
controlling equity stakes in four banks operating in Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique. With the
addition of Ethiopia, the Bank will now have operations in a regional market with a combined population of nearly
500 million people, including Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and DRC.
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