We frame this concept as shared value and conduct our activities through the lens of our strategy. We assist customers to create, grow and protect wealth by offering an integrated set of banking and insurance products and services delivered through our customer facing businesses. The sustainability journey we have embarked on enables us to remain relevant in society and strengthens our ability to respond to an ever-increasing competitive landscape. 

We are deploying Kes 6 billion across sustainable investment, financing, and our operation activities to help accelerate climate transition and advance inclusive growth by 2025.

  • Renewable and clean energy

    Renewable energy investments is gaining momentum in Kenya, and we are committed to financing businesses as part of our clean strategy transition by 2025.

  • Industries, innovation and infastructure

    Kenya aims to become an industrial hub for Africa by 2030. We are supporting this vision by financing both private and government infrastructure projects to realise the vision.

  • Financially excluded groups

    • We are committed to bank the unbanked and we have revamped our Timiza offering to make it easier for small savings and loan advancements for customers. 

      Tell me more about Timiza

    • Last year 2021, we signed a partnership with Melanin Kapital, an impact investment platform to provide an investor readiness program that will see startups in the social impact space access up to KES 3 million in unsecured lending. The program targets to reach 1,000 women-focused startups and will provide value add services such as financial training, investment-readiness capacity building, structured mentorship, structured networking, and access to finance.

    • In partnership with International Trade Centre, we launched SheTradesKE Programme in 2020 which is KSh10 billion fund to advance credit to women-owned small and medium enterprises over the next five years.

  • Sustainable cities and communities

    We are committed to financing the green economy, agriculture, green building and working in partnerships to finance green mortgages.

  • Responsible consumption and production

    We support the circular economy through minimisation of waste streams from our business’s operations. A significant contribution to this initiative is the recycling of E-waste, furniture, billboards, plastic, and steel waste.

  • Value chains

    Ecosystem Banking allows for an integrated approach to providing services across our client’s ecosystems. Corporate clients who have signed onto the platform enable their vendors to access financial services based on their relationship with these corporates.

     

    This initiative unlocks lending to SMEs in corporate value chains by using non-traditional bank lending solutions, provides finance and further builds capacity through our Business Development Support (BDS) Framework.

     

    Join the eco system today. 

We ensure our business helps protect the environment through curbing climate change and reducing our environmental footprint.

  • Net zero carbon commitment

    We continue to work to not only reduce our carbon footprint as a business, but also develop innovative climate finance products to support our clients on their transition journey.

  • Enhancing our forest cover

    We are committed to support the Kenyan Governments initiative to plant 10 million trees across Kenya by 2025. This initiative is in line with the bank’s renewed sustainability agenda. The project is undertaken in partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry in support of the national agenda to increase the county’s forest cover to 10%.

  • Green building certification

    In September 2020, we became the first bank in Kenya to join the Kenya Green Building Society as a champion for initiatives that promote the green economy by reducing pollution and improving people’s lives while fostering economic growth.

  • Reducing negative impact

    One of the key resources consumed in all buildings is water. We chose to replace existing water dispensers with water purification units which are eco-friendly. These units eliminate the storage and removal of plastic bottles from our workspace. The elimination of the collection and delivery of large plastic water bottles furthermore reduces our business’ carbon footprint.

  • Partnerships

    Sustainable banking practices have always been part of our culture, and we invest in strategic partnerships with global organisations to stay abreast of international best practices. We are also aligned with key international bodies, such as Sustainable Finance Initiative, UN Global Compact, and Women’s Empowerment Principles.

We recognise the challenges facing ordinary Kenyans, and we seek to be responsive to our social context, aiming to address and influence the root causes of the social challenges we face in society, being a “force for good”.

Our contributions to society and the economy can be defined by our social investment into youth, women, and communities, through our internal improvement initiatives introduced into our operations, support of our suppliers and by our contribution made to the
countries tax base.

  • Sustainable supply chain

    We are committed to increasing the supply chain awareness of corporate sustainability and responsible business practices. In 2020, we launched a supplier training programme on sustainability in partnership with Strathmore Business School. In addition, we have partnered with B-Lab East Africa, who will contribute to a new module covering progress tracking through the SDG action manager.

  • Investing in youth

    We believe the youth will mould our business for the future and listening to them inspires us. One of our top priorities is to put the basic building blocks in place to ensure that young Africans can reimagine their futures and bring their possibility to life.

     

    Last year 2021, we signed a partnership with The Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) to empower one million Kenyans with digital opportunities through – Ajira Digital and Ready-to-Work. This is aimed to equip the Kenyan youth with skills, work opportunities and also to provide the industry with a pool of skilled workers to drive the growth and competitiveness of our economy.

  • Our employees

    Our people are our strength. We ensure the continued development of our staff, and we aim to embed a culture underpinned by the Absa Kenya way of easier, faster, better to become among the top 10 best places to work.

    As importantly, we promote equality in the workplace through policies targeted at gender and marginalised groups, which ensures an economically viable business.

  • Our contribution

    With our pledge to implement the United Nations Principles for Responsible Banking, we affirm and express our willingness to continue an active role to encourage sustainable practices and enable economic activities that contribute to a circular economy, green economy and blue economy.

Our business focuses on creating ongoing value amongst our customer base. This is fostered through the implementation of responsible lending practices, and the innovation of products to service specific customer needs.

We also focus on the management of our own business processes responsibly. This allows us to live our goals, in so doing demonstrating to our staff why aspects like environmental, social and governance protocols imposed are good for business and society.

We continue to hone our skills, innovate, and empower marginalised groups within our business, extending these principles into the greater supply chain and customer base.

  • ESG in our policies

    ESG considerations form an integral part of our customer onboarding process. We are in the process of aligning our ESG policy with IFC performance standards, Un Global Compact, UNEP FI Principles for Responsible Banking and Women Empowerment Principles.

  • Our sustainability commitments

    We are committed to contribute towards the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), cementing our commitment to continuing to positively impact on society in the right way.

     

    Our four high impact goals, namely SDGs 4 (quality education), 8 (decent work and economic growth), 10 (reducing inequality) and 12 (responsible consumption and production) remain our primary focus. These goals are underpinned by our contribution to SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions) and 17 (partnerships for the goals) respectively.

     

    We plan to include four additional SDGs as part of our future focus. These include the identified medium impact goals set under SDGs 7 (affordable and clean energy), 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), 11 (Sustainable Cities and communities), and 15 (life on Land).

     

    See our sustainability commitment report

  • Corporate governance

    Our financial strength, coupled with extensive local and international resources, have positioned us as the top provider of financial services in the market for over a century. Moreover, our consistent financial performance has built confidence in our leadership and management among our bank’s shareholders, as well as the industry overall.

     

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