KCB CEO Martin Oduor-Otieno during a past event. FILE
Beyond the Shadows of My Dreams biography (inset). SALATON NJAU
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Mr Oduor-Otieno, who is set to retire as KCB’s chief executive officer in March next year, has now retraced his life and career path in a biography, Beyond The Shadows of My Dream.
Martin Oduor-Otieno, the Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) group chief executive, missed the life of celibacy by a whisker.
A showdown with a Catholic cleric, Brother Edward at the Xaverian School in 1969, was to shape his destiny, compelling him to change course and pursue a secular career though he studied in mission schools.
Many years later, he would become an accountant, a permanent secretary in the Finance ministry as part of a ‘dream team’ assembled by former President Daniel arap Moi to revive Kenya’s ailing economy, before scaling the heights of Kenya’s banking industry to become CEO of the biggest bank by asset base — the KCB.
Mr Oduor-Otieno, who is set to retire as KCB’s chief executive officer in March next year, has now retraced his life and career path in a biography, Beyond The Shadows of My Dream, co-written by Barrack Muluka, Rosemary Okello-Orlale and Daniel Odhiambo-Orlale and published by Mvule Africa Publishers. The book, which costs Sh3,500, was to be launched in Nairobi last evening.
Political influence had a huge bearing on who got selected to run the State-controlled bank that had nearly collapsed under the weight of heavy debts owed by influential personalities.
“It was by the grace of God that I survived and got the job and held it to the time of writing this book,” says Mr Oduor-Otieno.
The 56-year-old executive looks back at a jinxed trip from Johannesburg’s Oliver Tambo International Airport to Kenya where he had been invited to attend an interview in the bank’s recruitment of a deputy CEO in October 2005.
The Kenya Airways plane he was booked on for the Nairobi flight developed mechanical problems while on the runway and failed to take off, throwing him into panic mode that he would be unable to attend the interview.
This was a Sunday morning, just a day before his scheduled interview slated for 9am that following Monday.
His plea to have his interview session rescheduled to a later time or date during the call were met by a flat ‘no’, which essentially placed him at a disadvantage even before the actual interview.
That was never to bog him down as his drive to work for KCB would fit in with his childhood dream to turn around struggling institutions.
Mr Oduor-Otieno was to be put on the midnight flight after begging Patrick Mulei, the KQ station manager at Jo’burg airport, to do anything in his capacity to ensure the Barclays executive got to Nairobi.
After the 18 hour plus waiting at the airport, and the four-hour flight to Nairobi, and a limited time to freshen up, Mr Oduor-Otieno attended the interview where he was ranked top amongst the candidates.
Susan Mudhune, the current KCB group chairperson, is quoted in the biography saying that Mr Oduor-Otieno was composed, calm and self-assured at the interview.
He was hired to deputise Terry Davidson, who had been brought in from Citi Bank, essentially as a non-partisan chief executive to lead an institution whose board and management were highly polarised along ethnic lines.
Upon the expiry of Mr Davidson’s contract in 2007, Mr Oduor-Otieno was recruited as successor, but not without a rigorous interview process.
The global bank created a pan-African role called Barclays Business Support where Mr Oduor-Otieno was posted to head, until his appointment into KCB.
He walks out of KCB in March next year, looking back at a career path with satisfaction, having played a central role in turning around the bank.
