James Mwangi: The Magnate With A Mandate For His People
James Mwangi is Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of Equity Bank of Kenya. Equity Bank of Kenya’s mission is to be the champion of the socio-economic prosperity of the people of Africa. He was named the Ernst & Young World Entrepreneur of the Year 2012.
In 2010, Mr. Mwangi was ranked by the Financial Times among the world’s 50 most influential business leaders of the emerging markets. He is currently the Chairman of Kenya’s Vision 2030 Delivery Board charged with the responsibility of ensuring Kenya becomes a middle income country with global high standards of living by the year 2030. He serves on several international bodies as an advisor and sits on the Board of the Africa Leadership Academy in South Africa. He has over 22 years of management experience.
Dr. James Mwangi has been described as a champion for socio-economic transformation. The Kenyan born banker and leading businessman is a lifelong entrepreneur whose career stands as an example of how a successful business can deliver value to its shareholders whilst creating effective social impact. Dr. Mwangi’s leadership approach has been recognized locally, regionally, and globally.
He has been credited with democratizing financial access by removing entry barriers and pioneering a microfinance revolution which gave 96% of the un-banked population in Kenya the opportunity for broader economic participation.
He has led Equity Group Holdings to become a publicly listed financial services group in three countries and is rapidly expanding it and its unique shared-values model across Africa. The Group currently serves 14.3 million clients in 6 countries, positioning itself as the largest financial services and banking group in Eastern and Central Africa in market capitalization.
The Equity Group Foundation (EGF) and Mastercard Foundation in collaboration made a commitment of Ksh1.1 billion to provide Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to frontline medical staff dealing with Covid-19 patients in public hospitals in Kenya.
Equity Bank (with Ksh300million), and the Mastercard Foundation (with Ksh500million), a long-time partner of EGF, are providing support as part of their Mastercard Foundation Covid-19 Recovery and Resilience Program.
The funding also includes a donation of Ksh300million from the family of Dr. James Mwangi, the Founding Chairman of EGF and Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Equity Group Holdings Plc. EGF will work in partnership with the Ministry of Health and the Covid-19 Emergency Response Fund in this endeavour.
Mwangi was named one of the Neusroom 100 helping the world fight the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the full list of honourees here.
