Equator Capital Partners through its ShoreCap II Fund, and Progression Capital Africa via its Progression Eastern African Microfinance Equity Fund, have invested KES1.2bn ($11.87m) in Jamii Bora Bank, a commercial bank in Kenya.

Frank Kennedy, CEO of Equator Capital Partners, said: “We are excited about our investment in Jamii Bora Bank, one of the fastest growing banks in Kenya. Jamii Bora Bank is a strong and innovative Enterprise Bank, and a leader in serving Kenya’s vibrant SME sector. The bank is managed by dedicated executives backed by a competent team. We look forward to growing with this high impact institution.”

ShoreCap II is an $80m international Fund incorporated in Mauritius in 2009 that invests in small business banks, microfinance banks, regulated microfinance non-banks and microfinance non-governmental organizations.

This investment in Jamii Bora Bank is fund’s fifth investment in Africa; its portfolio now covers 11 sub-Saharan African countries.

Progression Capital Africa is a manager of private equity funds specializing in financial inclusion and financial technology investment in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Jamii Bora Bank is the sixth investment in the current fund’s portfolio which spreads across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Rwanda and Zimbabwe among others.

Lydia Koros, Progression Capital’s Managing Partner, said: “Many businesses have had difficulty getting adequate financing, hence the need to come up with tailor-made solutions suitable for the SME market. Jamii Bora Bank’s recent repositioning as an Enterprise Bank in the Kenyan market makes it ideally positioned for supporting the growth of the local SME sector.”

Jamii Bora is one of Kenya’s fastest growing banks, with a dedicated customer base of over 360,000, and 26 fully-fledged Central Bank of Kenya-approved branches.

According to Samuel Kimani, Jamii Bora Bank CEO, the bank has grown its total capital consistently over the last five years to stand at KES4.4bn placing the bank among the top 20 highest capitalized banks in the country with 43 banks and multiple other financial services companies.

“Equator Capital Partners has decades of commercial and small business banking experience all over Africa, which is complemented well by the depth of Progression’s knowledge of the regional banking operating environment as well as its wealth of experience in fintech in the region. Their investment will support our vision – to become the leading Enterprise Bank in Africa as we further expand our reach to underserved SME’s and communities, both rural and urban, all across the country,” Kimani said.