Betty Mwangi: I loved maths, science and all things technical

Britam's commercial director Betty Mwangi. She used to be in charge of mobile money platform M-Pesa. PHOTO | DIANA NGILA | NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Education was important to Mwangi-Thuo’s family. She studied electrical and electronic engineering and mastered in business administration in the UK.
  • She championed the M-Pesa strategy to ensure continued innovation and introduction of customer-relevant products in addition to peer-to-peer money transfer services offered by M-Pesa.

This article is a serialisation of the book The Journey of Women Trailblazers in Kenya.

Betty Mwangi-Thuo

A love for the sciences, the outdoors and tinkering helped Betty Mwangi-Thuo choose her career path.

She is one of the most influential people in the ICT space in Kenya and in the region.

She was in charge of mobile money platform M-Pesa at Safaricom — a leading mobile service provider — steadily steering the growth of the mobile cash services.

Mwangi-Thuo speaks fondly of a childhood spent outdoors, farming and fiddling with things. “I enjoyed taking apart electronics just to see how they worked.”

CAREER PATH

Having her parents’ support in her love for math, science and all things technical made it easier for her to choose and follow her career path.

Education was important to Mwangi-Thuo’s family. She studied electrical and electronic engineering and mastered in business administration in the UK.

She is also a chartered marketer with the Chartered Institute of Marketing. She worked in the telecommunication industry in the UK before returning home.

Mwangi-Thuo worked in several organisations, where she climbed the corporate ladder to serve in managerial positions.

She worked at Wilken Telecommunications as a senior manager, a position she held for three years before moving to GlaxoSmithKline Beecham International (GSK).

She was at GSK for five years. She then moved to Afsat Communications Africa as the Chief Marketing Officer, where she was in charge of developing and managing the distributor network in 26 African countries.

SAFARICOM

In December 2007, she was appointed as Safaricom’s head of division, new products, to manage M-Pesa, a money transfer service that had been launched earlier that year.

Her job was to make M-Pesa a fully-fledged value-added service. She grew with Safaricom as M-Pesa grew. Barely a year later, in October 2008, she took over as chief officer, new products division.

Safaricom was restructured in 2011 and she was promoted to the position of general manager, financial services.

Through her progressive roles at Safaricom, Mwangi-Thuo’s contribution to the system brought tremendous growth.

She championed the M-Pesa strategy to ensure continued innovation and introduction of customer-relevant products in addition to peer-to-peer money transfer services offered by M-Pesa.

ATTITUDE

As a result, Safaricom launched exciting products like Lipa na M-Pesa and M-Shwari.

She is proud of Lipa na M-Pesa because it “gives customers and businesses the convenience and ease of doing business without handling cash to pay for goods and services”.

“Being a female engineer in a male-dominated field was a challenge but that did not stop me from going for my dream,” says Mwangi-Thuo.

She says that she was able to overcome the challenges she encountered by developing the right attitude. Mwangi-Thuo believes that the future holds greater things.

“I hope to continue being actively engaged in driving Kenya’s financial inclusion agenda and to also participate in other initiatives that positively impact Kenyan lives,” she says.

WORK-FAMILY BALANCE

Her passion for life and work comes from being a patriotic Kenyan who wants to do Kenya proud. “I’m passionate about helping Kenyans,” she says.

Two of Mwangi-Thuo’s proudest moments are the birth of her son and being the leader of the globally acclaimed M-Pesa.

She admits that, “balancing between both home and work life is difficult especially for professional mothers with young children.”

To find balance, she recommends time management, which includes having an exercise regimen as well as finding time to relax and rejuvenate.

What is a typical day like for Mwangi-Thuo? She starts her day at 5am by checking her emails and organising her household matters for the day.

Once done, she wakes her son at 6:45am. They have breakfast together before getting him dressed and ready for school.

“I’m at the office by 8.30am. I begin by organising my workday, which mostly comprises back-to-back meetings from 9am. My calendar is managed by my personal assistant,” she says.

MENTORSHIP

She has her lunch at her desk between 1pm and 2pm and uses this time to catch up on calls and e-mails.

Mwangi-Thuo’s evenings are set aside for her son’s bath time and to help him with homework. Then they have dinner, read and wind down for the night, retiring to bed by 9pm.

She sits on the board of Mt Kenya Academy Senior School, a school started by her mother.

She also sits in the strategy and curriculum committee where she encourages and guides young ladies on how to be confident, passionate and to pursue all kinds of careers including those perceived to be male-dominated.

Her greatest life values are integrity and hard work. She also encourages people to have fun while pursuing their goals. “Above all, give thanks to God as He makes it all possible,” she says.

FETED

She has had various mentors and people who have inspired her along the way including Linus Gitahi, her boss at one of the companies she worked at before she joined Safaricom.

He believed in integrity and taught her to maintain it because it was all she would take when she left.

Mwangi-Thuo has been featured by Mobile Communications International (MCI) as one of the top 10 most influential women in mobile technology globally.

She was recognised as one of the top 20 most powerful African women in ICT by IT News Africa in 2011 and 2013.

In December 2011, she was awarded the prestigious state honour of the Moran of the Order of the Burning Spear (MBS) for her contribution to Kenya’s ICT sector.

In 2016, Mwangi-Thuo left Safaricom after a vibrant career spanning nearly 10 years. She was appointed commercial director at Britam.

The book is available at Text Book Centre (Kijabe Street, Sarit Centre and Junction branches in Nairobi) and at the Kenya Yearbook Editorial Board offices, on NHIF building Nairobi. Also on www. Kenyayearbook.co.ke