Three women have today been appointed to the Barclays bank board has ahead of its Half Year announcement tomorrow bringing to five the number of women sitting in the Barclays’ Board.
Making the announcement, the Chairman of the Board Mr. Francis Okomo-Okello noted that the appointments will enhance the mix of skills required by the Board to lead the business in achieving its strategic agenda.
“We are greatly honoured that these three distinguished business leaders have agreed to join our Board. We believe that the sum total of their individual achievements and experience will enable us navigate the business through the highly dynamic industry we are operating in and ultimately, help us realise our goal of becoming Kenya’s ‘Go-To’ bank,” he said.
Dr. Laila Macharia is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Africa Metro (formerly Scion Real), a pan-African investment company focused on urban development and the current Vice Chairman of the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA). She is a lawyer by training with experience in structuring and advising on corporate finance transactions. Her experience in public-private partnerships, property and infrastructure development will be useful to the Bank as it undertakes to pursue more public sector deals.
Winnie Ouko is a Co-Founder and Director at Lattice Consulting Limited, a Kenyan corporate finance, project finance and strategy advisory firm. Winnie has an accounting background and strong technical skills in project finance, financial analysis and strategy formulation. This will be essential in helping the Board remain accountable to stakeholders for risk management and the execution of its defined strategy.
Norah Odwesso is currently the Public Affairs and Communications Director at Coca-Cola Central, East & West Africa Limited. She has a wealth of experience in assisting organisations meet the challenges of an ever-changing business environment which is increasingly the subject of scrutiny by multiple stakeholders. Norah’s guidance will augment the Board’s capability to promote and preserve the Barclays brand.
“Barclays continues to be at the fore front of promoting diversity and inclusion not just at the leadership levels but throughout the organisation by creating an environment that recognises employee diversity. Through initiatives such as the Women Network Forum, we have continued to strengthen the participation of women in leadership and decision making by preparing them through mentoring, coaching and stretch assignments,” said Mr. Jeremy Awori, Managing Director, Barclays Bank of Kenya.