Kenyan Bank, Equity Group, Targets Southern Africa Deals to Power Next Growth Phase

Kenya’s Equity Group Holdings is stepping up its expansion strategy, with plans to pursue acquisitions in Zambia, Angola and Mozambique as it looks to tap into fast-growing economies tied to natural resources and infrastructure development.

Chief executive James Mwangi said the bank is actively seeking opportunities in the three countries, positioning the move as part of a broader strategy to follow trade flows rather than simply expand geographically.

The targeted markets are gaining attention due to their role in emerging regional trade corridors and their wealth of commodities such as copper, cobalt, oil and gas. These factors, combined with ongoing infrastructure investments, are expected to drive economic growth and create demand for financial services.

Equity Group’s approach is shaped by its experience in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it entered through acquisitions and has since grown into one of the country’s largest lenders with a significant market share. That success has reinforced the bank’s preference for buying into existing institutions rather than building new operations from scratch.

Mwangi noted that acquisitions offer a faster and more practical route into new markets, especially where regulatory systems, languages and business cultures differ significantly. Establishing greenfield operations in such environments can be slow and complex, making mergers and acquisitions a more effective strategy.
Beyond Southern Africa, the group is also keeping a close watch on Ethiopia, one of the continent’s largest untapped banking markets. Equity already operates a representative office there and is preparing to move in once regulators fully open the sector to foreign lenders.

The expansion push comes as African banking groups increasingly look beyond their home markets for growth. While opportunities across the continent remain strong, they are often accompanied by structural challenges, including currency volatility, shallow capital markets and uneven regulatory frameworks.

Equity is seeking to balance these risks by diversifying both geographically and operationally. The bank is investing in technology, insurance and its fintech arm, FinServe, which has helped reduce costs and improve efficiency. These investments are also intended to build resilience in an environment that executives describe as increasingly defined by economic and geopolitical shocks.

The focus on trade corridors, particularly projects such as the Lobito Corridor linking resource-rich regions to global markets, highlights how closely the bank’s strategy is tied to broader economic shifts. Rather than entering markets in isolation, Equity is aligning its expansion with the movement of goods, capital and customers across borders.

For a lender that began as a small rural building society in Kenya, the current strategy marks a significant evolution. It is no longer just scaling within East Africa but positioning itself as a pan-African player targeting high-growth regions across the continent.

Whether these ambitions translate into successful deals will depend on execution in complex markets. But the direction is clear. Equity Group is betting that Africa’s next wave of growth will be driven by cross-border trade and resource-led development, and it wants to be at the middle of that transformation.

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