Equity business, East and Central Africa’s major financial services business led by Kenyan banker James Mwangi, plans to increase remuneration for female employees as part of its ongoing attempts to close the gender pay gap. This decision is a key step toward the bank’s goal of establishing pay equity throughout its businesses.
In 2023, Equity Group’s gender pay gap narrowed to 25%, down from 32% in 2022. However, inequities exist in Kenya, where women earned 52% less than males in comparable professions in 2022.
The bank’s most recent sustainability report describes initiatives to remedy the gap, such as gender-balanced hiring, wage equality adjustments, and increasing female presence in senior management. The report also highlights the difficulty of male domination in senior positions, which contributes to continued pay discrepancies.
According to 2022 regional data, Kenya and Tanzania have the widest gender wage inequalities (52%), followed by the Democratic Republic of the Congo (13%), Rwanda (12%), South Sudan (29%), and Uganda (22%).
By 2023, women will account for 41.3 percent of the workforce, a modest increase from 41 percent in 2022. Tanzania and Uganda had the most female representation (49%), while Sudan had the lowest (31%). Women accounted for 27 percent of senior management roles, up from 25 percent, and 34.8 percent of managerial positions.
Under James Mwangi’s imaginative leadership, Equity Group has experienced exceptional development, increasing its active client base by 10.73 percent from 17.7 million in 2022 to 19.6 million in 2023.
Mwangi’s strategic leadership has driven the group’s aggressive expansion throughout East and Central Africa, establishing it as a prominent regional player. In the first half of 2024, the group’s financial performance was strong, with a profit of $229 million, up 12% year on year. This was attributed to regional diversification and innovation in financial products.
The bank recently announced a scholarship project worth Ksh2.8 billion ($21.7 million), financing 113 students to attend top worldwide colleges. Equity Group partnered with the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide financial literacy training and concessional finance to smallholder farmers.