Kenya’s Best-Known Investment Manager Just Moved to the Public Side
KENYA · POWER PLAYERS
Key Facts
—The move: James Mworia has left Centum Investment Company to become founding chief executive of Kenya’s National Infrastructure Fund.
—The tenure: He spent close to 18 years as group chief executive and managing director of the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed company.
—The successor: Thomas Omondi-Achola, group chief operating officer since 2018, was appointed acting group chief executive with immediate effect.
—His record: Omondi-Achola has more than 25 years of senior executive experience and has overseen strategy, turnarounds and capital exits across more than 15 investee companies.
—The timing: Centum announced the leadership change on Monday 7 September, and the new role took effect the same day.
—The new vehicle: The National Infrastructure Fund is being set up to channel long-term capital into Kenyan infrastructure.
James Mworia Centum leadership has ended after nearly 18 years running Kenya’s best-known listed investment company, to become founding chief executive of the National Infrastructure Fund. Group chief operating officer Thomas Omondi-Achola takes over as acting chief executive.
Why the James Mworia Centum departure matters
Centum is East Africa’s most visible listed investment company, holding stakes in banking, bottling, real estate, education and power. Mworia joined as an intern and ran it for close to 18 years.
That makes him one of the few African fund managers whose name is recognised by international investors looking at the region. His departure is therefore a governance event as much as a personnel one.
Centum announced the change on Monday. Mworia’s new role at the National Infrastructure Fund took effect the same day.
The successor is an insider, deliberately
Thomas Omondi-Achola, who joined Centum in 2018 and serves as group chief operating officer, becomes acting group chief executive with immediate effect. The board has chosen continuity over a search.
He brings more than 25 years of senior executive experience, having overseen strategy, turnarounds, value creation and capital exits across more than 15 investee companies.
The word acting is doing work in that sentence. A permanent appointment is a separate decision, and the market will read the gap between them.
What the National Infrastructure Fund is for
Kenya’s infrastructure ambitions have outrun its balance sheet. Roads, transmission lines and water systems have been financed through sovereign borrowing, public-private partnerships and Chinese lending, and all three routes have narrowed.
A dedicated fund is an attempt to attract long-term domestic and institutional capital, particularly pension money, into assets that pay over decades rather than quarters.
The fund was created by the National Infrastructure Fund Act, assented to on 11 March this year. It is a standalone state corporation, targeting KSh 5trn over ten years.
Putting a listed-company chief executive at the head of it signals that the state wants the fund run on commercial terms.
The move says something about where Kenyan capital is going
Private equity in East Africa has had a difficult decade. Exits have been slow, currencies have moved against dollar-denominated funds, and public-market valuations in Nairobi have been depressed.
Infrastructure, by contrast, has visible demand and, in principle, contracted revenue. It is the asset class most likely to absorb the pension savings that Kenya is accumulating.
Whether the fund can price risk properly is the test. Infrastructure vehicles across the continent have struggled to find projects that are bankable rather than merely necessary.
What Centum shareholders should watch
Centum’s net asset value and its exit pipeline are the numbers that matter. A long-serving chief executive leaving mid-cycle can accelerate or stall both.
The company’s portfolio also overlaps with the new fund’s likely territory in power and real estate. Governance around any future transactions between the two will need to be visible.
Why African infrastructure funds are hard
The constraint is rarely capital in the abstract. It is projects with contracted, creditworthy revenue in local currency, which is what pension money can actually buy.
Toll roads need traffic guarantees, power projects need a solvent offtaker, and water systems need tariffs that cover cost. Each of those is a political decision before it is a financial one.
Funds that have failed elsewhere on the continent usually failed at that step, not at fundraising.
What Centum leaves behind
Centum’s portfolio spans banking, bottling, real estate, education and power, built through a period when African private equity promised more than it delivered. Its net asset value per share is the number long-term holders watch.
A transition at the top is when boards reassess strategy. Shareholders will be looking for signals on exits and on whether the conglomerate structure survives.
Pension money is the prize
Kenya’s retirement savings pool has grown steadily and is under-allocated to infrastructure, largely because there have been few instruments to buy. A credible fund changes that.
Trustees will need a track record before they commit. Founding chief executives are hired precisely to create one.
Kenya’s infrastructure financing has run out of easy options
Sovereign borrowing is constrained by a debt stock that has already required liability management operations. Chinese lending has slowed across the continent, and Kenya has been refinancing rather than adding to it.
Public-private partnerships have advanced slowly, held up by contingent liability concerns and by the difficulty of guaranteeing revenue in shillings.
A domestic fund is the remaining route, and it depends on convincing Kenyan institutions to take construction and demand risk they have avoided so far.
What to watch next
The first thing is whether Omondi-Achola is confirmed permanently, and how quickly. The second is the National Infrastructure Fund’s initial capitalisation and its first mandates.
The third is whether other Kenyan institutional investors follow the state into the vehicle.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did James Mworia leave Centum?
He was appointed founding chief executive of Kenya’s National Infrastructure Fund, a role that took effect on 7 September 2026.
How long did he run Centum?
Close to 18 years as group chief executive and managing director of the Nairobi Securities Exchange-listed investment company.
Who is replacing him?
Thomas Omondi-Achola, group chief operating officer since 2018, was named acting group chief executive with immediate effect.
What is the National Infrastructure Fund?
A vehicle being established to channel long-term capital, including institutional and pension money, into Kenyan infrastructure.
Why does the move matter to investors?
Centum is East Africa’s most visible listed investment company, and Mworia is among the few African fund managers widely known to international investors.
Connected Coverage
Kenya’s macroeconomic position is covered in the IMF test and the shilling, the market backdrop in foreign flows into African stocks, and this week’s trade-policy turbulence in the foreign-trader order and the amnesty that followed.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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