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Equity Bank Group
Equity bank group is a financial institution based in Kenya, East Africa, offering a variety of financial services. This company was founded in 1984 as a minor institution, specializing in mortgage financing, which targeted the low income earners. Based on the fact that Kenya is a developing country characterized by majority of citizens earning less than adequate income, the target population acted as strength and thus contributed to the company’s instant growth. However equity bank, which was known as Equity Building Society (EBS) by then, experienced a downfall in growth an aspect that led to its bankruptcy in 1993. The pre-insolvency period totally differed with the period of 1993 to date in terms of equity banks economic progress, with the former showing a great decline and drastic company growth during the latter (Stanford 2007). To date equity bank is rated among the best bank in retail baking in Kenya , offering a variety of banking services as well as collaborating with other firms to improve their services, for instance in mobile banking.
It’s worth noting that banking industry in Kenya’s is highly competitive, with more than 40 registered commercial banks. In an effort to overcome this competition, equity bank targeted low income earners who happened to be non-banked. After the 1993 scandal, EBS transformed from a mortgage financier to microfinance. The target group wasn’t changed, but this time a better approach in strategy formulation was adopted. Following a threat by the Central bank of Kenya to dissolve the insolvent bank, the management was reformed as an alternative option. Following porter’s argument that competitive advantage cannot be generated through natural resources (Porter 73), the new management built on the same target population that had caused failure to the company, but this time applying a more innovative strategy.
Human resource is a key factor in banking