Commissioner for Domestic Taxes Alice Owuor, Rita Kavashe, the chief executive of General Motors East Africa (GMEA), and Equity Group Foundation’s managing director Hellen Gichohi appointed to Bamburi board.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) encourages listed firms to have diverse boards including taking into account gender representation.
Bamburi Cement has appointed three women as directors including former Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner for Domestic Taxes Alice Owuor to balance its previously all-men board.
The other two are Rita Kavashe, the chief executive of General Motors East Africa (GMEA), and Equity Group Foundation’s managing director Hellen Gichohi.
“The board of directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Alice Owuor, Dr Hellen Gichohi and Rita Kavashe as directors of the company with immediate effect,” the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm said in a statement.
The female directors now represent 30 per cent of the cement manufacturer’s board that previously comprised of seven men including managing director Bruno Pescheux and chairman John Simba.
Two female directors — deputy Central Bank Governor Sheila M’Mbijjewe and Catherine Langreney— resigned last year leaving the company with an all-male board.
The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) encourages listed firms to have diverse boards including taking into account gender representation.
“The appointment of directors should be sensitive to gender representation, national outlook and should not be perceived to represent single or narrow community interest,” reads part of the guidelines published by the regulator.
The boards of most publicly traded firms are dominated by men, including controlling shareholders and their nominees. Bamburi says it is committed to maintaining boardroom diversity.
“The board strives to achieve diversity in geography, gender, and experiences, as a result of which diversity is given significant consideration in board selection,” the company said in its 2015 annual report.
The appointment at Bamburi is Ms Owuor’s first directorship at a listed company. She was a tax administrator at KRA for years and retired as the Commissioner for Domestic Taxes in April last year.
Ms Kavashe also marks her first directorship of a publicly traded company with the Bamburi appointment.
She has been the chief executive of GMEA since 2011 and has worked for the motor vehicle dealer for more than two decades.
Dr Gichohi is the managing director of Equity’s philanthropic arm which has educated thousands of students, among other social investments.
She holds a PhD in Ecology from the University of Leicester in the UK, a Master of Science degree in Biology of Conservation, and a BSc in Zoology from the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University respectively.
Dr Gichohi joined Equity Group Foundation in 2012 from the African Wildlife Foundation where she served for 11 years from 2001, as the President from 2007, Vice President from 2002 and Director of the Conservation Program from 2001 when she joined AWF.
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