This archive report was first published on 27 August 2021.
On August 27, 2021, Equity Group Plc announced its commitment to shared prosperity by investing USD 496 million (approximately KES 54.3 billion) in social impact projects through Equity Group Foundation in the first half of 2021.
The projects, anchored around the Foundation's key pillars, aimed to improve the lives of Kenyans in various sectors, including health, energy, education, and more.
Equity Group Managing Director and CEO Dr. James Mwangi attributed the Group's impressive performance to its principle of putting people before profits, saying, 'We recognize that beyond a regulator license we also get a license from our host communities and we have continued to treat them as significant stakeholders and invest in them through our shared prosperity program.'
One notable initiative was the massive Covid-19 program, which provided Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline health workers in 56 county and national referral hospitals and 60 faith-based hospitals. The Group also scaled its Equity Afia health franchise to 41 medical centers operated by 38 medical doctors, aiming to record 600,000 patient visits by the end of the year.
Equity's commitment to education was evident in its scaling of the Wings to Fly Scholarship Program, which provided 37,000 secondary school scholarships, with 86% of the graduates attaining university entry grades in 2021. The Equity Leadership Program had also benefitted 17,000 scholars, with 893 beneficiaries of Global Scholarships.
Furthermore, Equity continued its tree-planting initiative, launched in 2019, aiming to plant 35 million trees by 2024, with 7 million trees already planted. The Group also encouraged conservation measures, promoting the use of renewable energy and energy-efficient technologies.
Additionally, Equity provided financing for one million clean energy devices, aiming to transform 30,000 schools that use wood fuel for cooking to use LPG. The Group also supported the Government, UN Agencies, and donor community to reach 3.3 million households with cash payments under the Social Safety Net Program.
