Equity Group is building an artificial intelligence tool to flag when employees are likely to leave, giving managers a longer runway to act before a gap becomes a crisis. The Nairobi-based lender, Kenya's second-largest by assets, confirmed the initiative in its 2025 sustainability report, describing it as "predictive analytics to forecast attrition and identify risk windows." The goal is simple: know who might walk out the door before they do.
The timing makes sense. Fintechs, telcos, and rival banks are all chasing the same pool of digital and payments talent in Kenya, and holding onto experienced specialists has become just as competitive as recruiting them. Equity's net employment turnover did ease to 10.6% last year from 11.1% in 2024, though that improvement was more modest than the previous year's drop from 17% down to around 11%.
The bank is also growing fast. Equity nearly doubled its hiring in 2025, bringing in 3,198 people, and its overall workforce expanded by 2.2% to 13,370. Permanent staff numbers rose by close to 1,000, while temporary roles fell by almost 700. Staff costs climbed 18% to KES 39.5 billion, roughly $303.9 million.
That investment in people is happening alongside a bigger regional push. Equity's subsidiaries outside Kenya generated 48% of banking profit after tax in 2025, with the Democratic Republic of Congo alone contributing KES 24.7 billion. The group already seconds specialists from its Nairobi head office to regional operations and is consolidating workforce and performance data from across its markets into a single HR system.
With half its profits now flowing from outside Kenya, the pressure to hold onto the right people in the right markets is only going to grow. Whether the AI tool delivers on that promise is the question worth watching.
Originally published by TechCabal.