SMEP Microfinance Bank

SMEP Microfinance Bank
Public
Industry Microfinance
Headquarters Nairobi, Kenya
Key people
 Gabriel Kivuti - Chairman
Symon Kamore - CEO
Products Loans, Insurance
Revenue Increase KES 552.5 million (2014)
Decrease KES: -97.02 million (2014)
Total assets Decrease KES: 2.38 billion (2014)
Total equity Decrease KES: 554.8 million (2014)
Website Homepage

SMEP Microfinance Bank Limited, commonly referred to as SMEP, is a public microfinance institution licensed by the Central Bank of Kenya.[1]

Overview

SMEP offers retail banking and asset finance to individuals, groups, corporations and churches.[2] The term SMEP is derived from "Small and Micro Enterprise Programme". As of November 2015 SMEP had 17 banking branch, supported by 35 marketing units and over 40 SMEP Agents around Kenya.[2]

History

SMEP Mircofinance Bank started out in 1975 as a relief arm of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK). This program's objective was to feed the poor people in Nairobi's Mathare slum. Later on, NCCK realized that the poor needed to be self-reliant and economically empower and thus converted the feeding program into a micro-credit scheme known as Small Scale Business Enterprise (SSBE).[3]

In 1998 the Small Scale Business Enterprise (SSBE) was renamed Small and Micro Enterprise Programme and in 1999 it was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee. In 2008, Small and Micro Enterprise Programme adopted its acronym "SMEP" as its official name and was registered as a company limited by shares. SMEP partnered with Kiva in 2009 and has seen them been able to extend credit on behalf of other Kiva lenders.[4]

On December 14, 2010, SMEP was awarded a deposit taking licence by the Central Bank of Kenya. Making it the third deposit taking microfinance institution (MFI) in Kenya.[1] The firm's name was then changed to SMEP DTM i.e. SMEP Deposit Taking Microfinance.[3] SMEP DTM sought to raise capital through private placement in the last quarter of 2012.[3] The share offer was valued at KSH 1.6 billion.[5] This share offer only manage to receive 16.7 per cent subscription making it an unsuccessful offer.[6]

The firm adopted the name SMEP Microfinance Bank in 2013 in line with the Microfinance Amendment Act of 2013.[2] The firm entered the insurance business in 2015 with the launch of its subsidiary, the SMEP Insurance Agency company.[2]

Ownership

The shareholding in SMEP Mircofinance Bank is summarized in the table below:[7]

Stock Ownership In SMEP Mircofinance Bank
Rank Name of OwnerPercentage Ownership
1Small and Micro Enterprise Programme36.67
2Other63.33
Total100.00
Note: Small and Micro Enterprise Programme is a company limited by guarantee and wholly owed by the NCCK.

Governance

SMEP Mircofinance Bank is governed by a six-person board of directors. Gabriel Kivuti, is the Chairman of the Board and Symon Kamore, who serves as the Chief Executive Officer, although not a member of the board of directors.[8]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "List of licensed Microfinance Banks". Central Bank of Kenya. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "SMEP - About us". SMEP Microfinance Bank Limited. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  3. 1 2 3 SMEP DTM Share offer 2012. SMEP Microfinance Bank (published 2012-10-11). 2012.
  4. ↑ "SMEP Microfinance Bank". Kiva Microfunds. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
  5. ↑ Rubadiri, Victoria (2012-10-12). "SMEP microfinance launches Sh1.6b share offer". 98.4 Capital FM. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  6. ↑ Ngigi, George (January 8, 2013). "Church-owned lender's cash call falls short". Business Daily Africa. Nation Media Group. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  7. ↑ "SMEP Microfinance Bank 2014 Annual Report". SMEP Microfinance Bank. 2014-12-31. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  8. ↑ "SMEP Board of Directors". SMEP Microfinance Bank. Retrieved 2015-11-03.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/8/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.