I&M Group unveils 2025 sustainability report alongside Ngong Road Forest project handover

I&M Group has reported more than 10 million lives impacted through its sustainability initiatives, as it released its 2025 Sustainability Report and handed over a major forest conservation project to the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) at Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary in Nairobi.

The report, themed “Impact Beyond Numbers,” details the group’s work across responsible banking, business sustainability and community investment. In 2025, I&M Group invested more than KES250 million in ecosystem restoration, planted more than 1 million trees and reached more than 300,000 people through community investment programmes.

The group’s sustainability programme spans Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda and Mauritius. Its 2024–2026 Sustainability Action Plan targets a positive impact on more than 50 million lives by 2030, building on an interim objective of adding 10 million impacted lives and catalysing more than US$50 million in funding across sustainability initiatives.

Forest conservation takes centre stage

The report launch coincided with the handover of infrastructure developed through the I&M Foundation’s partnership with KFS at Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary.

KFS describes the sanctuary block as the largest of the five blocks that make up Ngong Road Forest, covering 695 hectares. The forest faces several pressures, including encroachment, boundary changes, insecurity and climate-related threats.

The project addresses some of these challenges through infrastructure and support for the people responsible for protecting the forest. The I&M Foundation-supported electric fence provides a second layer of protection alongside the community’s social fence, while new accommodation addresses a major challenge for forest rangers.

The wider handover includes a 14.7km solar-powered electric fence with two major gates and seven smaller gates, seven forest ranger housing units, a borehole and water tank, two event grounds and a five-kilometre nature trail. The project also includes three hectares of irrigated forest land, as well as training and equipment for fence attendants and scouts.

For KFS, the infrastructure goes beyond improving the physical appearance of the sanctuary. Better accommodation provides rangers with a stronger working environment, while roads and walking tracks improve forest management and visitor access. The agency also sees the site as an opportunity to develop a stronger urban ecotourism and recreation facility in Nairobi.

A second urban forest destination for Nairobi

KFS sees the upgraded sanctuary as complementary to Karura Forest, where high visitor numbers demonstrate the demand for accessible urban green spaces.

The service expects the improved Ngong Road facility to help spread visitor activity across Nairobi’s urban forests while creating additional opportunities for recreation and nature-based research. The broader objective is to develop a network of well-managed green spaces that can serve Nairobi residents while keeping the forests healthy and resilient.

The Ngong Road project is also part of a wider environmental restoration programme supported by I&M. KFS highlighted restoration work in other ecosystems, including the planting of 80,000 mangrove seedlings in Mwache, Kwale, 1,800 seedlings at another restoration site and 10,000 seedlings at Bahati Forest in Nakuru.

KFS leadership stressed that the government cannot tackle the scale of Kenya’s environmental challenges alone. Private companies, communities, development partners, civil society and research institutions all have roles to play in forest restoration, biodiversity conservation, climate action and ecotourism.

The numbers behind I&M’s sustainability programme

The forest project is one component of a broader sustainability programme.

Through its quality-of-life initiatives, I&M reported more than KES39 million invested in economic empowerment, more than KES250 million in ecosystem restoration, over 440 scholarships and more than 38,000 women and young people empowered. More than 1 million trees were planted during the year.

The tree-planting figure comes with another important conservation measure: survival. I&M reported an 85% survival rate for trees planted by the close of 2025, highlighting the importance of maintaining restoration projects after seedlings are put into the ground.

The group also reported progress within its own operations. Energy consumption per employee fell from 2.0MWh to 1.6MWh, while paper use declined from 6.6 to 5.9 reams per employee. Employee engagement rose from 78% to 81%, while women accounted for 43% of senior leadership positions in the group’s reported figures.

Local sourcing also remained part of the sustainability agenda. Some 87% of contracts went to local suppliers, while 61% went to local SME suppliers. Contracts awarded to special groups increased from 5% to 8%.

Sustainability moves deeper into banking

I&M’s next phase places greater emphasis on how sustainability is incorporated into its core business rather than treating environmental and social programmes as standalone initiatives.

The group plans to strengthen ESG oversight, integrate sustainability into risk management and improve the quality of sustainability data and reporting. It also plans more granular emissions tracking, expansion of its green asset portfolio and increased investment in blue carbon.

Financial inclusion remains central to the strategy, with priorities including greater access for MSMEs, women, young people and underserved communities, alongside education, skills development and economic empowerment.

The connection between banking and sustainability is already reflected in the group’s 2025 figures. I&M recorded KES20.6 billion in digital lending, KES5.9 billion in ecosystem financing, KES3.7 billion in green finance contracts, KES2.3 billion in agricultural finance and KES18.3 billion in MSME financing.

This positions sustainability as a wider business consideration covering responsible finance, internal resource efficiency, financial inclusion and community investment.

Measuring what lasts

The central idea behind the report and the Ngong Road Forest handover is that sustainability performance needs to be measured by what remains after an investment has been made.

I&M leadership acknowledged that awards and external recognition are useful, but they remain indicators of past performance. The more important measure is whether customers, employees and communities experience meaningful and lasting benefits from the group’s sustainability work.

The same principle applies to the forest. KFS will maintain the infrastructure handed over by I&M, while the longer-term value of the project will depend on whether the fence improves security, rangers have better working conditions, the restored ecosystem remains protected and Nairobi residents can use the sanctuary without compromising its environmental health.

For I&M, the 2025 report puts a clear number on the journey so far: more than 10 million lives impacted. The next target is substantially larger, with the group aiming to positively impact more than 50 million lives by 2030 while expanding sustainable finance, strengthening ESG governance and supporting environmental conservation.

The Ngong Road Forest project provides a practical example of that ambition on the ground, combining investment in conservation infrastructure, ranger welfare and visitor facilities with a longer-term responsibility shared by I&M, KFS, surrounding communities and the people who use Nairobi’s urban forests.

Real ESG impact doesn’t happen in panels alone, it happens in the rooms where financiers, operators, and policymakers actually align. Our GreenShift Forum 2026 cuts the noise, bringing together the people rewiring Africa’s sustainability and energy frameworks for one focused day in Nairobi. Secure your seat.

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