Equity Group, ITC Ink East Africa Trade Deal Targeting Coffee, Leather and Creative Industries

Equity Group Holdings and the International Trade Centre have signed a memorandum of understanding to expand trade finance and capacity building for small businesses across East Africa.

• •The agreement, announced in Nairobi on 2 June 2026, targets coffee, leather and creative industries in a partnership designed to close the gap between market access and financial readiness.
• •A pilot phase runs in Kenya through December 2026, with expansion to other East African markets planned from 2027.
• •Equity Group serves 22.7 million customers across six East African markets, with an asset base of US$15.7 billion.

At the heart of the deal is a financing gap that ITC Executive Director Pamela Coke-Hamilton described as the defining obstacle for small businesses across the region. "Access to finance is the single biggest challenge that most SMEs face across the board," she said. "Those who actually have market access, say for example in the coffee, in the leather, or in the creative industries, do not have the ability to access that finance." Her solution is direct: "Many SMEs are not yet bankable, so we will help them become bankable."

Coke-Hamilton added that finance alone is insufficient. "We know that access to finance is critical for small businesses, but it has to be matched with the right skills to use it effectively," she said, framing the ITC-Equity partnership as a deliberate attempt to deliver both simultaneously.

Equity Group MD and CEO Dr James Mwangi said the partnership would move MSMEs beyond passive participation in trade. "Our ambition is to ensure that MSMEs are not merely participants in trade, but competitive actors capable of shaping global markets through quality, scale and innovation," he said. "By combining access to finance, trade intelligence, capacity building and market linkages, we are building an ecosystem that enables MSMEs in coffee, leather and the creative economy to scale sustainably and compete globally."

Under the agreement, ITC will deliver training between June and September 2026 on export logistics, price risk management, and specialty coffee quality and processing, building on the EU-funded MARKUP II programme. Both organisations will also support businesses in meeting EU Deforestation Regulation requirements affecting coffee and leather exports into Europe.

In leather, activities include product design coaching for footwear MSMEs, standards harmonisation across EAC Partner States, and e-commerce access through Etsy, eBay and Shopify. The creative industries component will begin with sector mapping before introducing business development support and tailored financing.