“Banks Generally Employ Smart People,” Meet NIC Bank CEO Who Grew Up in Poverty

For many, being born into a large family had it disadvantages, especially if you were not born on a silver platter. The family resources were strained and going to school was most times an option.

Meet the NIC Bank Chief Executive John Gachora. Mr. Gachora was born and raised in Kiambu, Lari district, the eighth born in a family of 13 children.

His parents were peasant farmers. Fortunately for him, even with the financial strain, he managed to have his secondary education at Alliance High school.

“I studied sciences. My plan was to go into engineering which was the ’hot’ profession while we were in Alliance,” the CEO tells Trade Marks Africa.

It seems luck was on his side because he was chosen to participate in the brooks Exchange Program when he was in form 3.

Why is this prestigious you ask?

This is a program where two students of outstanding character both inside and outside the classroom are chosen to participate. The two students usually serve as hosts to two other students from Brooks School.

“I then went to the states joined the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where I studied engineering and computer science. After MIT, I joined a securitisation group at Credit Suisse as an IT systems engineer in 1994,” The CEO who is in his forties reports.

For a man who knew the value of education and had no desire to go back to poverty he has done well for himself academically. Apart from his undergraduate from the MIT, he has a Masters in Engineering from the same college and a Master’s in Business Administration, Wharton School, University of Pennyslvania.

Mr. Gachora also says that while at Credit Suisse he was sponsored to pursue his masters in business administration at Wharton School from 2000 to 2002 but left Credit Suisse 10 years later.

He joined Bank of America where he rose to be the managing director and head of restructuring— the first Kenyan to hold such a position in the firm. Gachora was introduced to the investment banking division of Absa through a recruitment road show.

And why did he venture into Banking yet he studied for Engineering?

“The banking industry has a preference for engineers due to the skills we have and the systematic way of thinking that we embrace. Finance is very systematic, it’s about ‘inputs and outputs’ when you are structuring. My skill is in creatively finding the in-between that will move the process from being an input to an output,” says Mr. Gachora.

He also says that his years with leading global banks abroad have provided him with the ability to develop creative and innovative solutions and understand the art of relationships, very well.

And what problem does he see in young talent?

‘There is a lack of ownership. Banks generally employ smart people, but you need people who are able to do what they do without supervision. The skills they refer to have little to do with formal education, but a lot to do with ownership. Ownership is a crucial skill, own the work and do it to your ultimate best whether your manager is there or not,’ Gachora concludes.

Where you come from does not matter; It is where you are headed to that does.

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