The Only Five Commercial Bank Female CEOs

As years go by, it has become evident that women play a key role in the society and now in the business space.

This was proven in a report by Fortune which showed that there were 27 women at the helm of Fortune 500 companies as at January 2018.

While women are making big moves elsewhere, Kenya is also not left behind as some women have been trusted to lead notable companies such as financial institutions.

In this article, WoK looks at female CEOs who head commercial banks in Kenya.

Anne Karanja

Anne Karanja is an auditor and corporate executive who serves as the Managing Director and CEO of Kenya Post Office Savings Bank.

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Sociology and Masters of Business Administration from the University of Nairobi.

She is also a certified public accountant.

Kenya Post Office Savings Bank, often referred to as Postbank, is a Savings Bank in Kenya regulated by by the Kenya Post Office Savings Bank Act Cap 493B.

Betty Korir

Betty Korir is the CEO of Credit Bank.

She holds a Bachelor of Education degree from Moi University and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Nairobi.

She also holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the Catholic University of Eastern Africa.

The bank was founded in 1986, as a non-bank financial institution (NBFI) then called Credit Kenya Limited.

In 1995, the institution was awarded a commercial banking license and it rebranded to Credit Bank Limited.

Nasim Mohamed Devji

Nasim Devji is an accountant and corporate executive currently serving as the CEO and Managing Director of Diamond Trust Bank Group.

She joined DTB in 1996 as a regional financial controller and rose through the ranks to be appointed the CEO in 2001.

She is also Fellow of The Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales, an Associate of the Institute of Taxation (United Kingdom) and Fellow of the Kenya Institute of Bankers.

DTB is a commercial banking conglomerate with headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya and operations in Tanzania, Uganda and Burundi.

Joy Ann Wainaina

Joyce Ann Wainaina is the CEO of Citibank Kenya.

She holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Duquesne University in the USA and a Master of Science in Financial Economics from the University of London.

She has worked in Citibank for over 30 years in several different countries and was previously the CEO for CitibankEast Africa for five years and CEO Citibank Zambia for four years.

Rebecca Mbithi

Rebecca Mbithi is the director and CEO of Family Bank.

She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree from the University of Nairobi and a post-graduate diploma from Kenya School of Law (KSL).

She also holds a Masters in Business Administration in Strategic Management from USIU.

Headquartered in Nairobi, Family Bank is a Kenyan commercial bank founded in 1984 as Family Finance Building Society Limited.

In 2017, it became a commercial bank, following the issuance of a banking license by the Central Bank of Kenya, the country’s banking regulator.