Photo Gallery: 15 May 2026, CFO East Africa Leadership Summit, Four Points by Sheraton Kampala

For Louis Owoko, finance goes far beyond explaining past performance. Reflecting on lessons from his time in the public-sector and the startup ecosystem, he explains why modern finance leaders must think like business strategists.

As businesses look for ways to protect margins, Joseph Sitati argues that cutting headcount can leave companies without the people they need to deliver on their recovery plans. Speaking during the 2026 Finance Indaba at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg, the CFO for the Health Operations Cluster at Harleys Group shared lessons from a manufacturing business that found savings by listening to its workers.

Speaking at the CFO Leadership Summit in Dar es Salaam on 12 June, Sekou Tidiane, CFO of Africa Global Logistics (AGL) Tanzania, reflected on the human side of finance leadership, explaining why managing numbers is only a fraction of the executive role.

Dr Mark Nasila, chief data and analytics officer at First National Bank (FNB) South Africa, says CFOs must define the business value of artificial intelligence before committing capital, then measure whether the promised gains materialise.

Lawrence Kimathi, group CFO at KCB, is among the nominees for the 2026 CFO East Africa Awards, with over 20 years of financial leadership across banking, insurance, beverages and tobacco in East Africa and beyond.

While 88 percent of organisations now use AI, fewer than six percent see major earnings impact. In this article, CFO Amir Parpia explores how C-suite leaders can combine AI-driven insight with human judgement and collaboration to create sustainable enterprise value.