Meet 48 Yr Old Family Bank CEO Who Admits To Dislike ‘Average’ Employees

At a young age, most of us have no clear idea of where our career paths will lead us in the future. Even if we do, we change our decisions as time passes but meet a man who settled on banking as a career at a young age and never looked back.

Today he is the Family Bank CEO through knowledge, passion, drive and persistence.

Mr. Peter Munyiri grew up in Kajiado and Nyeri and was involved in grazing and milking cows as a young man. He attended Nyeri high school around 1984, did his O-levels at Ruthangati, got military training at the national youth service and he was later admitted to the University of Nairobi where he pursued a bachelors degree in economics

Wondering how this man who grew up grazing and milking cows got to be the CEO to Family Bank?

Munyiri says his first job was at the Treasury as an economist and then later on moved to Barclays Bank where he did a management development programme for 48 months and after three years at the bank he was appointed as assistant risk manager.

In 1995 he joined Standard Chartered Bank as senior manager and before long he was appointed by Co-Operative Bank as one of the heads of department.

In 2007 he was interviewed for CEO position at Kenya Commercial Bank but got the deputy CEO position instead. In June 2011 he became Family Bank’s CEO.

Some few years ago Munyiri baffled stakeholders with an unexpected career move. From being a heartbeat away from CEO’s seat at KCB, he resigned to become Family Bank’s Managing Director.

“I felt misunderstood because of that career move,” says Munyiri,

In a recent interview with the Standard, The 48 year old confesses of what he hates most in employees. “Mediocrity bothers me a lot. I also dislike being kept waiting.”

He says that being able to identify his career choice earlier in life was the best career decision he made as a young man. He envisioned himself as a banker and so he concentrated on areas that would facilitate his dream.

As huge as his title is, the father of three has mentors. “I want to see myself grow and exceed my expectations so I look for leadership from Harvard journals and enroll for business courses,” he adds that, “My bishop at Christ is the Answer Ministries also inspires me a lot.”

With a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from the University of Nairobi and an MBA in Strategic Management from Newport University, he is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Bankers (UK) and Fellow of the Kenya Institute of Bankers. He has vast experience in banking and finance having previously worked in senior and executive management.

His drive is to steer Family Bank into becoming one of the biggest financial institutions in Kenya taking the tier two bank to tier one status, as it took a new strategic direction.

His dream to be a banker has proved to yield more fruits as he has gone up the ladder gracefully . Its clear that he aimed for the moon but reached the stars.

Additional Reporting from The Standard

Dont Miss any Job Or Article Subscribe to Career Point Kenya by Email FOR FREE CLICK HERE