I think COVID induced human-behavior change. It has been very transformational, as people try to avoid touching services, as people social distance, as people avoid public places. And brick and mortar, whether it is ATMs or branches, are public places with touching services.

As the adoption of online business becomes permanent, digital solutions seem to be the “in” thing: our staff working from home, compressing the distance for our staff and the customers, moving banking from the place where you go to what you do on the devices, and using payments for lifestyle fulfilment. To me, that is a behavior that has been adopted and is unlikely to be lost because it has brought convenience and ease.

Maybe COVID’s positive aspect is transformation. I think it will add even more as a tailwind of adoption of digital solutions, of online businesses. It will be a catalyst of digitization around the world. 

I think the first thing is our youthful demographic profile. We have a median age of 20, a population that is born and brought up during the digital era. They are digital natives. As a result, the adoption of digital solutions from that perspective is good.

Secondly, this is a mobile generation. They’ve been born and brought up with—and cannot imagine a world without—a mobile phone. That’s why they have adopted, and as natives have become very innovative. And why they have made Kenya a leader in mobile innovations and solutions.

Thirdly, there is the structure of our economy. The economy is de-corporatized, and this youthful population is seeking solutions for their micro and small businesses. As they aggregate, they transform into the fully formal sector, the private sector. The private sector thus becomes the leader of this transformation as opposed to the public sector, simply because of the structure of the economy.

The fourth aspect, of course, is pragmatic leadership. I must praise the administration of President Uhuru for adopting technology and innovation as a strategic plan, and for pushing that agenda very significantly.

Lastly, Equity Group and Safaricom are global leaders in the digitization of banking, and mobile financial solutions for Safaricom. That leadership then inspires the entire population. The generosity of these two companies in exposing their APIs to the youthful population to develop innovative solutions is the backbone of these huge organizations; to me, that has inspired the population but has also provided a platform upon which innovations can be adopted. 

I will add one more factor that has stimulated the transformation of Kenya. It is globalization, allowing young Kenyans to be serving the American Silicon Valley while in Kenya. Business-processes outsourcing has become a major link to opportunities. Of course, the issue is not just the business-process outsourcing but the use of technology. Technology has become a very big enabler to serve and develop the market and the global technology of companies while still being at home. Online work has become a major motivator in the adoption of these innovative approaches.

Equity has now defined what is called East and Central African post-COVID resilience and recovery program. Equity has partnered with UN coordinators and all the UN agencies here for initiatives that correspond to 17 sustainable development causes.  The UN is building capacity for those who want to borrow, they are doing their training.

Other foundations have also come onboard and committed US$100 million, delisting young people to borrow, to achieve their dreams. We’re using credit guarantees of about US$350 million to support young people.

Sixteen international development banks, such as AFE, African Development Bank, European Investment Bank, have supported the fund and committed US$1 million to support the initiative so that we are able to create a balanced portfolio. Equity has committed US$4.2 billion to the fund. 

The objective is to support a manufacturing sector, an industry-transformation hub in Kenya, but using the African Continental Free Trade Area to allow East and Central Africa to operate as a single market.  And using East African Community protocols that allow free trade of goods, services and products across the border.

The objective of Equity is to fund and provide credit for five million small and medium businesses using that US$ 4.2 billion of its own fund and US$1 billion dollars from long-term funds.

The five million companies, we hope, each will provide between five and ten jobs; we take a minimum as five. That gives us 25 million direct jobs and these jobs might create another 25 million indirect jobs.

It’s not about seeking 100 million customers by 2025 but about investing through the private sector. Some people call it the “Marshall Plan,” but for me this is a resilience and recovery plan for East and Central Africa. 

Equity believes in the doctrine of equal opportunities in respect to gender. We demonstrated that by having a board of four women and four men. We’ve also implemented that in my management team, with seven executives being women and six men. Essentially, that is what we want modern society to learn: A better and more recipient society, a more sustainable society, is that which gives equal opportunities both for men and women without discrimination.

We know that we are up against some challenges like culture, but we have gathered the courage and boldness to be the pacesetter. We use our finances in two aspects: first of all, building capacity in women; secondly when securities for borrowing are a challenge, we offer them guarantees. It’s an affirmative action, but the most important thing is capacity-building, mentorship and coaching. We have started the program called Quick to equip them with the competencies and capabilities and then provide them with the financing.

The last point is mentorship and coaching by supporting them to populate the supply chains of our corporate customers, and using the corporate customers as the mentors and coaches to women in their supply chains which is specific and customized to their environment, to the sector, and the industry they operate in.

I'm really glad that you made that observation, that we’ve covered the main economy. We focused on agriculture, enterprises, education and health because those are the sectors that form the backbone of emerging economies.

The essence of the foundation is to de-risk those sectors so the population can actively participate and obtain credit and be active in those sectors because those sectors provide livelihood, and those sectors provide them with employment. They generate currency; they are the sources for exports, and that’s where imports also come to. Essentially, we need to place people at the center and the heart of the economy to ensure that they’re able to provide a livelihood to the economy.

We also felt that credit was not a sufficient condition for success. There are issues that need to be dealt with, and we’d best deal with them in collaboration with all likeminded people who share our dream of a more prosperous Africa. People who believe that nobody should be left behind, people who believe that the purpose of humanity is important.

The foundation becomes a platform of collaboration with development banks, foundations, the development of institutions and the support of the corresponding pillar of the economy.

Those pillars are integrated because the person seeking health is the same person seeking education for their children. The person who is a farmer is the same person who has a small business. That is the integrative approach of the foundation. The foundation de-risks, and then the bank scales up by providing credit to those who have been de-risked and whose capacity has been enhanced through the training. 

I'll talk about Kenya and the East African region. One of the biggest strengths is that all of them have adopted Chapter 4 with the International Monetary Fund, and as a result, predictable market prices, inflation, exchange rates and interest rates. That is a prerequisite for a good recovery.

The second aspect is an issue of giving incentives to drive investment behavior. Kenya has done very well positioning itself, opening itself to Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs). Most of the infrastructure now being built in the country is done on a PPP basis. It doesn’t have to be funded by the Kenyan government’s budget, which is limited. That opens the country to international markets.

The other aspect is fiscal and financial discipline.

Lastly, Kenya has been upfront in seeking markets for its products. Kenya has been very strong with America through the African Growth and Opportunity Act. It has now been seeking a bilateral trade partnership with America.  We have signed up a partnership with the UK, with the European Union. We were the first or second signatory to the African Continental Free Trade Area. And at the moment, Kenya is the chair of the East African Community. It’s a champion of trade. That creates an environment that is suitable for investment.

Kenya for the last 15 years has massively invested in enabling infrastructure. The basic infrastructure is there for the private sector to drive investment in East Africa, making Kenya a manufacturing hub.

COVID-19 demonstrated, through the disruption of global supply chains, the fact that Africa could not initially access PPEs and had to develop the manufacturing capacity on its own for PPEs; the fact that Africa did not have access to vaccines and is now busy trying to build its own vaccine factories. That proves that Africa has identified a sweet spot of reducing dependence on the global supply chain, and has demonstrated the need for national and regional supply chains.

That’s Kenya, because it has already invested in infrastructure.