Britam Holdings PLC is a leading financial services group that is listed in the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) spread across seven African countries. Established in 1965 the company provides various services such as Life Assurance, Asset Management, Retirement Planning, Health Insurance, Banking and Property Insurance.
In this article, WoK brings you the story of Tom Gitogo – the new Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Britam Holdings.
Background
Tom Gitogo attended the University of Nairobi in 1988 where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Civil Engineering. He trained as a Chartered Accountant with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in London. He acquired a Master of Business Administration (MBA) specializing in Strategic Management from Moi University in 2008.
Career Journey
He began his career in 1991 working as an auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in London where he worked for 5 years. He rejoined PwC Kenya and rose through the ranks to become a senior manager. In 2002 he was appointed Chair of the Board of Advisors at AIESEC Kenya, a position he held for five years. During that period he joined British American Group (Britam) where he worked as a General Manager – Support Services and later as a Finance Director before leaving the company in 2007.
He moved to Pan Africa Life (now Sanlam Insurance) as the Head of Individual Life Business before becoming the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in April 2008, a position he held for 6 years and 7 months. In November 2014 he joined CIC Insurance Group as Deputy Group CEO and Head of Kenya Businesses. Four months later he was appointed as Group CEO, a position he held until October 2019. In October 2020, he was appointed as Chairman of the Board at Mayfair CIB Bank where serves to date.
Achievements and Success
He has in the past represented Kenya in the Life Forum of Africa Insurance Organization, served as the Vice Chairman of International Cooperatives and Mutual Insurance Federation (ICMIF) and has been a member of YPO Gold for many years. He has previously served as the Vice Chairman of the Association of Kenya Insurers (AKI) and the Chairman of the Life Insurance Council (LIC) at AKI. In 2012, Tom won the prestigious CEO of the Year award in an annual regional survey conducted by the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM).
Joining Britam Holdings.
On Monday September 1st 2022, Britam announced that it had appointed Tom Gitogo as the new group Managing Director (MD) taking over from the acting MD Mr. Charles Njuguna. In a statement issued by the company’s board, they revealed that Tom is the right person to steer the company to success.
“The board of Britam Holdings Plc is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Tom Gitogo as the Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer effective September 1, 2022, subject to the Insurance Regulatory Authority’s approval. We are very excited to have Tom join us and are convinced that he is the right person to drive our new customer-centric transformational strategy to achieve our revenue growth and stabilization of our financial performance,” read a part of the statement.
