James Mwangi was awarded at the All-Africa Business Leaders Awards held at Sun City, South Africa by the owners of CNBC Africa and Forbes Africa
Equity Group chief executive officer and managing director James Mwangi has been awarded the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ by the Africa Business News.
The award, which is given to individuals who have made remarkable impact on their industry, country and the continent over a period of a lifetime, was presented to him by the Deputy President of South Africa, Paul Mashatile and Rakesh Wahi, Co-Founder and Chairman of Africa Business News Group.
In his acceptance speech, Mwangi associated his lifetime achievement as a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and leader to the influence of his upbringing, a mother’s inspiration and circumstances and situation.
“Being brought up by a widowed mother, the late Grace, taught me not to be left behind while others were going to school or church hence Equity’s inclusion strategy to ensure nobody was left behind.
“She taught me that I had no father to protect me but emphasized that I would not need protection if I did things the right way – hence the strong effective corporate governance at Equity,” he said.
Mwangi recognized the role of the over 13,000 staff members of Equity Group, a passionate management team, a committed board of directors, shareholders, and a supportive customer base of over 18 million members.
Mwangi was the inaugural recipient of the Forbes Africa Person of the Year Award 11 years ago and is the champion of Equity Group’s twin engine of social and economic impact. He was honored for his vision, lifetime devotion and dedication to the progress of the African continent and its people, through the work of Equity Group and its impact on inspiring others to seek success by offering transformative opportunities for the empowerment of the people of Africa.
He is also celebrated for the flagship Wings to Fly scholarship program that has seen nearly 60,000 academically gifted needy students receive comprehensive scholarships that cover school fees, uniforms, transport, pocket money and medical expenses.
Under this pillar over 8,300 scholars have received paid internships with Equity Bank, and over 18,735 have proceeded to universities. Some 761 students have benefited from the global scholarship program that has seen at least 219 scholars admitted to Ivy League universities.
Equity Group Foundation has also established a medical franchise, Equity Afia Medical Centers, under which 81 facilities are run by Equity Leadership Program scholars who pursued medical degrees.
The franchise currently attends to over 65,000 patients per month with over 1.5 million patients cumulatively attended to at the Equity Afia Medical centers so far.
Equity Group Foundation has also mobilized 539,241 Micro and Small enterprises (MSMEs) through loans or trainings.
