Corporate News
Equity Bank chief executive James Mwangi during a past briefing at the lender's Upper Hill offices in Nairobi. PHOTO | FILE
By DAVID HERBLING, hdavid@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The lender is currently recruiting a chief nursing officer, chief laboratory technologist, finance manager and an IT manager to set up and run its network of health centres dubbed ‘Equity Afia.’
- The chain of clinics will offer diagnostic services, laboratory tests, outpatient care, pharmacy dispensing, dental services and health screening to individuals and companies.
Equity Bank
has begun hiring health professionals ahead of plans to open a chain of
clinics across Kenya, as the lender seeks to cash in on the increased
demand for healthcare.
The Nairobi bourse listed bank is currently recruiting a
chief nursing officer, chief laboratory technologist, finance manager
and an IT manager to set up and run its network of health centres dubbed
‘Equity Afia’.
The ‘Equity Afia’ chain of clinics will offer
diagnostic services, laboratory tests, outpatient care, pharmacy
dispensing, dental services and health screening to individuals and
companies.
The health business will be run as a franchised network under the bank’s social arm — Equity Group Foundation (EGF) — which the regional lender says will offer “affordable and high quality” healthcare.
“Manage and maintain high quality of nursing care,
as well as contributing to the development of policies and operating
procedures in nursing care in line with the set standards, to contribute
to overall hospital profitability,” reads the job description for the
chief nursing officer.
Kenya’s annual healthcare spending is estimated at
Sh114.2 billion with 90 per cent according to a study by Open Capital
Advisors.
Equity says it “wishes to develop a network of
health facilities, with different levels, across the country. EGF is
seeking to hire a management team that will oversee operations of this
network of health facilities,” Equity Bank said in a notice.
The bank’s diversification into the health business
will be a first for a Kenyan bank, and comes barely a year after the
lender acquired a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) license to roll out telecom services such as voice, data and mobile banking.
The health professionals will help Equity to design and manage the medical centres.
The chief lab technologist will be tasked with
“developing quality standards across the laboratories in the network”
while the finance manager will be responsible for “implementing
financial management strategies, systems and controls for the optimal
growth and profitability of Equity Afia health centres.”
Equity is banking on technology to automate healthcare services at its clinics, a job that will be assigned to the IT manager.
The entry into healthcare business is expected to
boost the lender’s bancassurance business by designing medical cover
packages acceptable at the Equity Afia clinics.
The bank’s chain of clinics will be run under a
franchising model, implying that the lender may not own all the Equity
Afia outlets but will offer support services for those wishing to set up
such centres.
“EGF, a non-profit-making operating foundation
registered in Kenya, plans to execute a sustainable, integrated health
model that uses a franchise approach to provide standardised, quality
health care,” the bank said in a notice.
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