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In present-day Kenya, women are proving that they can match and often exceed the achievements of their male counterparts. Despite facing numerous challenges, women are now exploiting their full potential across various sectors.
On a blissful Monday evening, the Mt. Kenya Times had the privilege of speaking with Madam Catherine Nyaga-Mbithi, the Internal Audit Manager of Absa Life Assurance and the Co-Chair of the Institute of Risk Management (IRM) East African Region.
“I’ve been in the insurance industry since 2013, which makes it 11 years, serving in the roles of governance, risk management, and audit,” said Nyaga-Mbithi. “I have managed to add value to several organizations, ensuring they take advantage of opportunities and also minimize the risks that affect the achievement of their objectives. That’s the key role I have been playing in the industry. At the moment, we are launching IRM Africa, and being the co-chair of the Institute, I have a key role in ensuring that risk management becomes a key function within every organization, both in the public and private sectors.”
Nyaga-Mbithi has been a regular attendee of Think Business for the last three years and was honored with the Corporate Risk Manager of the Year award in 2023. “Think Business is a great initiative which has helped me with my personal branding,” she remarked. “After this award last year, I managed to get a lot of visibility in the industry, and I have managed to get engaged in boards where I am making some significant changes.”
Offering advice to women, she said, “In leadership, a seat is not given to you; you have to rise up and get yourself onto the seat. Women tend to have a lot of self-doubt, that small voice in us that tells us we are incapable, incompetent, but you have to be able to fight that voice and grab the chance when it presents itself.”
Her parting words emphasized the importance of risk management: “You have to think about risk management, both at a personal and at a corporate level. It is an important function that helps us to constantly think about things that could go wrong and see how we can manage these events that affect us from achieving our goals at a personal level and our objectives as an organization.”
Nyaga-Mbithi also highlighted the work of the Institute of Risk Management, which currently boasts over 400 members. “We have various certifications and thought leaderships that we produce on an ongoing basis to help the government, public, and private sectors in managing risks. Since the COVID pandemic struck, a lot has been happening. We currently have the finance bill that has affected a lot of businesses’ operations, effects of climate change, cyber risk incidents, among others. How do you proactively manage these situations affecting businesses to ensure that you are protecting the interests of the various stakeholders, who include employees, shareholders, creditors, amongst others? That’s the big question.”
Catherine Nyaga-Mbithi’s journey and achievements exemplify the power and potential of women in leadership, and her story serves as an inspiration for many aspiring women leaders in Kenya and beyond.
