“My Ambition Was To Become CEO by Age 40” KCB’s Joshua Oigara Opens Up

At 39 years, Joshua Oigara is one of the youngest CEO’s of a blue chip company in East Africa. Even though his appointment in 2012 left people wondering why it wasn’t an older figure appointed, he says he had an ambition to be CEO at a young age.

“My ambition was to be a CEO of a blue-chip company by the time I am 40 although at the time I’m not even sure I knew exactly what a blue-chip company was,” he says

In a past interview with the Daily Nation, the Kenya Commercial Bank CEO describes himself as a quiet student in primary school. His teacher was quite sure that this trait would end up being a fatal flaw because nobody succeeds by being quiet.

“But I lived by one motto – doing my best is the only thing I have got. I see life as a marathon. When you are racing in the Olympics, you run knowing it’s the only race you have got and you won’t get second chances in that particular race,” he reveals.

If you are wondering how you would forge a career like his, Mr. Oigara says that he was not born in a silver spoon in his mouth.

His parents William and Diana Oigara were both schoolteachers and tea farmers at the Gesima Settlement Scheme in Borabu, where he grew up.

“My father stressed time and again that the only inheritance he could give us was a good education,” says Mr. Oigara.

Young Joshua was under considerable pressure in primary school because his older siblings were already outstanding students by the time he went to school. (One of his older sisters is a professor as is his elder brother while another sibling is a medical doctor). Due to his excellence in school, some pupils even burnt his books out of envy.

He studied at the University of Nairobi for a Bachelor of Commerce (accounting option) degree. He even became an official of the Finance Students Association and also played a role in AIESEC (International Economic and Commercial Sciences Students Association)

In 1997, he was a certified public accountant having taken his exams at the Strathmore University School of accountancy and he had four job offers. He picked PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC).

He was appointed senior associate a year after joining PwC and, in 2002, he decided to move on to Bidco Oil Ltd. He was soon head-hunted by representatives of Bamburi East Africa.

In 2008 at the age of 32, the Bamburi Cement board decided to make him Group Finance Director.

What advice does he give for those aspiring to succeed?

Mr Oigara says it is important not to think there is one formula for success and says everyone must forge their own path.

“There’s no short-cut to success. You can’t just hope and pray. Hope is not a strategy. You must be willing to put in more time than everyone else to be better,” he adds

For a man who does not want to be a CEO until he dies, Mr. Oigara says he still wants to do another masters and eventually a Ph.D with an aspiration to go teach after a few years on the job.

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