Peter Kahara Munga is a businessman and entrepreneur in Kenya, the largest economy in the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Burundi, ...

. He is the immediate past group chair of the

Equity Bank Group Equity Group Holdings Limited (EGHL), formerly Equity Bank Group, is a financial services holding company based in the African Great Lakes region. EGHL's headquarters are in Nairobi, Kenya, with subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sud ...

, the largest bank holding company on the African continent, by customer numbers, with over 9.2 million customers as of 31 June 2014. He is reported to be one of the wealthiest individuals in Kenya, with a personal net worth exceeding US$100 million as of February 2014.

Background and education

Munga was born in

Kangema Kangema is a settlement in Muranga County, Kenya. It is the birthplace of James Mwangi, the Managing Director, Group Managing Director and CEO, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Equity Group Holdings Limited, the banking conglomerate with the l ...

in Kenya's Central Province in 1943. He went to Gaichanjiru high school. He received an honorary Doctor of Philosophy degree from University of Nairobi.

Career

In 1984, Munga founded Equity Building Society (EBS) in his hometown of

, in Kenya's central highlands. With about KSh5,000 (about US$100 at that time) as starting capital, he convinced the Kenya government to issue him a license. In 1993, Munga, as chairman, working in collaboration with the chief executive officer of EBS, hired

James Mwangi James Mwangi (born 1962) is a Kenyan accountant, career banker, businessman, and entrepreneur. He is the current Group Managing Director and Group Chief Executive Officer of Equity Group Holdings Plc, the banking conglomerate with one of the ...

, age 31, to wind up the insolvent organization. EBS was losing KSh5 million (approximately US$60,000 then) annually and had accumulated total losses of KSh33 million (approximately US$380,000 then). Mwangi, as director of finance at EBS, began to institute changes, resulting in the slow, but steady turn-around of the society. Also in 1993, Munga resigned as an assistant secretary in Kenya's Ministry of Water. On 31 August 2004, EBS became

and two years later was listed on the

Nairobi Stock Exchange The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) was established in 1954 as the Nairobi Stock Exchange, based in Nairobi the capital of Kenya. It was a voluntary association of stockbrokers in the European community registered under the Societies Act in ...

(NSE). On 18 June 2009, the bank's stock cross-listed on the

Uganda Securities Exchange The Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) is the principal stock exchange of Uganda. It was founded in June 1997. The USE is operated under the jurisdiction of Uganda's Capital Markets Authority, which in turn reports to the Bank of Uganda, Uganda's ...

and started trading that day, under the symbol EBL. , the bank group has subsidiaries in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, and South Sudan.

Investment portfolio

Munga owned shares of

stock In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...

in the publicly traded companies listed below, as of November 2014.

References

External links

Webpage of Equity Bank Group

Webpage of British-American Investments Company

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munga, James Living people 1943 births Kenyan businesspeople Kikuyu people Kenyan bankers

Background and education

Career

Investment portfolio

See also

References

External links