EQUITY GROUP MD & CEO DR. JAMES MWANGI NAMED IN DEVEX “POWER 50” LIST OF TOP GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT INFLUENCERS

Equity Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr James Mwangi

Equity Group Managing Director and CEO, Dr James Mwangi, has been named among the world’s most influential figures shaping global development policy and financing by Devex in its Power 50 List 2026.

The list highlights individuals Devex says are “transforming development as we know it” at a time of major shifts in foreign assistance, with traditional donors retrenching and greater attention turning to development finance, philanthropy, and the private sector.

Devex, a specialist publisher covering the global development industry, said the Power 50 is designed to track the people who influence “policies, people, and purse strings” in what it describes as a fast-emerging “post-aid era”.

Devex cited Dr Mwangi’s role in expanding Equity from a Kenyan lender into a regional banking group with more than 22.2 million customers and his push for private sector-led growth.

It pointed to Equity’s work supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, its digital transformation agenda, and efforts linked to climate-related projects and digital public infrastructure.

Through Equity’s Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan, Dr Mwangi has been a prominent voice on the idea that Africa’s development trajectory will increasingly be shaped by local capital formation, stronger value chains, and scaled private enterprise at a moment when donor funding is under pressure.

Dr Mwangi’s inclusion places him on the same list as sitting heads of state and top leaders of multilateral banks, major donors and frontier technology firms, including John Mahama (President, Republic of Ghana); Sidi Ould Tah (President, African Development Bank); Nadia Calviño (President, European Investment Bank); Anna Bjerde (Managing Director of Operations, World Bank); Rebeca Grynspan (Secretary-General, UN Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD); Peter Sands (Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria); and Anna Makanju (Vice President, Global Impact, OpenAI).

The list also includes senior figures in the reshaped US foreign assistance architecture and development finance, reflecting Devex’s view that influence is increasingly concentrated in institutions that can mobilise capital and set new delivery rules.

Dr Mwangi’s appearance on the Power 50 comes as Kenyan lenders and investors expand across the region and as Nairobi pushes to position itself as a financial and technology hub for East Africa.