Interviews

In this interview, James Mwangi, CEO of Equity Bank, narrates his entrepreneurial journey building one of Kenya’s biggest and most inclusive banks, and discusses his driving mission to give back to Kenyan society through education.

Mwangi begins by discussing the state of the banking sector at the start of his career in the early to mid-1980s. He describes the numerous obstacles—from compliance requirements to fees to access to liquidity—that barred many people from opening bank accounts. Moreover, he explains how, after Kenyan independence in 1963, there were very few consumer-facing banks, because the government focused on developing banks aimed at serving state corporations, rather than the Kenyan population. Mwangi experienced the results of this exclusion at first hand during his childhood, when his mother—along with many other people in his village—was deemed ineligible to open a bank account. By the time he got his first job, Mwangi explains, “I really understood that exclusion from the financial system was exclusion from resource allocation. That was a turning point.” Indeed, his desire for equal access to banking services became a major motivating factor throughout his career.

He goes on to explain the circumstances in which he got involved with Equity Bank—which was originally a building society. After 11 years, it was struggling and facing insolvency, yet Mwangi immediately recognized the resilience and determination of the employees. Said Mwangi, “The turnaround of Equity”—which happened in just a year—“was driven by that spirit. It was all about that human spirit, that determination.” Today, Equity Bank is one of the biggest in Kenya, serving over 50 percent of the population.

Key in the recovery and subsequent growth of Equity Bank was Mwangi’s focus on improving interactions with customers. Previously, he explains, clients “were made to feel that [their] value to the bank was based on [their] account balance.” At Equity, Mwangi strove to “give banking a human face.” As he explains in the interview, all customers—regardless of wealth or background—were treated with dignity. “People are more human than economic. That’s the conclusion I have today—that it’s how you treat them, it’s not what you give them that matters.” As Mwangi goes on to explain in the interview, this relationship with clients—built on a foundation of mutual respect—was also key to helping previously disenfranchised Kenyans build savings accounts and credit history. Mwangi talks at length about how the group build up these different microfinance and microcredit services, and the reasons that they have been so successful.

Mwangi goes on to discuss some of the challenges Equity Bank faced as it grew, including lack of necessary infrastructure, corruption, political risk, and the absence of a skilled labor force. In the interview, Mwangi explains some of the strategies Equity has used to navigate these and other challenges. He also reflects on new challenges, including digitization, telecommunications, and e-commerce, and how these new technologies have revolutionized the consumer experience.

Concluding the interview, Mwangi shares his philosophy on corporate social responsibility and discusses some of the activities of the Equity Bank Foundation, most notably, its work in the areas of education and leadership development.

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