If you were to speak to a football manager in the Championship League, his goal would likely be making it to the Premier League, a Formula Two racing driver will want to have a run in Formula One while an unseeded tennis player will want to have a ranking next to their name.
For Nancy Njau, who has just completed her first year at the helm of Family Bank, the dream is to help lift the lender to the big league — tier one status — next to the big boys and quite literally.
James Mwangi has grown Equity Bank from a building society to a fully-fledged lender in multiple markets in the region while Russo’s KCB, Muriuki’s Co-op and Gachora’s NCBA all play in similar markets- the top of the pile.
Family Bank has for long had the same ambitions but has yet to make the cross-over.
Changes at the bank have brought Ms Njau to the hot seat and she is now expected to make it happen.
It’s not just a dream of the bank as Ms Njau also holds this goal dear and she expressed it when she sat down with the Business Daily for a brief conversation after posting the lender’s first-quarter profit—a 15.3 percent growth in net income. Family Bank's earnings in the three months crossed the Sh1 billion mark at a time the industry is seeing mostly flat earnings.
Flanked by Family Bank Chairman Lazarus Muema and acting Chief Finance Officer Paul Ngaragari, Ms Njau is upfront on her ambitions.
“We have an opportunity to play big within the East African market. Our vision is not just East Africa but within Africa, but we have to start from home, then closer home, then we go regional,” she says.
Despite only being on the job for a little over 15 months, Ms Njau is not a stranger to Rome. She has been with the bank for nearly all her working life, mostly in managerial positions:
Branch manager, senior manager, regional manager, head of retail banking and finally the head of strategic partnerships before taking over the top office at Family Bank.
It is the journey that instils confidence in Ms Njau that she can oversee the lender to become a major player having seen it rise from the bottom.
“One thing I have never doubted in my mind is the potential that is within the bank. When I joined Family Bank, we had 11 branches and at that time we were Family Finance Building Society.”
Ms Njau must now lead the bank to its next level, not settle at the lender’s comfort zone of being a strong tier II bank.
While not showing any nerves, hesitating or delegating questions, Ms Njau admits that becoming the chief executive is still quite the step up.
To her, it’s a learning process but still, she understands the expectations of stewarding the ship in high seas.
She draws on the support of those around her even as she trusts those she oversees to help in delivering her strategy.
“Every day is a learning experience. The way I am taking on this challenge is to be open to learning because this is a role I have not done before. I have had a lot of engagement with mentors and coaches, and I have a very supportive board. It’s a matter of running as you learn,” she adds.
Ms Njau’s ammunition is a balance sheet of Sh174 billion to be deployed over the next four years in meeting the bank’s ambitions.
At the heart of the strategy is doubling down on the digitisation of the lender’s services even as Family Bank expands its brick-and-mortar infrastructure on its way to becoming the most preferred lender for businesses.
Domestically, Ms Njau says, the strategy entails mapping out areas where the bank needs to be physically present while digital remains central to providing solutions for customers where no branches are present.
Ms Njau is, however, not naïve to the ways of customers, saying each move on Family Bank’s part must recognise that customers are now multi-banked, effectively handing them more options for banking customers.
“We are looking to have a larger wallet share from the same customers we have because it is important to appreciate that the same customer can be banking with multiple banks.”
On top of driving strategy, Ms Njau is expected to drive a fund-raising campaign for the bank which missed a 2023 cash call to inject Sh9.3 billion into the lender’s expansion ambitions.
This will mean appealing to the bank’s existing shareholders and other financing partners to add to the ammunition required for growth. Ms Njau could also see Family Bank list on the Nairobi Securities Exchange breaking duck on nine-barren years of initial public offerings.
