Jambojet on Monday announced the appointment of Karanja Ndegwa as Acting Managing Director following the substantive appointment of Allan Kilavuka as Kenya Airways CEO in February.
The budget carrier’s board of directors tapped Ndegwa, Jambojet’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to fill the gap left by Kilavuka who until his appointment as Kenya Airways in December 2019 had been boss at the regional low cost carrier.
In a statement to newsrooms, the board said Ndegwa who is currently the airline’s Chief Financial Officer, will take on the new role until a substantive Managing Director for Jambojet is recruited and appointed.
The board further said Kilavuka will continue serving on the Board of Jambojet as a Non-Executive Director.
“We are grateful Mr. Ndegwa has accepted to continue serving as the Chief Financial Officer even as he takes on the new role of acting Managing Director. We wish to thank Mr. Kilavuka for his dedication and service to Jambojet,” said Vincent Rague, Chairman, Board of Directors, Jambojet.
Mr. Ndegwa is a graduate of Economics and Statistics from the University of Nairobi as well as a Certified Public Accountant. He has over 20 years’ experience in the aviation industry, 12 of which have been in leadership positions.
Prior to joining Jambojet in 2014, he worked at Kenya Airways in different capacities, rising to the position of Manager – Revenue Accounting. He served as the Head of Finance at Jambojet, before being appointed the Chief Financial Officer of the airline in 2016.
His key strengths are in financial planning and reporting, airline business/commercial strategy, capacity building, strategic management and revenue management.
According to Jambojet’s board Ndegwa has been instrumental to Jambojet growth, setting up the finance organization during Jambojet’s inception and has been involved in strategy development and implementation.
Ndegwa’s appointment will ease the workload on Kilavuka who has been juggling two key roles while being tasked with turning around the fortunes of a loss making national airline.
Kilavuka, a Kenyan succeeded Polish national Sebastian Mikosz whose tenure at the helm of the airline was characterised by loss making and instability.
When confirming Kilavuka as permanent CEO in February, Board Chairperson Michael Joseph had demonstrated enough ability to steer the belagured entity in the right direction.
