Equity Bank’s  CEO  James Mwangi and his  Safaricom counterpart  Michael Joseph have been awarded an honorary doctorate degree by the African Nazarene University. The two received their doctorates during the 13th graduation ceremony held at the main campus in Rongai. Mwangi and  Joseph were awarded the Honorary Doctorate of Letters of  for their innovative ideas that have transformed the lives of millions of Kenyans.

Dissertations on both  Mwangi and  Joseph highlighted the Equity Bank and Safaricom partnership service that introduced the revolutionary money transfer account, M-Kesho.

Mwangi was awarded the doctorate for his role in turning around the former Equity Building Society to the profitable Equity Bank now cross-listed in Kenya and Uganda.

In his acceptance speech Mwangi discussed the need for service providers to reach out to ordinary people through affordable products that enable them to live dignified lives.  

He said the newly launched M-Kesho service will transform Kenyans’ lives as the agent banking model permeates rural centres to become economic hubs.

M-Kesho will change the banking culture through the technology that provides convenient deposit and withdrawal of money, saving, access to credit and insurance facilities.

The new service enables the M-Kesho customers to deposit as little as 100 shillings through their phones.

The M-Kesho account holders can also apply for loans on their mobile phones from the comfort of their living rooms.

Africa Nazarene University lauded Equity Bank and Safaricom for their innovations that have demonstrated how financial and telecommunications institutions can deepen financial inclusion of the unbanked.   Mwangi has previously been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Business Administration from Kenya Methodist University, Doctor of Humane from Kenyatta University and Doctor of Entrepreneurship fromJomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).