Stanbic Bank Friday joined its parent company, Standard Group, in celebrating its 160th anniversary in business. With a humble history stemming from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, the amorphous monetary institution has since expanded to 20 countries across the world.

During the celebration, the institution also celebrated Uganda’s 60th independence anniversary with a commitment to help small and medium enterprises scale the challenges of young businesses.

“The reason we have partnered with Uganda coffee farmers is to revolutionize farming. However, we also recognise that many businesses, such as those in coffee are young and need hand-holding to grow. We have a 25-year-old entrepreneur for instance, who needs help to add value to her coffee and we pledge to continue supporting such causes over the long run,” Anne Jjuuko, the bank’s chief executive officer said on Friday.

Jjuuko said the bank’s mission is to nurture the next generation of Africa’s businesses, over the next 160 years of its operations, noting that they had already started working on it.

She said the bank chose to celebrate its 160-year milestone specially by recognising two unique actors in post-independence Uganda—coffee and the youth. This is because Uganda has the youngest population in the world, with 77% of the population being under 25 years,” she said.

The youth come on the heels of customers, whose names she did not divulge, that have walked with the bank from operating in single rooms in the basement and two staff to becoming multi-billion-dollar companies today.

“This month, through Customer Social Responsibility (CSR), the bank is injecting sh2billion to support the maternal health sector, education, agriculture and others,” summed up Juuko.

The dual celebration was pegged on Uganda celebrating 60 years of Independence and Stanbic Bank's 160th birthday. The group employs 50,000 staff serving 15 million customers globally.

The Board Chairman Patrick Mangheni summed up the celebrations at Serena Hotel with promises to continue nurturing young businesses to grow into solid, thriving enterprises that will create jobs, pay taxes and drive Africa into growth.