This archive report was first published on 2 July 2021.
On July 2, 2021, Equity Group's CEO, James Mwangi, expressed confidence in the bank's Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) operation, predicting it would surpass Kenya in terms of balance sheet size and profitability.
According to Mwangi, the DRC business currently contributes 27% to the group's balance sheet and is growing at a rate of 60% annually, which could see it overtake Kenya between the third and fifth year.
Equity's DRC operation has quickly made the bank a market leader in financial services, both in balance sheet and profitability, as well as customer base. Mwangi attributed this success to the company's ability to implement lessons drawn from their previous East African ventures into new operations.
He noted that the Kenyan unit's return on assets reached four percent in 16 years, while Uganda took 14 years and Rwanda 12 years. Mwangi asserted that this demonstrates the bank's ability to learn and quickly deploy lessons into the business, predicting that the DRC operation would reach this milestone in the next three years.
Equity's plan in DRC includes an accelerated digital strategy with a range of easily accessible financial products and services, in addition to an established network of over 74 branches and 3,000 agents.
As the DRC population is almost double that of Kenya's, with the country being about 4 times bigger in terms of size, the potential for growth in the DRC market is significant. The country is also on the verge of joining the East African Community (EAC) after President Felix Tshisekedi launched the EAC's verification mission to the country on June 22.
