Yogesh Pattni is the Managing Director of Victoria Commercial Bank.
It is interesting to note that the bank where Pattni serves as the MD doesn’t allow casual customer walk-ins.
While the reason still remains disputed, here is what WoK has gathered about the man at the helm of Victoria Commercial Bank.
Backgound
Pattni’s vast family set foot in Kenya in the 1930s and they engaged majorly in jewellery and goldsmithing.
In an interview with Business Daily, the MD stated that he always had an interest in banking while growing up.
Pattni holds a Bachelor’s Degree and a Masters in Business Administration from the United States International University.
He also holds a Honorary Doctorate degree from United Graduate College and Seminary International and a certification from the Harvard Business School in Financial Institutions for Private Enterprise Development.
Career
Following his graduation, he worked in the Bank of America before returning home.
In Kenya, he served at Equatorial Commercial Bank (ECB) before moving to Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA).
He worked until 1985 when he was introduced to a group of churches in Kisumu which had come together to set up a financial institution.
The churches had acquired a license, and the idea behind the financial institution was to help small businesses in the region flourish.
They needed Ksh 7.5 million initial share capital but they could only manage Ksh 1.5 million.
Having been introduced to the group by his father, Pattni was given Ksh 1.5 million and asked to source for the rest.
In 1987, the bank started operations in Nairobi with a staff of three and the board of directors which later hired a managing director.
At the time, Pattni was primarily in charge of credit and credit administration but he would also do deposits and accounting.
They operated from Nairobi until 1991 when they moved their headquarters to Kisumu.
While the business seemed good, the managing director at the time was lending out money that could not be recouped.
The MD was let go and Pattni took over the position.
Birthing Victoria Commercial Bank
Three years after taking over as the MD, Victoria Finance became Victoria Commercial Bank (VCB) and moved to Upper Hill, Nairobi.
“Having learned from Kisumu, we knew where things could go wrong. We now pitched, ‘We are not here to take your money but to add value,’” Pattni explained.
