Standard Chartered Bank, on Thursday, July 27, commenced holding its annual Partners Open Day, where Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) showcased and sold their products to the Bank’s customers, employees and the general public.
The event, which ends on Friday, July 28, was held at the bank's headquarters along Westlands Rd, Nairobi. According to Michael Miriti, the Head of Digital Marketing at Standard Chartered, Over 60 partners showed up for the first day, seizing the opportunity to network, and expand their customer base.
Among the partners and SMEs that participated as free exhibitors included leading alcoholic beverage company East African Breweries Limited (EABL), Jubilee Insurance, automobile manufacturers BMW and Toyota, Sasini and Dormans Coffee.
Others included Sanlam, a financial services group, digital hailing cab company PTG Travels, Ideal Ceramics, a tile retailer company, Zuku, Africa Cotton, Elite Digital, Tawi Foods and Nellions, a moving company in Kenya.
The bank’s Corporate Affairs Brand and Marketing unit partnered with the Consumer Private and Business Banking (CPBB) unit to ensure this year’s financial expo is successful.
“What do we want to do? We want to make sure that we can showcase some of our partners, our clients, and as well as our vendors with their products. We all know that we sell financial services, but we do have clients who supply us with various goods and services. And sometimes, who is a better client than to start with ourselves?
“We, therefore, invited our colleagues, clients, vendors and the public to come to this Expo. It’s free and anyone can come participate,” Standard Chartered’s Head of Corporate Affairs Brand and Marketing, Joyce Kibe, stated.
This year’s event was the second to be held in partnership with Standard Chartered partners since the bank opened it to its clients, communities and the public in 2022. Since 2018, the exposium was only open to partners and the bank’s staff.
Speaking on why this year’s event offers all partners a memorable experience, Kibe explained that products are being sold at affordable prices, with the SMEs offering discounts. Customers also get points or rewards using their Standard Chartered cards in the Partners Reward Program.
“So you get to utilize your cards and get the benefits. For example the easy payment plan as well as the 360 Rewards program. We think this is beneficial because clients as well as our colleagues get to understand who some of the people we associate with are,” Kibe, renowned for award-winning marketing strategies, added.
The lender has continued to pursue its strategy of enhancing efficiencies through offering sustainable products and services. Among them is Standard Chartered's Women in Technology Incubator. This is Africa’s leading incubator programme for female-founded businesses, offering women more opportunities to develop entrepreneurial and leadership excellence.
“For example, we support and up-skill GOAL Girls through our education programs and access our loans at an affordable rate through SOMO Africa. Today we see the benefits of these loans. For example, there's a lady who is one of our beneficiaries selling cricket and butter cookies here today.
“They've been able to venture into business because of the Standard Chartered partnership. In addition, every person who leaves here today after you've come for the Expo, you leave with tree seedlings as part of our efforts to accelerate the Net Zero agenda,” Joyce Kibe stated, adding that she always strives to ensure all her innovations and strategies are sustainable.
Standard Chartered plans to expand the exposium to its branches in Mombasa and Kisumu and is also exploring how to scale down on brick-and-mortar operations to connect with partners, clients and the public digitally.
“I think for me the dream would be how can we have an expo done digitally as we continue offering you the latest propositions, going very big on innovations. Like last year,we launched the Shillingi Fund, a money market fund, which has been growing exponentially, with 40% of the subscribers being below the age of 30.”
Speaking at this year's exposium, Catherine Okinyi, from Enda Athletic, a Kenyan running brand, said they look forward to partnering with Standard Chartered in this year's Standard Chartered Marathon scheduled for October 2023.
Enda produces and markets local running shoes and also partners with Global FICCS, a non-profit organization, to positively impact communities via health care education, mentorship, and scholarship.
“We give Global FICCS 15% of every sale we make from each pair of shoes to assist ladies, especially, in the boxing sector. We also normally conduct campaigns where our customers choose which companies get 2% of our revenue annually to support community development initiatives,” Okinyi divulged.
An official from Nellions, a moving company, confirmed that it was offering a 5% discount for clients using Standard Chartered Visa card while relocating within Kenya and a 2.5% discount while moving across borders.
Sanlam and Jubilee Insurance plan to continue underwriting products Standard Chartered offers its clients. Conversely, African Cotton, a manufacturing company that banks with Standard Chartered, emphasized that it was keen to foster its relationship with the lender.
“We are partners and we have been working together for decades. Their growth is our growth.We took this opportunity to come and showcase our products to potential clients and maybe to grow our brand as we continue offering some amazing products,” African Cotton’s Dennis Gitonga stated.
Simon Kahindi, who works with iPad vendors Elite Digital, added that they planned to engage Standard Chartered to explore more partnership avenues after being motivated by the lender's successful collaborations with other partners.