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Joshua Oigara, a Kenyan businessman and top executive, has obtained his second career extension from the board of directors of KCB Group, which will keep him with the global financial services group until December 2022.
KCB Group Plc is a non-operating holding that manages the operations of KCB Bank Kenya, National Bank of Kenya, and other regional subsidiaries in Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia.
According to BusinessDaily, Oigara’s tenure was extended quietly when the board modified his contract from four to five years in its most recent annual report, thereby extending his contract until the end of 2022 without an official document demonstrating investor consent.
Off the record, a top official at the Capital Markets Authority stated: “The bank indicated they will advise us of the transfer before the end of the year.” The mandate of Oigara has been extended till December 2022.”
The extension granted to Oigara, who has been the group CEO and managing director of KCB Group since 2013, will allow management to continue the search for a suitable successor for the leading business executive, who has played a significant role in the growth and transformation of KCB Group and all of its operating segments.
With this move, he will join an exclusive club of executives who have been CEOs of their respective firms for more than a decade, including DTB Group’s Nasim Devji, Co-operative Bank’s Gideon Muriuki, Equity Group’s James Mwangi, and Crown Paints’ Rakesh Rao.
The extension of his contract validates the well-established tendency that corporations are more inclined to retain high-performing CEOs and more likely to replace CEOs when performance begins to deteriorate, especially if the poor performance is attributed to management-related reasons.
Since Joshua Oigara took over as CEO in January 2013, the company has developed to become an industry leader with active operations in Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Ethiopia.
With 359 branches, 1,104 ATMs, 23,460 points of sale, merchants and agents, the group has the region’s largest branch network, which complements its mobile and Internet banking services.
Under Oigara, the group’s assets have increased in value from Ksh390.34 billion ($3.41 billion) at the end of 2013 to Ksh987.81 billion ($8.64 billion) by the end of 2020, while profit has increased from Ksh14.34 billion ($125.5 million) in 2013 to Ksh19.6 billion ($171.5 million), even after accounting for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.
KCB Group reported a 131-percent hike in earnings in the first nine months of 2021, with profits increasing to Ksh25.21 billion ($224.71 million) due to the economy’s robust recovery and higher income.
The triple-digit growth in profit was the result of higher income and reduced provisions, as the economic recovery from COVID-19 accelerated the group’s income during the period under review.
The performance was delivered off the back of the group’s primary strategies, which include cost management, cash preservation and sustainable business growth.
Oigara’s contract extension might result in his receiving more than $1 million in pay from the Kenya-based banking firm by the end of 2022. Remember that in 2020, he was paid Ksh116.2 million ($1.1 million) for his contributions to the group.
