Centum hires former PwC director as new chief finance officer

Investment firm Centum has tapped a former PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) executive as its new chief finance officer (CFO).

Samuel Kariuki had worked at the consultancy for nearly 11 years, rising to the position of associate director before being head-hunted to lead Centum’s finance department.

His last position at PwC was head of the assurance service in Rwanda where he led teams in providing financial advisory, risk assurance and external audit services to corporations.

“Given the complexity of what we do, we thought it wise to hire somebody with the kind of track record that Mr Kariuki has,” said Centum’s chief executive James Mworia in an interview.

The new CFO will however not sit on the company’s board. Mr Kariuki will be part of the Centum Business Solutions (CBS), a subsidiary that offers support to all of the NSE-listed firm’s subsidiaries and third-party clients at a fee.

CBS’ services include finance, tax, marketing, communication, administration, human resource, risk and compliance, legal among others.

This unit’s managing director is Risper Mutoko. She has until now been doubling up as Centum’s finance director, answering to Mr Mworia. Mr Kariuki will now report to her.

The new CFO has a Master of Business Administration from UK’s Heriot-Watt University and a Bachelor of Science degree from Oxford Brookes University and another undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from Moi University.

Centum closed the period with a total assets of Sh77.6 billion and liabilities of Sh38.1 billion.

Its after-tax earnings for the six months to September increased 55 per cent to Sh1.9 billion from the Sh1.23 billion it posted during a similar period the previous year.

This was significantly boosted by investment and other income, which grew by 342 per cent to Sh8.4 billion.

Centum’s significant jump in investment income offset high operating and administration costs that increased by Sh4.4 billion to Sh5.06 billion.