Diana Muriuki-Maina
Diana Muriuki-Maina is a Kenyan finance professional who, at age 31, became Chief Executive Officer of the Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA), the statutory body that licenses and regulates Kenya’s investment-management profession. A graduate of the University of Nairobi (BCom, Finance) with an MBA from United States International University-Africa, she began her career in 2008 as an investment-analysis intern at a Nairobi brokerage, later consulting for retirement schemes and sovereign-wealth funds before joining ICIFA’s secretariat in 2016.
Appointed CEO in 2023, Muriuki-Maina has driven a member-first digital transformation. She launched an e-licensing portal that cut certification turnaround from 30 days to 72 hours, expanded continuing-professional-development webinars to 5,000 annual attendees, and grew paid membership by 42 percent to more than 4,800 analysts. Her advocacy helped secure Treasury approval for mandatory fiduciary training of pension-fund trustees and influenced the 2024 Capital Markets (Collective Investment Schemes) Regulations, which tighten governance of unit-trust funds.
Passionate about inclusivity, she chairs the Women in Finance Network, mentors university students through the NSE Investment Challenge, and runs a quarterly “Finance for Her” bootcamp for small-business owners. Listed in Business Daily’s Top 40 Under 40 Women (2024), Muriuki-Maina balances spreadsheets with creativity—designing bridesmaids’ dresses and spending weekends with her husband and two young sons.