‘Euromoney’ names Centum CEO one of Africa’s rising stars

Euromoney, a global business and finance magazine, has named Mr James Mworia, the chief executive officer and managing director of Centum Group, one of Africa’s rising stars.

Mr Mworia is the only Kenyan named among 20 individuals from the continent, including Sangu Delle, CEO, Golden Palm Investments, Ghana; Jo-Ann Pohl, CFO for Africa, Standard Chartered Bank; Patience Akyianu, MD, Barclays Bank Ghana; Acha Leke, director, McKinsey and Company, Nigeria; Ladi Balogun, CEO, First City Monument Bank, Nigeria; Vuyo Jack, co-founder and executive chairman of Empowerdex, South Africa; and Martin Ganda, CEO of Tamuka Group, Zimbabwe.

According to Euromoney, Mworia worked his way up the corporate ladder at Centum, starting as an intern in the company’s filing room in 2001, while at the same time studying for his chartered financial analyst exams.

He became head of investments at the company in 2005 before being promoted in 2008 to CEO and becoming the youngest CEO of a listed company in Kenya.

Private equity

“Throughout my career at Centum, I have had such a variety of roles, which really set me up to run the company,” he says.“The experience I received was invaluable.”

Centum has been listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) since 1967, was cross-listed in Uganda in 2010 and now has more than 38,000 shareholders. Since Mworia’s appointment, the company has delivered a return of 197 per cent to its shareholders.

Through its private equity business, Centum has also managed to exit a portfolio company on the NSE — something challenging in the illiquid domestic markets in sub-Saharan Africa. Publishing company Longhorn was listed on the NSE in 2012 after Centum made an initial investment in the company in 2008.

“While exits are difficult in the current environment, they are necessary to deepen the capital markets, and we will push for other companies within our portfolio to eventually be listed,” says Mworia.

Centum became one of the first Kenyan companies to win a real estate investment trust (Reit) licence in December 2013. The firm’s real-estate project, Two Rivers in Nairobi, will be the first to be considered a Reit, and will cover nine million square feet, house hotels, hospitals, an international school and offices as well as the largest mall in SSA outside of South Africa.

Build presence

The project has received interest from international blue-chip companies hoping to build their presence in East Africa.

“As it stands, there are limited investment opportunities for the amount of capital that is actually available in Kenya,” says Mworia.

“By developing good quality, large-scale opportunities such as Two Rivers, and also transforming small companies into local and regional champions, we can offer investors something extra.”

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