Equity Appoints Samuel Onyango as a new Director to the Kenya Board
Equity has announced the appointment of Samuel Onyango as a Non-Executive Director to it’s Equity Bank (Kenya) Limited (EBKL) Board. Samuel has extensive leadership experience in a wide range of professional services as a Certified Auditor, Company Secretary, Arbitrator, and Mediator, including his contribution to the development of the accounting profession in East, Central, and Southern Africa in the course of his career.
Currently, he is a Director at Jadala Investments Ltd., a Non-Executive Director at BAT Kenya Limited since July 2019, and a member of its Audit and Risk Committee. He is the immediate former CEO of Delloite East Africa where he served for 38 years in various audit and advisory roles. His past roles include being Chair of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya and president of the Eastern, Central, and Southern Africa Federation of Accountants.
“We are thrilled to welcome Samuel as a new independent director to our board. He brings decades of broad executive leadership experience in audit and risk practices that are key in our operations as a integrated financial servicers provider. Samuel’s guidance will be invaluable to the Equity board of directors in our oversight and quality assurance roles as we execute the next phase of strategic innovation and growth,” said EBKL Chairman Ambassador Erastus Mwencha, as he welcomed him to the Board.
On his part, Samuel commented on his commitment to serving the board, “Equity has a distinguished board with great diversity, expertise and experience. The management and staff at Equity are highly skilled and this is evidenced in how the institution has continued to remain at the top. I am confident that working together, we will be able to effectively sail through the pandemic and continue to be a key financial player in our country and the region,” said Samuel.
Samuel holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Nairobi and is a Certified Accountant and Company Secretary. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants (England and Wales), Institute of Certified Secretaries (Kenya), and Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya.
EBKL is a subsidiary of Equity Group Holdings Plc and holds a massive share of the Group’s business contributing 75% of the profitability. The Bank has been named the Top Banking Superbrand in Kenya for thirteen years in a row since 2007. Moody’s gave the bank a global rating of B2, Global Rating of Aaa.ke/KE-1 with a Negative outlook same as the sovereign rating of the Kenya Government. Global Credit Rating Co. (GCR) rated the bank AA- for long-term and A1 for short term, with a Negative outlook. The bank has emerged the Overall Best Bank at the 2020 Think Business Banking Awards for the 9th year in a row. It also won across 22 award categories becoming the most recognized market leader in the country. The bank was also named Africa’s SME Bank of the Year, for the third year in a row at the 2020 Global SME Finance Awards and the Best Regional Bank in East Africa at the African Banker Awards.