Ever since Kenya started pushing for gender equality, the country has seen a significant number of women taking up managerial positions in various companies. They have also come to lead in the entrepreneurial and innovation world.
The corporate world is a bit hard and cutthroat as a leader’s impact on a company is measured in terms of profit. It became even tough after the corporates decided to include other factors such as the company’s social impact, teamwork, customer retention, and employee innovation to measure the success of a corporate leader.
The demands in the corporate world made some people believe that women could not endure more if they are given leadership positions in those companies. There are, however, some strong women who have proved these doubters wrong. Those women include;
Elizabeth Marami
Still in her 20, Elizabeth Marami had already accomplished a lot of things that you cannot imagine. She is the first female marine pilot not just in Kenya but also in the region.
Apart from flying the marines, Liz also owns a fashion blog as well as a mentor. Through her hard work and accomplishment, she appeared in Business Daily’s Top 40 under 40 women in 2015.
Emma Nyambura Gichonge
Emma may not be known to many, but she is such a big deal in the cooperate world. She led the team that saw M-Pesa servers moved from Germany to Kenya.
By helping Safaricom bring back the servers to Kenya enabled M-Pesa transactions much quicker and less troublesome than they used to be. The transfer also helped increase the number of transactions on M-Pesa per minute from just 320 to 900.
Jennifer Riria
Jennifer Riria is one of the first women in Kenya to hold a CEO position. She has served as a CEO for various microfinance and banking companies for several years. The business lady is the current CEO of Kenya Women Holdings.
Mrs. Rebecca Miano
Mrs. Rebecca Miano is the Managing Director and CEO of Kenya Electricity Generating Company PLC, a position she has held since 2017.
She is an energy expert specializing in renewal energy, structuring international and regional multi-million business deals, business law, and corporate governance among other things.
At KenGen, she founded Pink Energy, a forum meant to address female and gender parity in the company.
Mrs. Miano is a member of; Board of Global Compact Network, Kenya, World Bank Group’s Advisory Council on Gender and Development, as well as a member of St. Paul’s University Council since 2010 where she chaired the Finance and General Purposes Committee from 2013 to 2016. She has also served in the Finance Committee of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK).
Jane Karuku
Jane Karuku is the Managing Director of East African Breweries Limited (EABL), a position she has held since January 1, 2021.
She replaced Andrew Cowan who ended his four and a half years tenure at the helm of the multinational alcoholic beverage manufacture.
Before taking up the role, Kuruku was the Managing Director of the Kenya Breweries Limited, EABL’s Kenya subsidiary.
Before joining the breweries, she held various positions in various companies. She previously served as the President of the Alliance for Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA) and other senior positions in Cadbury and Telkom Kenya.
