NCBA has a long-standing relationship with AFD Group and continues to develop its commitment towards sustainability. In 2023, NCBA launched its “Change The Story” platform, anchored on five strategic pillars and a set of fifteen bold commitments. Among these, the Group has engaged to mobilize KES 30 billion of Green & Sustainable Financing, and to support women and youth. Additionally, NCBA launched an ambitious investment plan to extend its presence in Kenya, in order to better serve its SME clients and support inequality reduction through financial inclusion.
“We are grateful to Proparco for coming on board and enabling us to meet our Sustainability commitments. As NCBA, collaborative efforts and strategic partnerships are integral to the value that we deliver to all our stakeholders. I believe that with this partnership, we will deepen our shared goals to fostering sustainable economic development and advancing the cause of green finance, women empowerment, and SME growth” John Gachora, the Group Managing Director, NCBA.
In line with its 2023-2027 Strategy, Proparco is collaborating with NCBA to help the Group implement its sustainability strategy in the country, especially towards green financing, women-led businesses, and SMEs.
“NCBA endorses the same goals and values as Proparco. The positive role they can play to tackle climate change through green projects, as well as social inequalities, resonates with our 2023-2027 Strategy. We are certain that this collaboration will enhance financial inclusion in Kenya, especially for women entrepreneurs, as the project has qualified 2X.” Emmanuel Haye, Head of Financial Institutions Africa at Proparco.
The 2X Challenge is an initiative launched by international financial institutions in 2018 to advance opportunities for women and increase financing towards gender-equality. The project is expected to finance more than 1,600 MSMEs and SMEs, in the context of the Choose Africa initiative, the AFD Group program that aims to support African entrepreneurs. It will contribute to SDG 5 “Gender Equality”, SDG 8 “Decent work and economic growth”, SDG 13 “Climate Action”.
This article was initially published by Proparco.
