Rebecca Mbithi, is a

lawyer A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters. The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...

accountant An accountant is a practitioner of accounting or accountancy. Accountants who have demonstrated competency through their professional associations' certification exams are certified to use titles such as Chartered Accountant, Chartered Certif ...

and

corporate executive Corporate titles or business titles are given to corporate officers to show what duties and responsibilities they have in the organization. Such titles are used by publicly and privately held for-profit corporations, cooperatives, non-profit org ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, the largest economy in the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation in East Africa. The EAC's membership consists of eight states: Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Federal Republic of Somalia, the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, S ...

. She is the immediate past

managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

and

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

(CEO) of Family Bank, a financial service provider with assets valued at about US$789 million (KSh120 billion), as of 30 September 2023. She was appointed to that position in February 2019. and she resigned in December 2023.

Background and education

She was born in Kenya. After attending local primary and secondary schools, she was admitted to the

University of Nairobi The University of Nairobi (uonbi or UoN; ) is a college, collegiate research university based in Nairobi and is the largest List of universities and colleges in Kenya, university in Kenya. Although its history as an educational institution dat ...

, Kenya's oldest

public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant funding from a government. Whether a national university is considered public varies from o ...

, where she graduated with a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree. She went on to enroll in the Advocate Training Program at the Kenya School of Law. Following the successful completion of that training, she was admitted to the Kenyan Bar. Her second degree is a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

in Strategic Management, awarded by the

United States International University Africa United States International University-Africa, also known as USIU-Africa, is a private university in Kenya. The university is accredited by the Commission for Higher Education (CUE) in Kenya and by the Western Association of Schools and College ...

, in

Nairobi Nairobi is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Kenya. The city lies in the south-central part of Kenya, at an elevation of . The name is derived from the Maasai language, Maasai phrase , which translates to 'place of cool waters', a ...

, Kenya's capital city. She is also a

Certified Public Accountant Certified Public Accountant (CPA) is the title of qualified accountants in numerous countries in the English-speaking world. It is generally equivalent to the title of chartered accountant in other English-speaking countries. In the United Stat ...

, and a Certified Public Secretary.

Career

Before she joined Family Bank, Mbithi worked at Kenya Tea Development Agencies (KTDA) and at

Rift Valley Railways Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya Railways, Kenya and Uganda Railways Corporation, Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2 ...

. At the time she was appointed CEO, she was the Company Secretary and Director of Legal Services at Family Bank, a position she had held since 2015. Her appointment as Managing Director of Family Bank is subject to approval by the

Central Bank of Kenya The Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) () is the monetary authority of Kenya. Its head office is located in Nairobi. CBK was founded by in 1966 after the dissolution of East African Currency Board (EACB). Dr. Kamau Thugge, CBS is the current Governor a ...

, the county's

central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...

and national banking regulator. She replaces David Thuku, who resigned from the bank in September 2018, to pursue personal interests. He stayed on at the bank while a replacement was being recruited. In October 2019, the Central Bank of Kenya approved the appointment of Rebecca Mbithi as the chief executive of Family Bank. After five years as CEO at Family Bank, she resigned and left the bank to pursue other opportunities. She was replaced by

Nancy Njau Nancy Njau is an accountant and corporate executive in Kenya. She is the managing director and chief executive officer (CEO) of Family Bank, a financial service provider in the country, effective 1 January 2024. She replaced Rebecca Mbithi, w ...

, the former Acting Chief Commercial Officer at the same bank.

Other considerations

Rebecca Mbithi is an Advocate of the

High Court of Kenya The High Court of Kenya is a court of unlimited original jurisdiction in criminal and civil matters established under article 165 of the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 as part of the Kenyan Judiciary. It also has supervisory jurisdiction over all ...

and a member of the

Law Society of Kenya The Law Society of Kenya (LSK) is an organization mandated to advise and assist members of thlegal profession the government and the larger public in all matters relating to the administration of justice in Kenya. It was established by an Act of ...

. She is also a member of the

Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya The Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) is a professional body for certified public accountants (CPAs) in Kenya. ICPAK is a full member of the International Federation of Accountants and the Pan African Federation of Accou ...

and a Certified Public Secretary. Rebecca Mbithi is the fifth female CEO in Kenya's commercial banking sector. The other four are (a)

Nasim Devji Nasim Mohamed Devji, is a Kenyan businesswoman, accountant and corporate executive, who serves as the managing director and chief executive officer of Diamond Trust Bank Group, a commercial banking conglomerate, with headquarters in Nairobi an ...

, at Diamond Trust Bank (b)

Betty Korir Betty Maritim Korir (née Betty Maritim), (born c. 1971), is a Kenyan lawyer and corporate executive, who serves as the managing director and chief executive officer of Credit Bank, a commercial bank in Kenya, the largest economy in the East ...

at Credit Bank (c) Anne Karanja, at Kenya Post Office Savings Bank and (d) Joyce Ann Wainaina, at Citibank Kenya.

References

External links

Website of Family Bank
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mbithi, Rebecca Living people 21st-century Kenyan businesswomen 21st-century Kenyan businesspeople Kikuyu people Kenyan bankers Kenyan accountants Kenyan women accountants United States International University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) People from Nairobi Kenyan chief executives Kenyan women chief executives Kenyan women business executives University of Nairobi alumni

Background and education

Career

Other considerations

See also

References

External links