James Mwangi's Equity Group signs landmark ITC deal to unlock trade finance for East Africa's coffee, leather and creative sectors

Equity Group Holdings and the International Trade Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding to expand access to finance, trade expertise and global market connections for businesses across East Africa's coffee, leather and creative industries, with Kenya serving as the first pilot market.

The agreement was signed on Tuesday by ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton and Equity Group Managing Director and Chief Executive James Mwangi at a ceremony in Nairobi. The partnership pairs ITC's global trade development expertise and market intelligence tools with Equity Group's pan-African financial infrastructure and its Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan, the group's six-pillar regional growth strategy.

The pilot phase will run in Kenya through December 2026 before expanding to other East African markets from 2027. Equity Group operates banking subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, giving the partnership a ready-made expansion pathway across the region.

The three sectors targeted are not random. Coffee is Kenya's most significant agricultural export commodity and a primary income source for hundreds of thousands of smallholder farmers. The leather sector, governed by the East African Community Leather and Leather Products Strategy 2020 to 2030, has structural challenges around value addition, with most Kenyan hides still exported raw rather than as finished products. The creative industries, spanning music, fashion, film and digital content, are among the fastest-growing employment sectors for Kenya's young population but chronically underserved by conventional financial institutions.

Businesses participating in the programme will gain access to ITC's trade market intelligence tools and the SME Trade Academy, the organisation's online learning platform for small enterprises. Equity Group will deploy financing instruments alongside the technical assistance framework, targeting a combination of MSMEs across the three sectors.

Mwangi said the collaboration was expected to accelerate growth by integrating financing with trade intelligence and market access. "This partnership reflects our shared commitment to unlocking the immense potential within Africa's value chains by connecting entrepreneurs, producers and creatives to regional and global markets. Through our Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan, we are intentionally investing in sectors that create jobs, expand exports and drive inclusive economic transformation," he said.

The ITC-Equity partnership follows a separate MOU Equity Group signed with the International Finance Corporation at the Africa CEO Forum in Kigali in May 2026, also targeting agriculture, MSMEs and the creative economy with a $16 billion financing commitment framework. IFC already holds a 7 percent stake in Equity Group and has provided the bank with approximately $400 million in loan facilities, making it one of Equity's most significant institutional shareholders and lending partners.

Equity Group reported a strong 2025 full year, with the group's insurance unit contributing materially to profit growth as premium income rose 75 percent. The bank has been expanding its non-interest income streams aggressively to reduce reliance on net interest margins in an environment of gradually easing interest rates.