There is a growing number of women breaking the barriers and taking up leadership roles in top firms in Kenya. Women are confidently leading renowned companies into greater heights and especially in a field like investments, which is traditionally known to be male-dominated. Safaricom Investment Cooperative recently appointed Sarah Wahogo as its first female CEO, a move that the company has not made since its inception 13 years ago.
Ms Wahogo is a wife and a mother of three boys who was born and bred in Nyandarua County in a village called Haraka. Her parents were farmers and as early as (in) class three, she had her own tiny piece of land. Indeed, she learned the art of hard work and discipline early in life – her parents were strict disciplinarians. She talks to Victor Adar on how she rose to the top, and her mission to transform society.
What is your professional background?
I hold a Bachelor of Business Management degree (Finance and Banking option) from Moi University and a Higher National Diploma in Management Information Systems (MIS). I am also a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK). In addition, I am a Licentiate member of the Institute of Management of Information Systems (IMIS).
What makes you stand out?
I am a dynamic turn-around leader who is very passionate about exceeding customer’s expectations, team motivation, and increasing shareholders’ wealth. I believe in the growth of both the individual and the business. I encourage healthy competition and have used incentives to motivate my teams to work harder or provided hands-on support on areas that I feel need improvement.
My mantra in life has always been Results! Results! Results! Through a can-do attitude and passion in the financial field, I have risen through the ranks to senior management levels in reputable companies in Kenya. I am a smart thinker who always has an insatiable vision of holistic growth both for the company and employees. Despite being soft-spoken, I am firm, strict, highly organized, and keen on details. I am also a lady of unquestionable integrity
What notable achievements have you accomplished in your career?
I have 11 years’ experience leading finance, accounting, sales, and administration functions. Since joining Safaricom Investment Co-operative (SIC) in September 2020 as the Finance Manager, I have provided leadership to the organization across multiple areas including stakeholder management, historical issues resolution, financial performance management, and staff productivity management. I would say my efforts have contributed significantly to the renaissance recently witnessed within SIC. Under my leadership, the society registered a growth of about 800%, a trend that we intend to grow further in our 2022 performance.
What is your dream for Safaricom Investment Co-operative?
We are on a mission to transform the society into a world-class institution. We want to give members premium returns year on year and nothing will be allowed to distract us from this mission. With the support of the staff and the Board, we seek to transform Safaricom Investment Co-operative into a truly customer-focused organisation to be the Investment Partner of Choice in East Africa.
As we look to diversify our investment portfolio, we are also focused to pursue four initiatives; the triple bottom line concept, where we are committed to measuring our social and environmental impact, developing strategic partnerships to ensure our products are affordable to a wider target market, automation to enhance efficiency and investors delight to ensure that we continue on the upward trajectory.
My key focus is to make Safaricom Investment Co-operative the most profitable society, best managed and the best employer.
How did Safaricom Investment Co-operative navigate the COVID-19 period?
The pandemic hit hard, especially for the investment spectrum. At Safaricom Investment Co-operative, we worked to restructure payment periods for our clients. We extended very flexible terms for them and a majority were able to fully make their payments. The pandemic was also an eye-opener for most investors who did not have any fallback plan. This drove us to search and on-board budget projects that were patronized very well.
What unique value proposition does Safaricom Investment Co-operative offer clients?
Our niche has always been to listen to our clients’ needs and deliver to their satisfaction. To make all our clients have an easy experience, we ensure that we conduct value additions to all our land projects. We grade all access roads, erect perimeter fences, sink boreholes and connect power in some projects.
With our market research, we have gone the extra mile of sourcing affordable financing for our clients. We have collaborated with our sister company Safaricom Sacco and Solutions Sacco to offer this service.
Are there challenges that players in the real estate and land selling entities like yourselves are facing?
The Covid-19 pandemic brought a new challenge to players in the real estate. There was a decline in income and this affected the customers’ ability to put money in their investments. There was also reduced funding to the real estate sector from financial institutions due to the risk aversion as a result of the pandemic, but I am happy to report that we are recovering from the effects of the pandemic and the sector is picking up.
There is also the challenge of land acquisition which cuts across the sector and which can be lengthy and might make clients a bit impatient. Sometimes these lengthy due diligence processes are important to ensure that we avert the risks associated with land fraud. The government has however really helped with digitization of the land records that has greatly improved the land acquisition and titling processes.
From this, we have worked tirelessly to ensure that we perform thorough background searches and due diligence before taking up any new project. We also work with a team of dully and legally registered advocates who help us with the processing of the transfers. We have also implemented policies and processes such as site visits to educate our clients, and to deliver value to our customers.
CURRENT PROJECTS
Over the years, Safaricom Investment Co-operative has embarked on different land and housing projects. To date, it has successfully closed on five housing projects and over 130 land projects in 14 counties. In 2021, the investment co-operative managed to successfully deliver four land projects in different counties; it launched two phases of Kimuka in Ngong, Acacia phase two in Kitengela, four phases of Ol – Pajeta Ridge in Nanyuki then ended the year with Kibos Meadows in Kisumu city.
This year, the co-operative is still on a roll. In April, it introduced Kiambu Marina Gardens, a project in Ruiru area, Kiambu County. It also dived back into the housing spectrum and launched Miran Residence in May. This housing project boasts units ranging from studios to two-bedroom apartments with prices starting from Sh2.75mn. Within the land business, the co-operative is looking into penetrating markets in counties like Nyandarua and Trans-Nzoia.
