Strategy Exam

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TABLE OF CONTENT

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PROBLEM STATEMENT

VALUE PROPOSITION

STRATEGY OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS

ENTRY INTO SME MARKET

GROWTH PROCESS

VALUE CHAIN

MARKET ENTRY AND GROWTH STRATEGIC PLAN                                        9

EXECUTION PLAN`                                                                        10

        EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Equity bank that started out as a building society now finds itself in the microfinance and has since been doing very well in this sector, but now they see an opportunity in the SME market and being a foremost bank in Kenya, does not want to lose their existing customers to its competitors who are already actively playing in the SME space

Furthermore, the finance sector in Kenya has been going through a lot of development and investors are beginning to find it attractive to grab a share of the big pie.

The question now is that how will equity position itself and what strategy will it use to enter this market and still remain a first choice to existing and new customers.

My recommendations are as follow:

• Develop relevant product and services for this sector
• Train staff and equip them to serve in this new sector
• Invest more in research and development as this will help them discover the untapped markets long before their competitors, this will give them a first mover advantage.
• Properly segment this target market
• Invest in Research and development

The reason for these recommendation is because of the current happenings in the SME space which is the fast in growth and development, and the market also has special needs. The products required for this market is entirely unique and only relevant within this market

BACKGROUND

Equity bank was incorporated in the year 1984 formerly called equity building society. It provided mortgage financing service to those classified as low income earners. There was a significant deregulation in the economy at that time and this led to a fierce competition in the financial service sector. The mortgage sector was not developed, thereby forcing out many small players from the market. Equity building society, as it was known then was able to survive this hard time because of its unique strategy which was the one on one form of marketing, by so doing they were able to retain more customers and acquire new ones.