#15
JAINE MWAI
ACTING CHIEF TECHNOLOGY & OPERATIONS OFFICER – STANDARD CHARTERED KENYA & EAST AFRICA
“The roots of true achievement lie in the will to become the best you can be.” These words by legendary basketball coach Harold Taylor easily describe Jaine Mwai, the recently appointed Acting Chief Technology and Operations Officer (CTOO) at Standard Chartered Kenya.
With a career spanning over 25 years, Jaine’s story is one of steady growth, relentless innovation, and transformative leadership in the world of financial technology.
Having planted her professional roots at Standard Chartered in 1998, Jaine has grown within the institution, nurturing her skills across various roles until her recent promotion from Chief Information Officer (CIO)/ Country Technology Manager (CTM) to CTOO in 2024. In this new role, Jaine is responsible for driving the bank’s current and future technology strategies across Kenya, overseeing critical changes in the technology landscape and ensuring operations service delivery across all business segments. Her leadership has been integral in aligning the bank’s technological innovations with its strategic goals, particularly as it navigates the fast-paced digital transformation within the banking sector.
Jaine’s achievements are well-documented. In 2020, she became the first woman to win the prestigious East African CIO of the Year Award at the CIO100 Symposium, a milestone that broke barriers for women in the tech industry. This recognition came as a result of her work in spearheading projects such as the implementation of technology to allow staff to work from home and the rollout of collaboration tools to enable digital customer service experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. “More than adopting new technology, Innovation is about solving real problems for real people,” Jaine opines, reflecting her human-centric approach to technological advancement. She was also featured in the Yahoo Finance 2021 HERoes Women Role Model Lists that showcases leaders who are championing women in business and driving change for gender diversity in the workplace.
In 2024, Jaine was named among the 45 Most Influential Women in Digital Transformation by CIO Magazine, a testament to her ongoing efforts to modernise banking operations through cutting-edge solutions. She also won the Positive Role Model in East Africa, at the 2024 Gender Mainstreaming Awards.
She played a pivotal role in driving Standard Chartered’s 2024 achievements, including the launch of the Futuremakers 2.0 Employability Programme, RISE (Ready for Inclusive Sustainable Employability), which supports 2,000 young people – both with and without disabilities – through work readiness and vocational training. Additionally, she was a key architect behind the introduction of the seventh cohort of the Women in Tech programme, which mentors and funds innovative, women-led startups in Kenya.
Jaine’s passion for mentorship extends beyond official programs. As a long-standing member and former leader of the Women’s Employee Resource Group at Standard Chartered, she has mentored numerous women within the organisation, helping them secure senior leadership roles. Since 2020, she has actively championed the inclusion of African women in global tech leadership programs, pushing for greater diversity within the traditionally male-dominated technology sector.
Her influence in shaping Standard Chartered’s technological trajectory is evident in the bank’s digital milestones. From migrating to the ISO 20022 messaging standard to enhancing cross-border payment efficiencies, Jaine has consistently positioned the bank ahead of industry trends. Her collaborative leadership style has also seen her foster partnerships with fintech innovators and regulatory bodies, ensuring that the bank’s technological innovations align with evolving market needs.
Before her rise to CTOO, Jaine’s career journey within Standard Chartered was marked by several pivotal roles. She started as a Process Analyst in 1998, where she streamlined banking processes to improve operational efficiency. She then became the IT Business Relationship Manager for East and Southern Africa, acting as the primary liaison between the bank’s technical teams and internal stakeholders. Her ability to bridge the gap between technology and business needs saw her promoted to Head of Country Technology Management in 2012, where she oversaw large-scale digital initiatives across the region.
In 2018, she advanced to Head of Program and Change Management for East Africa, demonstrating her knack for executing complex, high-impact technology projects. By 2020, she was named CIO, a position in which she successfully navigated the bank’s digital transformation through the pandemic, introducing remote banking solutions and reinforcing the bank’s commitment to customer-centric innovation.
Jaine’s dedication to lifelong learning has been crucial to her success. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in Management Economics from the University of Guelph (Ontario, Canada) and a Graduate Diploma in Public Accounting from McGill University (Montreal, Canada). More recently, she completed certifications in Digital Transformation Strategy from the Yale School of Management and Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy from MIT Sloan School of Management. “Learning never ends, especially in tech. Every innovation is a stepping stone to the next challenge,” she said, after earning her AI certification in 2024.
Beyond her corporate achievements, Jaine is deeply engaged in community service. On Valentine’s Day this year, she joined over 60 colleagues to visit the Mukuru kwa Njenga informal settlement, where they donated essentials and mentored on financial wellbeing, goal setting and cybercrime awareness programs. Her involvement reflects a core belief: technology should ultimately serve and uplift communities.
Jaine’s ability to connect across cultures mirrors her approach to leadership – open, inclusive, and forward-thinking.
With her track record of transformative leadership, groundbreaking innovations, and genuine passion for people, Jaine Mwai is an impactful C-suite executive whose career exemplifies the power of nurturing talent, embracing change, and leading with purpose.
AUTHOR: DR. HANNINGTONE JOEL GAYA
EDITOR: MARTIN O’NEIL
