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TOM GITOGO – GROUP MD &CEO BRITAM
Tom Gitogo, the Britam Group MD & CEO, describes himself as a “proper village boy.” He grew up in Rurii, a small village deep in Nyandarua County, and never set foot in Nairobi until a school trip to the Agricultural Show.
“I couldn’t sleep the night before,” he recalls with a laugh. “That was a big deal then.” What began as curiosity about the world beyond Rurii would later define his journey and his leadership.
Today, that same restless urge to see more and do better drives him at the helm of Britam, a diversified financial services group listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange and operating across seven African markets: Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Malawi and Mozambique.
Britam’s regional footprint is large, but the work is grounded in everyday realities: it drives financial inclusion, helping individuals, households and business manage risk and also invest.
When Gitogo returned to Britam in 2022, the business was steady but not firing on all cylinders. “We had the fundamentals; a good brand, solid teams, loyal customers, but the energy needed refocusing,” he said in a recent interview.
Two years later, Britam reported KSh 7.3 billion in profit for 2024, its strongest performance in years. The turnaround came from disciplined execution: tightening operations, improving returns from investments, and aligning the regional businesses around a shared strategy.
“Our focus has been clarity,” he explains. “Once people understand what winning looks like, performance follows.”
Mr Gitogo’s route to the top wasn’t predictable. A civil engineer by training, he began his career at Pricewaterhouse (now PwC), where his curiosity and reliability quickly stood out. He was one of only two Kenyan trainees seconded to the firm’s London office in the 1990s — an early exposure to global finance and governance that would shape his leadership style.
“I like to understand systems,” he says. “That’s the engineer in me. Whether it’s a bridge or a balance sheet, the principle is the same: everything must hold together.”
His career later spanned senior roles in insurance and financial services, including CEO of Pan Africa Life and Group CEO of CIC Insurance Group, before rejoining Britam. Each step, he says, reinforced a simple idea: “If you stay curious and useful, opportunities find you.”
Today, Britam’s reach spans East and Southern Africa, a truly Pan-African enterprise. Managing that spread requires what Gitogo calls “borderless thinking” — understanding that customers face similar risks, even if the contexts differ.
“You can’t run a regional business from Nairobi,” he says. “You have to listen to teams on the ground, understand the local economies, and still connect everything to a common purpose.”
That purpose, he adds, is helping people and businesses build financial resilience. Whether through insurance, investment, or advisory, Britam’s work is part of the wider story of African economies learning to depend more on themselves.
Gitogo’s leadership is quiet, deliberate and people-centric. Colleagues describe him as analytical yet approachable — the kind of CEO who listens more than he talks. He believes progress comes from discipline and respect: “I’ve never been late for a meeting,” he says with a small laugh, “and I expect the same from others. It’s a simple sign that we value each other’s time.”
At Britam, that discipline is matched with a push for innovation. The company’s diverse staff, known as the Blue Tribe, are driving a cultural transformation that’s setting Britam up for its next phase of growth.
Britam’s transformation is not just financial. The company has invested heavily in sustainability, powering Britam Tower with solar energy (50% of the Tower is powered by solar energy) and expanding community partnerships through the Britam Foundation, including solarised water projects in over 60 schools across Kenya and impacting thousands of learners.
“Growth must make sense to the communities around us,” Gitogo says. “Otherwise, it doesn’t last.” That long view — measured, quietly confident, rooted in results — explains why Gitogo stands out among the region’s corporate leaders. In an era defined by noise and speed, his version of borderless leadership feels refreshingly steady: think clearly, build patiently, and let performance do the talking.
From Rurii to the boardrooms of seven African markets, Tom Gitogo’s story is proof that ambition doesn’t have to be loud to be continental.
