Equity Bank taps Adil Popat to its board in makeover
Mr Adil Popat has been appointed a director of Equity Group Holdings. PHOTO | FILE
What you need to know:
Adil Popat has been appointed a director of Equity Group Holdings alongside Evelyn Rutagwenda and John Staley.
Mr Popat is the chief executive and principal shareholder of Simba Corporation, which has interests in hotels, car rentals, and motor vehicle dealerships including the local BMW franchise.
Equity Bank has tapped entrepreneur Adil Popat among other new directors to its board in a makeover that also saw IT professionals Isis Nyong’o and John Barorot join its mobile banking subsidiary Finserve.
The bank recently separated its local unit from the regional subsidiaries to comply with new Central Bank of Kenya prudential guidelines.
This has led to the creation of a new company called Equity Group Holdings that now owns the subsidiaries. The local unit, called Equity Bank Kenya Ltd, now operates independently but is also owned by the holding company.
The Kenyan unit transferred the subsidiaries to the parent firm that is now responsible for the growth and risk management strategies of the East African units.
The changes have seen Equity bring in new directors while moving some of existing ones to the holding and Kenyan boards.
Mr Popat has been appointed a director of Equity Group Holdings alongside Evelyn Rutagwenda and John Staley. Mr Popat is the chief executive and principal shareholder of Simba Corporation, which has interests in hotels, car rentals, and motor vehicle dealerships including the local BMW franchise.
Mr Staley was previously a non-executive director of Equity’s subsidiaries in Uganda, Rwanda, and Tanzania. Ms Rutagwenda was a non-executive director of Equity Bank Rwanda.
Dr Julius Kipng’etich, Shem Migot-Adholla and Fredrick Muchoki retired from the holding company’s board on January 5 following their appointment as directors of the Kenyan unit on November 24.
Mr Peter Munga (the chairman), James Mwangi (CEO), David Ansell, Julius Muia, and Temitope Lawani also joined Equity Bank Kenya’s board on the same date.
Prof Isaac Muthure was another new director who joined the board of the bank’s local unit on December 4.
The holding company is expected to admit Mr Deepak Malik who is to be vetted by CBK. Mr Malik represents interest of sovereign wealth fund Norfund which recently teamed up with private investors to buy a 12.23 per cent stake in the bank from PE firm Helios.
Ms Nyong’o and Mr Barorot have extensive experience in the ICT sector.
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