Catherine Chepkong’a
Kenyan finance prodigy Catherine Chepkong’a has packed board-level punch into just a decade of work. After graduating from Strathmore University, she raced through audit rotations to become one of the country’s youngest locally trained Chartered Accountants at 26. Today, at 31, she commands British American Tobacco’s East African Markets Cluster, steering profit, tax and cash decisions for 15 countries and guiding cross-border teams through volatile forex swings and excise-tax resets. Stints in Kampala, where she re-tooled BAT Uganda’s cost structures, honed her instinct for regional growth levers, skills now sharpened further by an MBA in progress at Durham University Business School.
Chepkong’a’s influence extends beyond ledgers. Inside BAT she co-chairs the diversity council that fast-tracks female talent into P&L roles; outside, she mentors Strathmore undergraduates and sponsors girls’ coding clubs in rural Rift Valley. Recognition came early; Business Daily named her to its Top 40 Under 40 Women list but she measures impact by mentees who land their first finance jobs and by the uptick in women sitting for CPA exams. Next, she intends to digitise BAT’s pan-African treasury and launch a scholarship fund for young accountants, proving that solid numbers and social equity should balance on the same sheet.