Njoroge re-elected at Nairobi bourse

By Jackson Okoth

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) board has re-elected Eddy Njoroge, who is also the chief executive officer of power generator KenGen Limited, as its chairman.

In a closed door poll, conducted last week, some six directors who were on the previous board, opted out and did not offer themselves for re-election.

Reliable industry sources disclosed that it was only Ms Winnie Nyamute who was re-elected as a director of the NSE board. Other directors Lucas Otieno, David Njoroge, Andre DeSimone, Lutaf Kassam, George Maina and Ms. Catherine Musakali, did not seek re-election.

The Capital Markets Authority is said to be currently going through names of the new directors before approval. The list of nominees for independent directors to the NSE board includes Farhana Hassanali, who works in the property development firm HassConsult.

The bourse is expected to benefit from her experience in the property business, especially in the development of such products as REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), which has been on the drawing board for months. There is Samuel Njuguna Kimani, the CEO of Jamii Bora Bank; the smallest and latest entrant in the country’s banking business, with a focus on small and medium sized enterprises.

Also joining the team is Jonathan Ciano, chief executive officer at Uchumi Supermarkets. He has earned a lot of public confidence in turning around the fortunes of Uchumi.

Others are Hosea Kimutai Kili, chief executive and managing trustee of the Local Authorities Pension Trust, Geoffrey O. Odundo, chief executive of Kingdom Securities and Bob Karina, managing director, Faida Investment Bank.