Third NSE-listed company names woman to chair board

Liberty Insurance has become the third firm listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange to have a woman chairperson following the replacement of businessman Jeremiah Kiereini.

The insurance firm said it tapped Susan Mboya-Kidero, an executive of Coca Cola, to chair its board as Mr Kiereini continues to reduce his presence in corporate Kenya’s boardroom.

Dr Mboya-Kidero will join Nelius Kariuki of Kenya Re and Uchumi Supermarkets’ Khadija Mire as the only women serving as chairpersons among the 61 companies listed on the NSE.

By the time of going to press, Business Daily had not established whether Mr Kiereini has quit as director of the insurer owned 56.8 per cent by South Africa’s Liberty Holdings.

Muted role

Mr Kiereini, 83, has in the past 18 months had to fend off allegations that he, together with former CMC chief executive Martin Forster, operated illegal offshore accounts worth more than Sh250 million.

READ: Top CMC directors found to have signed sham accounts

The existence of the cash was revealed by Bill Lay, who was the chief executive of motor dealer CMC, prompting a forensic audit by South African firm Weber Wentzwel commissioned by the capital markets regulator CMA — which mentioned Mr Kiereini as one of the signatories of the secret offshore accounts. Mr Lay left CMC this year.

Mr Kiereini has since quit the boards of CfC Bank, East Africa Breweries Limited, CMC Motors and Unga Limited.

READ: Kiereini, Kemoli quit Unga board over CMA order

Dr Mboya-Kidero’s appointment comes at a time women’s role in the boardrooms of NSE-listed firms remains muted.

A study by Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) says 34 per cent of the 57 companies it examined at the Nairobi bourse do not have a woman on their boards at a time the capital markets regulator is pushing for mandatory gender caps.

READ: More than a third of NSE firms lack women directors

KIM blames the reliance on old-boy networks for directorship appointments since boards have traditionally been made up of retired men of similar backgrounds who recruit from a network of friends.

The under-representation of women at the top level of big business has also been caused by the requirement that one has either previous boardroom or executive experience, especially that of CEO and chief financial officer.

Fresh ideas

At present, only two women — Maria Msiska (BOC Kenya) and Nasim Devji (DTB Bank) — are chief executive officers in publicly quoted companies.

Lack of women in directorships is said to be preventing the flow of fresh ideas into boardrooms where the ticket to a seat is often influenced by factors other than merit.