Agnes Gathaiya is the Country Director for East Africa at Google, a role she has held since 2020. Before that, she held top leadership positions at Safaricom, Chase Bank, Deloitte, Pesalink, and SAP.
She is a board member of various parastatals, including One Acre fund, where she is the executive director. Others include African Women in Fintech and Payments and the Payments Association of Kenya.
She holds a Bachelor of Science (BSC) in economics from Bryn Mawr College and a Master’s in Business Administration from USIU and Columbia University.
This is her journey as told by WoK:
Trailblazing career
Speaking to Business Daily in a past interview, the mother of one narrated how, after her graduation, she turned down a lifetime opportunity to work at Wall Street and instead opted to debut her career in Kenya.
Her trailblazing career began in 1998 when she was appointed as associate director for Deloitte Consulting East Africa.
In 2011, she joined the ranks of Systems Applications Products (SAP), one of the world’s top-ranked business software solutions developers, as a senior manager.
After working at SAP for 14 years, she shocked her bosses and colleagues by resigning days before she was to be made the company’s director.
“Quitting that job was the greatest decision I have ever made in my life,” she said.
The decision was more remarkable considering she had recently become a mother and had just taken a new mortgage.
“I had gotten so comfortable in the job, and I would have retired there and it could have been an okay life, but I wanted to find out what more is out there,” she said.
She stayed at home for six months to take care of her daughter, who is now aged 15. It was the first time in years that she got an opportunity to nap in the afternoon.
“So, did the break stop or slow my career trajectory? No, it didn’t,” she said.
According to her, she did not map her career consciously. Rather, her lucrative careers at Safaricom, Deloitte, and SAP were the result of taking risks and taking advantage of opportunities.
Childre’s salon
When asked the dumbest thing she had ever spent her money on, Agnes, whose favorite meal is Nyama choma and chis, cited opening a children’s salon.
“We burnt money. We had traffic of customers coming in but we didn’t do our due diligence about where we were being hosted,” she said.
Her day starts between 4:30 and 5 a.m. when she wakes up and prays before starting the day’s routine, which is simple: get to work, leave by 6.45 p.m., prepare dinner, watch something, and sleep by 9 p.m.
On weekends, she likes hanging out with her friends – which she says can be counted on one hand.
Hobbies
Agnes is an avid reader. According to her, she is obsessed with finding information about everything.
“I read anything—magazines, blogs, online…” she said.
She also likes keeping abreast of current affairs in the country, often leafing through official information that, despite being in the public domain, not many people consume.
At the time of her interview, she had just read the cabinet’s plans for the country’s transformation and the recent climate summit.
She is also a member of the Young President Organization (YPO), a global organization for CEOs and leaders with a membership of around 140. She underscores the importance of the group in allowing leaders to meet, talk, and network, adding that leadership can be lonely.
Agnes, who grew up on a 21-acre farm in Karen, hopes to retire as a farmer in Nanyuki.
Family
The CEO’s apple of her eye is her 12-year-old daughter with whom she loves traveling the world. Their favorite go-to place is Diani. According to her, they only visit places with beaches and excellent cultures. They never visit a place twice.
Salary
According to Glassdoor, the average salary for a Google Director is $424, 630 per year, which comes with numerous perks and allowances.
