Women Power: Catherine Nyaga-Mbithi Doing Exploits
Women in the present-day Kenya have come out in a big way to showcase that indeed what a man can do, a woman can do it better.
Despite the small distractions and/ or challenges that women face, they are now exploiting their full potential across the spectrum.
On a blissful Monday evening, the Mt. Kenya Times got an opportunity to speak to Madam Catherine Nyaga-Mbithi, the Internal Audit Manager of Absa Life Assurance, and the Co-Chair of the Institute of Risk Management East African Region.
“I’ve been in the insurance industry since 2013, that makes it 11 years, serving in the roles of Governance, risk management and audit, and I have managed to add value to several organizations, ensuring they take advantage of opportunities and also minimize the risk that affect achievement of their objectives. That’s the key role I have been playing in the industry. At the moment, we are launching IRM Africa, and being the co-Chair of the Institute, I have a key role in ensuring that risk management becomes a key function within every organization, both in public and the private sector.
I’ve been attending Think Business for the last three years, and I was privileged to win the Corporate Risk Manager of the year award in 2023. Think Business is a great initiative which has helped me with my personal branding. After this award last year, I managed to get a lot of visibility in the industry, and I have managed to get engaged in Boards where I am making some significant changes.
My advice to women is that in leadership, a seat is not given to you, you have to rise up, and get yourself onto the seat. Women tend to have a lot of self-doubt, we have that small voice in us that tell us that you are incapable, you’re incompetent, but you have to be able to fight that voice, and grab the chance when it presents itself.
Her parting shot is that: “You have to think about risk management, both at a personal and at a Corporate level. It is an important function that helps us to constantly think about things that could go wrong and see how we can manage these events that affect us from achieving our goals at a personal level and our objectives as an organization.
I’d like to inform the public about our Institute, the Institute of Risk Management where we currently have over 400 members. We have various certifications and thought leaderships that we produce on an ongoing basis to help the Government, public and the private sector in managing risks. As you know, since the Covid pandemic struck, a lot has been happening. We currently have the finance bill that has affected a lot of businesses’ operations, effects of climate change, cyber risk incidents among others. How do you proactively manage these situations affecting businesses to ensure that you are protecting the interests of the various stakeholders, who include employees, shareholders, creditors amongst others? That’s the big question.
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