Awards for Excellence 2017
Kenya Commercial Bank wins this year’s award for best bank for corporate social responsibility in Africa for the work of the KCB Foundation and, in particular, two ground-breaking initiatives. Last year, it launched 2jiajiri (‘let’s employ ourselves’) – a youth enterprise development and employment initiative that works in partnership with more than 100 technical training institutions across Kenya. More than 12,000 students have taken part so far in the programme, which aims to turn young people into entrepreneurs by training them and connecting them to graduates in law, accounting and marketing to help them get their businesses off-the-ground.
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It also offers graduates the option to let large, experienced companies such as Toyota take a stake in their business. KCB also ring-fenced KSh50 billion ($483 million) to finance the businesses created by the programme. Kenya has the highest rate of youth unemployment in eastern Africa – double that of neighbouring countries – and 2jiajiri offers a long-term solution towards closing the gap. Some 50% of last year’s graduates are already running a business.