Britam Group Managing Director Benson Wairegi. [Wilberforce Okwiri, Standard] If it is lonely at the top, then Benson Wairegi has endured a long streak of loneliness.
And now, after 38 years of occupying the corner office at Britam, Wairegi will be climbing down from the ‘cold room’ currently domiciled on the 29th floor of Britam Tower in Upper Hill, Nairobi.
His contract comes to an end on December 31, 2020.
“This is the year,” he says in an interview with the Financial Standard. Read More
As he transitions from a CEO to a pensioner, his hope is that, as they say, the lower you go the warmer it becomes.
Wairegi has already requested – and received – his pension statement from the National Social Security Fund (NSSF).
He was a little surprised by the statement’s reminder that he started working on September 1, 1977.
“When you have a busy job and it takes so much of your time, it is a bit of a challenge to enjoy what you call the little things in life,” says Wairegi.
Looking forward
That he has not been a relaxed chief executive is not only revealed by the smile that occasionally settles on his lips, but it is also a story well known to his closest associates.
So when a friend who has known him for as long as he has been at Britam asked him to make more time for himself in retirement, Wairegi responded: “I’m looking forward to it.”While he has made billions of shillings as a CEO and investor, the money did not buy him the time to enjoy the little things in life, such as taking in the panoramic view of Nairobi’s skyline from the third-highest building in Africa.After joining Britam as chief accountant in 1980 – and rising to CEO two years later – Wairegi has helped the company grow from an insolvent micro-insurance firm that had a big name but just Sh5 million in its accounts, to a financial giant controlling Sh130 billion in assets.The company’s offices have moved from a small, ageing building along Kenyatta Avenue to an imposing office in Upper Hill – testament to its monumental growth.Britam is in seven countries, and has interests in insurance, retirement planning, asset management, property and banking.Has this growth come at the expense of spending more time with his family, friends and himself?Yes, says Wairegi. Not that he regrets it. He accepts it as just […]
