Equity Building Society: A Domestic Financial Institution Scales Up Microfinance

This document presents the case study of Equity Building Society (Equity). It states that Equity beginning was inspired by an entrepreneurial vision of a potential demand for financial services in the underserved, low-income population of Kenya.

The document further outlines some of the driving factors that led to success of Equity. These include:

• Commitment and political economy for change;
• Institutional innovation;
• Learning and experimentation.

It also compiles some lessons for:

• Financial institutions;
• Donor agencies and service providers;
• Governments and policy makers.

The document concludes that:

• One of the essential ingredients in sustaining the institutional growth is building up the adequate internal capacity of appropriate staffing and middle management capacity;
• Equity has demonstrated that it is capable of managing these challenges and should continue to scale-up its success in the years to come.