The CFO East Africa Leadership Summit held at Villa Rosa Kempinski in Nairobi on 13 March, brought together the region’s finance leaders for an evening of candid reflection and shared insights.
The evening opened with an address from MTN Rwanda CFO Dunstan Stober, who identified four pillars that, in his view, underpin effective leadership under pressure: self-awareness and emotional control, the courage to tell the truth, teaching in difficult moments, and making the hard decisions that build both individuals and teams.
“The test of leadership actually comes when things are tough. If I start panicking and shouting, everybody falls apart. Nothing gets done. Numbers will go. But the question is whether you are building somebody. To build the courage to lead should be that courage to develop those around you,” he said.
The first panel, moderated by EABL Group CFO Risper Genga Ohaga, brought together Haco Industries finance director Steve Maina, ICEA Lion General Insurance CFO Zipporah Chege, and I&M Bank group CFO David Ngata. The conversation moved through the themes of leadership evolution, delegation and the relationship between the CFO and broader organisational strategy.
Steve Maina spoke with clarity about the shift he had undergone as a leader. He revealed that he was a problem solver in his earlier years. But over time, he learned that this instinct was doing his team a disservice.
“When somebody comes to me with a problem, they actually have the answer. So what I normally do is ask them what they think we should do. Some of it works, some of it fails, but in the end they end up much better individuals,” he said.
Lessons from the journey
David Ngata tackled the question of delegation, arguing that a leader’s awareness of their own knowledge can be their biggest obstacle. He advocated instead for structured decision-making that works regardless of expertise.
“What that does is it frees me. The time it gives me, I’m able to focus, reflect, think broadly and arrive at more coherent, conclusive decisions,” he explained.
Zipporah Chege brought the conversation to strategy, pushing back against the notion that CFOs should confine themselves to numbers.
“I’m a big believer that we should be part of the journey that actually delivers those numbers. Know what moves the dial in your business, because quite often you can find yourself trapped in small expenses and declining stuff that doesn’t actually move a thing,” she said.
She also spoke candidly about the physical toll of leading the IFRS 17 implementation across her group’s markets, a process so gruelling that her body eventually gave out.
“A time comes and you have to say it is enough. Your team is your superpower. Hire people who are even brighter than you. They make you look even better,” she said.
Leadership in motion
The partner address was delivered by Stanbic Bank acting CEO Abraham Ongenge, who took both a macro and a personal lens.
“Transitions are moving much faster and they are becoming less and less predictable. Effective CFOs need to think about these transitions and identify opportunities and almost marry the short-term obligations with the long-term thinking around sustainability and macroeconomic complexity,” he said.
He drew on his own experience of international assignments to illustrate what it means to lead with humility in new contexts.
The evening’s keynote was delivered by Martin Oduor Otieno, CEO of The Leadership Group and author of The Humanized Leader. Drawing on his years serving on the boards of major organisations, including Standard Bank Group and EABL, he made the case for a fundamental shift in what the role demands.
Martin observed that the command-and-control leadership style of previous generations is incompatible with today’s workforce.
“If the CFO is known as the person who is going to say no, even before lifting their head, then we are not picking up that courage of leadership. We are stewards of the resources we are managing. Everybody is looking to us as the person who will maintain the straight and narrow,” he explained.
Career-defining moments
The second panel, hosted by CFO East Africa community manager KC Rottok Chesaina, featured IPSOS regional CFO Mary Maina, Kenya Power general manager for finance Steve Vikiru, Hewatele CFO Joan Andia and Dune Packaging CFO Ratnakar Nemani.
Steve Vikiru described a period that tested every dimension of his resilience and took a toll on his health.
“However stormy it can be out there, the inner self should always be at peace. Even in a very hostile environment, never let that toxicity get to your inner self. You engage respectfully, but when you walk out, you carry no emotional attachment to the toxicity that was in that room,” he said.
Joan Andia spoke about the profound personal meaning she found in her work at Hewatele, an industrial gases company. She joined in September 2023, three months after losing her mother, who had spent fifteen days in ICU on oxygen. When she arrived at her new workplace and saw Hewatele-branded cylinders, the connection was profound.
“Beyond the numbers, what is it that we are really doing? What is the value of human life behind them?” she said.
Ratnakar Nemani shared the deeply personal journey of leaving a well-paying career in the Middle East when his wife was diagnosed with lung cancer. He recalled exhausting his savings to be present for her and later rebuilding both his professional life and his family from the ground up.
“Leadership goes beyond the definition of corporate leadership. If you’re not a good spouse and good father and good son then the corporate achievement doesn’t complete the picture,” he said.
Mary Maina closed the evening with equal candour. She spoke about losing her husband to cancer when her daughter was just five years old, and about the losses that followed over the years. Each one had deepened her empathy as a leader and changed how she shows up.
“I wear my leadership hats, possibly four or five of them, in one day. I can be demanding accountability in the morning and calling a team member at my level by afternoon to check how their child who has been unwell is doing. Vulnerability is not weakness. It is actually being human,” she said.
The evening closed with the presentation of signed copies of The Humanized Leader to the first fifty CFOs in attendance.
The event was sponsored by principal partner Stanbic Bank Kenya and associate partners Adili Group, Boya, GardaWorld, Issec, Kora and Prophix.
