NAIROBI: KCB Group chief executive Joshua Oigara yesterday followed in the footsteps of his Safaricom counterpart Bob Collymore in publicly declaring his wealth. Oigara, 40, said he is worth Sh220 million. His assets are valued at Sh350 million, but he has a Sh130 million loan which erodes his net worth.
The chief of the largest bank in East and Central Africa earns Sh4.9 million monthly in salary and allowances. He said his current income is the result of hard work, having first earned a monthly salary of Sh5,000 as an untrained teacher in his rural village.
Oigara said his assets are held in land, buildings, motor vehicles, cash bank balances and shares. He did not, however, disclose the specifics nor break down their value.
“I have had to work hard for the past 18 years in different companies and capacities,” he said in a statement. “I have grown to be the CEO of East Africa’s leading bank with annual revenue of Sh60 billion. Over time, that has allowed me to acquire what I have.”
Oigara was appointed KCB CEO in November 2012 – a year after becoming a banker – succeeding Martin Oduor-Otieno in January 2013. He had been poached a year earlier as chief financial officer from cement manufacturing giant Bamburi, where he held the same position.
Oigara joined Bamburi in 2004, becoming Controller and Business Performance manager up to 2006 and Finance controller from 2006 to 2008, before landing the CFO post.
He previously worked for edible oils maker Bidco as Performance manager between 2002 and 2004, which he joined from consultancy PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he worked from 1997 after his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Nairobi. “As a person, I have always believed in working hard to get what I want,” he said. “Corruption is robbing many Kenyans of an opportunity to excel.”
The declarations by Oigara and his close friend Collymore are in the spirit of fighting high-level graft, where Kenya was last year ranked the 29th Most Corrupt in the World by Transparency International. Safaricom and KCB are among 200 companies that have signed the United Nations-led Global Compact’s Code of Ethics.
