Dr. Benson I Wairegi (born 1953) is an

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

business executive A business executive is a person responsible for running an organization, although the exact nature of the role varies depending on the organization. Executives run companies or government agencies. They create plans to help their organizations gr ...

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. ...

. He is the current

Group 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 ...

of Britam Holdings Plc (Britam), a financial services conglomerate headquartered 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 ...

, the Kenyan

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

, with subsidiaries in

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

Malawi Malawi, officially the Republic of Malawi, is a landlocked country in Southeastern Africa. It is bordered by Zambia to the west, Tanzania to the north and northeast, and Mozambique to the east, south, and southwest. Malawi spans over and ...

and

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

. In Britam, he presided over the transformation of the company from a small home service insurance company, into a diversified financial services group operating in seven (7) countries, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Sudan, Mozambique and Malawi with interests in life insurance, general insurance, health insurance, retirement planning and property.

Career

In 1977, at the age of 24, Benson Wairegi joined PriceWaterHouseCoopers as an audit trainee. In 1980, he went to join British-American as the ''Chief Accountant''. In 1984, Kenyan regulators ordered all foreign-owned insurance companies to sell at least 33.3% shareholding to Kenyan nationals. Wairegi took out a KSh600,000 personal mortgage against his house and bought a 3.3% stake in Britam. He also encouraged other Kenyans to do the same. That same year, he was appointed

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 ...

at the company. Over the years, his investment in Britam has grown to KSh1.7 billion (US$19 million), as at February 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wairegi, Benson Living people 1953 births Kenyan businesspeople Kikuyu people Kenyan accountants Kenyan bankers Kenyan business executives University of Nairobi alumni

Career

See also

References