Kiprono Kittony will exit his role as the chairman of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) after nearly six years, following the end of his tenure, which had been extended by a year in 2025.
Mr Kittony, appointed to the position in July 2020, will step down from the role in July 2026
The bourse operator said that he will remain as a director until June 2027.
His impending retirement as the NSE chairman comes after his appointment as the new chairman for beleaguered national carrier Kenya Airways.
Mr Kittony has prided himself on making contributions towards the democratisation of capital markets participation through the exchange, which has undertaken various initiatives in recent years, including enabling single-share trading in 2025.
“I look back with great pride at the many achievements that we’ve been able to achieve in the last few years, and I think this event today is the culmination of a lot of effort by all the stakeholders,” he told the Business Daily on Tuesday.
“I am confident that we have also been able to diversify our product offerings significantly. We had a green bond last year, and we continue to innovate and think outside the box.”
His highlights at the NSE also included the hiring of current CEO Frank Mwiti, who many stakeholders considered an outsider, including stockbrokers. They had pushed for his ouster last June over a variety of issues, including the election of the dealers’ representatives on the NSE board.
Mr Kittony says the board was right to hire Mr Mwiti, formerly a partner at Ernst & Young, as CEO. “I think we’ve been vindicated in the sense that we’ve been able to demonstrate that we don’t necessarily have to take a very traditional approach. As you know, the markets are dynamic, and situations are fluid,” he said.
His next job leaves him in the spotlight as the State seeks a strategic investor to turn around the fortunes of Kenya Airways, as the national carrier is known by its international code.
Unlike the profitable NSE, the airline has consistently been in a loss-making position save for a temporary reprieve in 2024.
KQ had a negative working capital position of Sh129.5 billion in the six months to June 2025.
Mr Kittony will succeed Michael Joseph who exited KQ’s board as chairman in June last year after the end of term.
He is expected to be instrumental in shaping the pick for the airline's next chief executive officer after the exit of Allan Kilavuka in November 2025.
“I am currently reading and putting myself abreast of the information (on Kenya Airways),” Mr Kittony said.
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Editor's note: Story updated to indicate that Kiprono Kittony will step down as NSE chairman in July 2026 and remain a director of the company until July 2027.
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