Former KCB chief executive makes comeback at EABL’s boardroom

Mr Oduor-Otieno: He resigned from the brewer’s board in 2013 when he was picked by Deloitte East Africa. PHOTO | FILE 

What you need to know:

  • Martin Oduor-Otieno was first appointed an EABL director in February 2013, but he quit after six months when Deloitte enlisted him as a partner to offer advisory services in the financial sector.

Former KCB chief executive Martin Oduor-Otieno has rejoined East African Breweries as a non-executive director, a position he quit after a short stint in 2013 following his appointment as a partner at Deloitte East Africa, which posed a potential conflict of interest.

Mr Oduor-Otieno, who is best known in corporate Kenya for his role as the KCB Group chief executive between 2007 and 2012, took up the EABL position on Tuesday.

“The Board of EABL is pleased to announce the appointment of Mr Oduor-Otieno as a non-executive director of the board effective May 24,” said the brewer’s chairman Charles Muchene in a statement.

The former banker was first appointed an EABL director in February 2013, but he quit after six months when Deloitte enlisted him as a partner to offer advisory services in the financial sector.

Mr Oduor-Otieno early this year exited Deloitte to take up a new position as a non-executive director of South Africa’s Standard Bank Group, the largest lender on the continent by assets.

This move has now allowed EABL to engage him afresh in the regional brewer as they seek to tap his managerial experience in both the public and private sectors.

This appointment is the third change that EABL is making to its 12-member board over the past year. The brewer is 50.02 per cent owned by UK multinational Diageo.

On April 27 the regional brewer announced that Joyce Menene had replaced Ruth Ngobi as its company secretary, a position the latter had held for three years.

Carol Musyoka, a financial consultant and columnist with the Business Daily, was last September appointed to the brewer’s board alongside György Geiszl, the EABL’s group finance director.

Nick Blazquez, the former Diageo president for Africa, is slated to leave the EABL board at the end of June. He will be exiting the UK brewer altogether after serving for 27 years.

This is the vacancy that Mr Oduor-Otieno will essentially fill.

Mr Oduor-Otieno has previously worked with Barclays Bank of Kenya, British American Tobacco and also as the permanent secretary in the Ministry of Finance. He joined Standard Bank Group’s Board on Jan 1.

Since Deloitte South Africa, an affiliate of the local consultancy firm, offers some business advisory services to Standard Bank the banker quit the local position once again due to the potential for conflict of interest.

He remains an independent adviser of Deloitte East Africa.

Mr Oduor-Otieno holds a BCom degree from the University of Nairobi, an Executive MBA degree from the ESAMI/Maastritch Business School, and is a fellow of both the Kenya Institute of Bankers and Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya.