How NIC's Catherine Karita is juggling career demands

You might remember her from this newspaper’s coveted list of Top 40 Under 40 Women.

If you are in the banking and financial services industry, you’ll certainly know her as the former head of NIC’s Corporate and Institutional Sales at CFC Stanbic Financial Services Limited where she was charged with distribution of new equity and debt capital deals in the market.

Before this, she worked for Bank of America in Maryland, USA, where she lived for nine years before coming back to Kenya in 2009.

She joined NIC Securities last year. Her unit just recently launched an online app that allows customers to trade their shares from their phones.

We sit down for a very early morning tea at The Serena for a polite and somewhat contained conversation.

Why did you come back to Kenya after nine years?

Well, my heart was always back here. If I had a choice, I would come sooner – after my first degree – but my parents wanted me to do more. I resigned and came back home without a job offer or anything.

What stocks should people buy now?

Centum Investment Group is one I would look at, because we have seen how it’s growing. The price now is entry level, after a slight correction some time back.

Definitely look at some insurance companies like CIC, Liberty Holdings even a bank like Equity. I’m an active investor; I see the market every day, it’s what I believe in. I’ve made money out of some banks, good stocks, like KCB and from Safaricom.

Best advice to rookie stock investors?

Don’t invest if you are a short-term player. People do and end up getting burnt. There is a lot of opportunity in the stock market, it’s about analysing your stocks keenly and giving them a good time horizon so that you can realise the returns.

What does a stockbroker like you do for fun?

(Laughs) Uhm, I’m a mother and my son is turning four in the next few weeks. So we hang out a lot. I also like to travel out of town, a quick getaway. I like to go to new places, but mostly I spend time with my son.

What’s been your experience raising a boy?…not that you have any other point of reference.

(Laughs) Exactly, it’s been great, you know boys love their mothers, we have been very close. So yeah....

Where did you grow up?

Grew up in Kiambu County, in Kabete, where my parents live.

Passions, and please don’t tell me trading in the stock exchange.

(Laughs) That’s a tough one. (Thinks). You know, passion is about the small things in life, like family. I want to do things, learn more, experience the world.

Outside my work, it’s really about the relationships with my friends and family. I’m also about giving back; I sit in a board of this school upcountry where I try to mentor young people. Hobbies? I like to keep fit. I will go for a run at Karura Forest and also go to the gym.

OK, look; I’m trying to get an entry point here –

(Smiles) To what?

To who you really are. You are just so nice, throw me a bone please…

But I’m a nice person! (Laughs). What are you looking for? You know your questions are so impromptu. But now you know me, you know what I like…

OK, what would you do on a weekend, I don’t know, do you golf?

Well, I used to in 2012, did it for about a year but not anymore. I just don’t have the time. It’s something I would like to pick up again.

Are you an introvert of an extrovert?

I think I’m an extrovert. But I have enough friends, I make friends quickly, very quickly.

What are your greatest regrets so far?

(Sigh) I don’t know. (Thinks). Look, whatever mistakes I have made in life, well, they are lessons. You know, there isn’t one thing I can mention as my greatest regret; they all have been stuff that I imagine everybody goes through.

Where did you meet your husband?

I’m not married.

Your husband-to-be?

(Laughs)

You see what I just did there?

(Laughs hard) Yes, I did.

Are you engaged?

(Laughs) I’d rather not say. (Pause). I’d rather not say, let’s leave that part out.

Fair enough, are you reading a book?

Yes, I’m reading Lean In (by Sheryl Sandberg). I picked it some time ago.

Recently, almost every lady I interview is reading that book…

It’s a great book I would say; it has some really great lessons for anyone in the corporate world. But yes, I also recently started my law degree so it’s eating a lot into my time.

Why law and why now?

For me, it’s more of…(Pause) you know when I was little girl, I always wanted to be a lawyer but then I went to university and things changed.

But I find it interesting to study the laws of Kenya and the different aspects of law and how it all relates to our professional and social interactions. Plus I think it might just work well in my line of profession in future. I like to seek knowledge.

What are you struggling with now as a young GM who is 33, who is reading Lean In, who just picked up law and is raising a son who is turning four, and who just went off the record about her dating life?

(Laughs hard) You just had to? Look, sometimes you just have to consider how you integrate all these. I mean obviously as a GM your challenges are taking the business to the next level, managing people and trying to empower them to help you achieve this goal.

And it’s been good for me, we grew our revenue by 45 per cent in the first year but we want to keep that momentum. On a personal level between school and motherhood, there is a question of deciding what can wait and what should be done now.

What’s your greatest insecurity?

That I will get old without being married. (Smile). You know, for me, it’s something I would want to do, but I don’t know when that will happen…

Is he dragging his feet? Are you dragging your feet? Are there even feet to begin with?

(Laughs hard) Look, don’t twist things around here! And please don’t misquote me, what I mean is that at a certain age, if I’m not married, I will wonder if I’m getting too old, OK?

OK. Humour me; in your head what do you imagine marriage will change in your life? Is this about ticking a box? Is it a sense of accomplishment?

Well…(pause) You just don’t want to do it to check a box, you want it for companionship, someone you can discuss your day with. Someone who will always be there. A companion.

What’s your greatest extravagance?

Well, I’m not very extravagant. I mean, I save, invest. I bought a house five years ago…I don’t splurge. Other than the few trips I save for, I’m not a splurger.

What’s in your Bucket List?

Yes, I want to visit Paris. The city of love. It’s somewhere I want to go but not alone. I will go when it’s the right time. I also want to climb Mount Kenya.

When do you allow yourself not to be this proper? When do you really let loose?

We go out of town with my girlfriends and talk. Discover new things. Stuff…

Have you ever smoked weed?

No! Gosh, no! That’s a crazy question! (Laughs).