It looks like Kenya has once again dominated the continent in the field of business. Just weeks after winning the Forbes Africa Business Leader of the Year Award, Equity Bank CEO and Managing Director, Dr. James Mwangi, has been named the Forbes Africa Person of the Year 2012. This is the second Forbes Africa event this year in which he has taken home a trophy. It also follows a series of wins that he has claimed over the past year, including the Ernst and Young World Entrepreneur of the Year Award,
“All Africans should brace up and take up the challenge of improving Africa as our generation could go into history as those that changed the African continent for good,” said Dr Mwangi. Speaking during an official ceremony at Porsche Centre in Victoria Island, Nigeria, he rose to claim the prize out of a pool of four other finalists, including the President of Malawi.
“The Person of The Year award recognises the individual that has made a significant impact in business through economic growth by creating employment and spearheading innovation in the continent, having the most influence on the events of the year gone by”, said Managing Director of the ABN Group, Roberta Naidoo.
The event debuted in 2011 with Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria as the recipient of the award for his stand against corruption.
Below is a list of the other finalists who Dr Mwangi beat to claim the 2012 title:
Since Dr Mwangi’s tenure, the company has grown from a liquidated micro-finance institution into one of the largest and profitable commercial banks in Africa. Now Equity Bank has over 8 million customers.
According to a statement from Forbes Africa, Mwangi has been pivotal in the bank’s investment in a robust IT platform that can accommodate 35 million accounts, as well as a level four data centre. It is the only one of its kind in Sub-Saharan Africa, giving Equity a lead in creating synergy between banking and mobile telephones.
The nominees for the Person of The Year award were submitted by various industries as well as Forbes Africa readers who voted online. The hundreds of nominees were then shortlisted by Forbes Africa’s seasoned panellists.