6th December, 2020
Risper Genga Ohaga spent 12 years with Barclays Bank (now Absa) with her last posting being Chief Finance Officer, Barclays Zambia. Prior to Barclays, she worked for global audit firm, KPMG, for nine years. In December 2019, Ohaga returned to Kenya to take up the role of Finance and Strategy Director at East African Breweries (EABL). She replaced Gyorgy Geiszl who returned to Diageo Plc. It was a prayer answered as she had long desired to return home but Barclays had not found a position fit for her. Ohaga had an elaborate induction plan to help her understand the business she was joining. They included visits to Scotland and Ireland, where the Diageo Plc breweries are located, and India and Hungary where the Diageo shared services are based. That elaborate plan was put on hold when COVID19 struck. "I felt like COVID19 had come at the wrong time," said Ohaga. Shd spoke with Standard Digital on the valuable lessons COVID19 taught her.