Equity Uganda MD Samuel Kirubi Promoted to Group COO

Equity Bank Uganda Managing Director (MD) Samuel Kirubi has been promoted to a new role as Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Equity Group, and will be based in the group’s Nairobi headquarters.

Kirubi has spent 21 years at Equity Group, taking on roles across operations, marketing, service and management. He started off as an intern as part of the Equity Leaders Program (ELP).

He was appointed COO at Equity Bank South Sudan in 2009, and went on to become the first MD at Equity Bank Rwanda before later taking up the same role at Equity Bank Uganda seven years ago. Equity Group credited him with turning around the Uganda subsidiary from loss-making status to the third most profitable after Kenya and DRC.

He returns to Nairobi to play a key role in the company’s long-term growth strategy, focused on supporting regional economic growth across sectors including manufacturing, technology and agriculture.

“Samuel will oversee the group’s capacity to deliver on its strategy by aligning people, processes, systems, commercial business and business risk to customer aspirations. He will work with all the banking subsidiaries to deliver globally benchmarked exceptional banking services and solutions and leverage on technology to drive efficiency and seamless customer experience characterized by ease and convenience of lifestyle,” a statement from the lender read in part.

Equity Group CEO Dr. James Mwangi stated that the appointment would help elevate the bank’s operation, noting: “As Equity rolls out its ambitious Africa Recovery and Resilience Plan with the aim of scaling its customer base to 100 million by 2025, this calls for the scaling up of our operations, footprint and distribution infrastructure driven by technologically driven digitization and virtualization of the Bank. The Board has expressed confidence in Kirubi’s capability, experience and deep knowledge of the transition culture in taking up this responsibility at a critical time of the bank’s growth and expansion.”

Kirubi welcomed the appointment, chronicling his time at Equity Bank as he expressed his commitment to helping Equity achieve its goals. He holds a Masters in Business Administration from Moi University and a BA in Economic and Statistics from Egerton University.

Equity Board Chair Prof. Isaac Macharia stated that Kirubi’s experience running the bank’s subsidiaries in different countries had equipped him for the new role.

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