Britam #ticker:BRIT managing director Tavaziva Madzinga’s short stint at the insurer shows how difficult it is to replace forever CEOs.
Mr Madzinga announced his exit barely 10 months after he took over from Benson Wairegi who had served 40 years.
The Zimbabwean is headed for South African insurer Santam and one wonders whether he really ‘settled in’ at Britam where his few months at the helm has seen heads rolling in one of Kenyans biggest corporate shake-ups.
The actuarial scientist was brought into a company that had entrenched interests, and decades of an executive team built around his predecessor.
To him, the top of the tree weighed heavily on the company, roles overlapped, duplications were all over the business and contractual agreements skewed towards some contractors.
Britam acknowledges that he saved the company Sh500 million in annual expenses through the Voluntary Early Retirement (VER) programme trimming the executive team and re-evaluating contractual arrangements with value chain partners such as vendors and other service providers.
The sudden exit after being head-hunted from Old Mutual remains a puzzle. To many firms, CEOs hold on for a while due to a mix of factors, including being founders of the companies, being credited with the success of the firms and a policy of not arbitrarily limiting CEOs’ terms.
A recent story showed at least seven CEOs of Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed firms have served for more than 15 years and are expected to extend their tenure in a market where on average top managers don’t serve more than a decade.
Among the long-serving CEOs are Flame Tree founder Heril Bangera, who has served for 32 years, followed by Car & General’s Vijay Gidoomal and TPS Eastern Africa’s Mahmud Jan Mohamed, who have served for 25 and 24 years respectively.
Others are DTB Group’s Nasim Devji (20 years), Co-operative Bank’s Gideon Muriuki (20 years), Equity Group’s James Mwangi (17 years) and Crown Paints’ Rakesh Rao (16 years).
Mr Madzinga has more than 20 years of experience in the insurance industry and has served in various capacities, including as chief executive of Swiss Re (UK & Ireland).He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Cape Town and has attended INSEAD Business School, France and Harvard Business School.When he was picked to replace Mr Wairegi, Britam announced that his extensive experience in multiple insurance markets would help him manage Britam, whose operations have grown more complex in recent years.His previous stint as chief executive […]