Jubilee Holdings chairman Nizar Juma is set to retire from the company next month, bringing to an end his 20-year stay in the country’s largest insurer.
Mr Juma, who became Jubilee chairman on July 11, 2004, will not offer himself for re-election during the next annual general meeting (AGM), set for June 25, 2024.
The chairman, who turned 80 last month, told the Business Daily in an interview that the 20 years he has spent at Jubilee is “enough number” and it is time for someone else to take over.
“There comes a time when you have to stop. I think 20 years is a long time and I believe we have done good work and reached a stage where this company will continue even when I leave. It has a very strong base and I think others will take it forward. We have to give others a chance,” said Mr Juma.
“I consider that the work I have done in the insurance industry has been a service and I am glad that I have done this as a volunteer. I have not done this for money.”
Mr Juma has been instrumental in Jubilee’s transformation, from what he described as then a “very modest” company to a financial services firm with subsidiaries and associates in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and Mauritius.
Jubilee’s net profit has grown from Sh242.7 million in 2004, then paying shareholders Sh81 million dividends to a multibillion-shilling profit firm. The firm in the year ended December 2023 posted a net profit of Sh4.42 billion and will next month pay a record Sh1.036 billion dividend.
Mr Juma has for the past 20 years not drawn any salary for his service at Jubilee, a stand he has held since 1992 when he started serving on boards of different companies.
Mr Juma’s deputy, Zul Abdul, who joined the Jubilee board in 2014 and became vice-chairman in March 2020, will be the next chairman, subject to approval by shareholders at the AGM.
In 2021, the Association of Kenya Insurers awarded him the Lifetime Achievement Award for his contribution to the insurance industry over the years.
Mr Juma, is a serial boardroom figure, having sat on boards of over 80 companies in different sectors including banking, insurance, real estate and health but has been scaling down over the years to about 12 in 2022.
His farewell to shareholders in the upcoming AGM will be a record dividend of Sh14.30 per share amounting to Sh1.036 billion for the financial year ended December 2023.
The firm’s board, which Mr Juma chairs, on Wednesday recommended payment of Sh10 per share as an ordinary dividend and a special dividend of Sh2.30 per share, adding to the Sh2 per share interim payout that was paid early October last year.
The latest payout marks a 19.2 percent rise from Sh12 per share paid on the financial year ended December 2022 and topples the previous peak of Sh1.015 billion that the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firm paid on 2021 results.
