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Joshua Oigara

MD/CEO KCB BANK GROUP PLC

Yesterday, I had the opportunity of speaking to 1,200 students at Starehe Boys’ Centre and School during the 62nd Founders’ Day celebration. It was a good time to reminisce the foundational values of the institution which are freedom, trust and self-leadership.

I am a firm believer that young people are the catalyst that will propel this great nation to even greater heights.

Quality education is the flame that ignites not only passion for excellence, but also the freedom to be whatever we want to be in this life.

As KCB, we will continue supporting education as we believe that an investment in knowledge, pays the best interest’. These quotes reflect the thinking of Joshua Oigara, MD and CEO of the KCB Bank Group PLC.

KCB’s penchant for excellence extends well beyond its core business of lending. The bank has also blazed a trail in sponsorship marketing. Its committed sponsorship of motor sports in Kenya over the past two decades stands out as a glowing case study of how strategic choices in sponsorship marketing and a long-term focus can unlock tremendous value not just for a brand, but for an entire country.

When Kenya’s iconic Safari Rally was struck off the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 2002, many corporate sponsors did the predictable thing and moved their sponsorship budgets elsewhere. However, KCB saw an opportunity amidst the fall out. Kenya had been in the world championship since the series’ inauguration in 1973. The country’s relegation from WRC to FIA African Rally Championship (ARC) status in 2002 lowered the level of visibility of the sport but didn’t erode the huge global fan base the country had studiously built for five decades.

KCB had a keen understanding of the immense potential this loyal fan base could unlock for the sport and its brand and when everyone was rushing to get their funds out of motor sport, the lender made its debut by sponsoring the 2003 and 2004 Safaris in South Coast.

Turning back to his core duties and achievements, Joshua Oigara reported that KCB Bank Group he leads registered a 131 %net profit jump to KES 25.1 Bn in the first nine months to September 2021, in an article he penned for the Business Daily, a leading journal in business in East Africa.

During the interview, Joshua Oigara equally announced a declaration of an interim dividend of KEN 1 per share. Other significant achievements in 2021 include the completion of the acquisition of Rwanda’s BPR, where KCB Bank Group, with its ownership standing at a hefty 76% shares. This, Oigara states, is a major catch in line with the bank’s growth momentum, considering the bank’s 137 branch network.

For the immediate future, the crystal ball is set on Tanzania and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the latter viewed as a key focus market. In these cases, KCB Bank Group entry strategy remains merger and acquisition.

Industry insiders hold that since he took the helm at KCB Bank as the CEO, Oigara has done a tremendous amount of work that has seen the bank’s business on a rapid growth trajectory, as he set it, in his own words, ‘on the course of very good momentum while achieving significant milestones along the trodden path’.

Another deliverable within his site, is the growing of the SME business from the current 8% to a projected 15% of the total loan book mainly through the provision of working capital needs as the economy turns the corner, for a rebound and subsequent growth.

Of note, Joshua Oigara quick grasp of the banking ecosystem, and which is good opportunity for a case study by any reputable university school of business, is the acquisition of the then struggling National Bank of Kenya (NBK), and leaving it to operate as a distinct subsidiary, under its own brand.

Most CEOs would have opted to merge the business and boasts of the increased size and branch network. Going by the latest performance as at September 30, 2021, NBK has come out of the pit, reduced immensely the non-performing loans, increased its loan book and returned back to profitability.

The year 2021 is also best remembered as one where KCB Bank has put out innovative products and structures to cushion individual customers and businesses, especially the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) on the journey towards recovery from the adverse effects on the economic and social environment occasioned by the adverse effects of the Covid-19 Pandemic.

According to Joshua Oigara, KCB Bank expects to focus on the SMEs sector as a key area mainly through the provision of short-term facilities, as the country’s economy embarks on a growth trajectory.

Since ascending to the top C-Suite office as MD and CEO in January 2013, Joshua Oigara has provided clear and strategic leadership that started in 2013 when the KCB Group launched its sustainability framework dubbed KCB Group Sustainability Roadmap 2013-2020. This Strategy was anchored on four key pillars: financial, economic, social and environmental sustainability. The four pillars outlined ways in which KCB Group’s corporate strategy could help grow revenue, reduce costs, manage risks and build on its bank brand and reputation.

Joshua Oigara will be having a bird’s eye view as witnesses the flagging off, of the 2022 WRC Safari Rally Kenya for a second year in a row, having returned to the FIA WRC status. This is a singular achievement that has earned the KCB Bank Group several accolades with motorsports loving Kenyans, and aided the bank in rebuilding and consolidating its brand proposition.

As at the end of 2021, the KCB Bank Group was present in over 200 countries and territories around the world. The Bank’s money transfer services are available in over 500,000 locations around the globe, transacting in over 130 currencies, through various partnerships and networks. The bank’s ecosystem ensures one can send and receive money safely, fast and reliably from anywhere in the world into a KCB bank account at any of its branches.

Through KCB Bank’s account-based money transfer services, your loved ones living abroad can deposit money directly into your KCB Bank account using a number of partner money transfer services.

Joshua Oigara is recognized as one of the 2022 Business Monthly EA Top 25 Most Influential CEO Impacting Business.