Mary had butterflies for an entire weekend before saying yes to the regional role. Two or three years before that, she had already been preparing someone else to take her place.
When Mary Maina's manager called to tell her a regional CFO position was opening at Ipsos and he was confident she could do it, she began to second-guess herself. He calmly suggested she think about it over the weekend and come back with her answer.
“I had butterflies in my stomach the whole weekend. When I mentioned this to a close friend, the response was if you don't take that role, I'm going to whip you, because you are more than ready. I could have said it's too much, it's too big. But I believed I could do it. And it’s more than just me. I am sending a silent message to other women and girls that we can do it, even when scared, even when we are not 100 percent sure," she says.
What she did not mention to her manager when she accepted the offer was that she had spent the two or three years preceding that phone call quietly grooming her replacement in Kenya. When the time came, Ipsos did not need to hire externally.
“I had identified and deliberately worked on a succession plan, getting my team members ready to step in. Two years later, I had a similar scenario in South Africa, our biggest market. For me it's not just about the finance function, it's also ensuring that I am bringing along the team as I get elevated,” she says.
The currency of credibility
Mary has been Sub-Saharan Africa CFO at Ipsos for nearly four years, overseeing the finance function that spans across East, West and South Africa. She has been in finance for more than 20 years, beginning at Tetra Pak, transiting into insurance and later the oil and gas industries before joining Ipsos nearly 12 years ago.
Over time, the shape of the work has changed at every level. In the early years, the focus was task completion. As she moved upward, the technical work receded and something else took its place. The ability to build relationships and lead with influence that shape businesses became the real work of the role.
“My role is actually business partnering. I work very closely with the CEO for Sub Sahara Africa, the country managers and other business line directors. The stretch is quickly learning what their big agenda and mandate is, into getting the buy-in and then creating value to their business,” she explains.
Mary is deliberate about where she positions herself in the organisation. She leads from the front, taking collective decisions with the CEO and business leaders, identifying early what will be required of her and who she needs to bring along. The value she returns to most consistently, across every part of the conversation, is integrity.
“I keep telling my team we are the business custodians; so, zero tolerance to gaps in integrity. I hold myself to the standard that I will lead with integrity, consistently. Not just in how I do things but in how the system works, and I hold them to the same,” she says.
A place at the table
Mary has been keenly aware that her taking up a place at the table sends a signal to the other women in the organisation that there is no limit to what they can achieve or aspire to be. Although people often point out that finance is male dominated, Mary’s career growth has transcended that fact.
She is careful, though, not to make this sound easier than it is, as she knows the double standard exists and names it plainly. Mary manages this by staying professional and maintaining a strict separation between her professional and personal life. Given that the playing ground is not entirely level, she says, the recovery from any reputational slip would be disproportionately hard.
“It could be that I'm in the same position as a man, making the same call, and the feedback you'd get is she's being unreasonable, but the man is authoritative, he knows what he's doing. When we start on the right side, knowing these barriers are real, then we get deliberate to help each other as women to close the loops quickly,” she explains.
Her advice to women in finance who want to reach the senior levels is to remain curious and own the journey. She describes explicitly asking for additional responsibility in the early stage of her career.
“Make it non-negotiable, request to learn what the other team members are doing. You turn the tables from “the business needs to build you, into owning the career building process yourself”. And when you get to the next level, don't settle. Look for the next step once you master what the role is about,” she says.
Taking the leap
Mary is also candid about what holds women back. The considerations that accompany high level opportunities fall more heavily on women than on men. She was once a young mother going to work with a toddler at home and a household to manage. For this reason, she is aware of the overload this brings but is adamant on not letting it become the reason to say ‘no’.
She is also an advocate for people empowerment and uses her skills to train leaders on business acumen skills, managing effective P&Ls and how to connect the different business facets to drive efficiencies, growth and profitability. She is at the forefront of supporting strategy both in country and at regional level while elevating the people who drive and execute on the same.
During the Covid-19 lockdowns, Mary learned to ride a bicycle at Nairobi’s Karura Forest. Having never been on a bike in her life, she had multiple falls before she could hold her balance. The day she managed to balance her bike; she has not stopped since. She cycles before the working day begins, saying scheduling that time before anything else means she resets her balance and can handle whatever the day brings. She cycled 5,300km in 2025 and cumulatively over 10,000 kms since learning to cycle.
“Leadership and how we take care of ourselves cannot be separated. I believe if I am not in a good state, I will not be able to show up and deliver on what the business expects of me. I keep telling my teams: you can only work and deliver if you're fine, if you're well, if you're alive. Take care of yourself first so that you show up 100 percent for your family and the business,” she says.
