In corporate circles, John Ngumi is a popular name with a giant personality. From the Eurobond to the Ksh6 billion Telkom deal, he has been involved in Kenya’s high-stakes financial transactions.
An alumnus of Jamhuri High School before he went to St. Peter’s College at Oxford University graduating in 1979 where he studied philosophy, politics, and economics.
He started his career in the UK as an investment banker before returning to Kenya in 1983.
While in Kenya, he grew his career in the banking industry before joining hands with several partners to start, Loita Capital Partners Group in 1994.
It was the first indigenous investment bank in Kenya.
According to Ngumi’s LinkedIn profile, he was the Executive Director of Loita from April 1994 to July 1997.
The company became bankrupt, however, he found a new job as the Vice President at Citibank from March 2000 to March 2004.
Due to his background, former President Uhuru Kenyatta trusted him with the leadership of powerful state-owned enterprises.
In June 2014, he hit the headlines during the Eurobond deal where he was one of the main deal makers. He helped the government get more than Ksh215 billion shillings.
Later, the deal became a political hot potato. The former Prime Minister claimed that the Eurobond money was stolen before it came to Kenya.
However, Ngumi was one of the main defenders of the deal noting that the international banks that were involved in the high-stakes Eurobond couldn’t allow money to be stolen since it would hurt their brands.
In May 2015, he was appointed as the chairman of the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) board. When his term ended in 2018, he was reappointed to the board.
He left the KPC board in 2020. He was later appointed to the board of Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).
Both KPC and KPA control billions of shillings. KPC has assets worth Ksh113 billion while KPA has assets worth over Ksh76 billion.
In 2019, while still holding the KPC chairmanship, he was appointed the chairman of renewable energy developer DREAM EP Global Energy Kenya. DREAM is an acronym for Developing Renewable Energy in Africa & Middle East.
According to Market Screener, Ngumi currently has positions in 7 companies: Eagle Africa Capital Partners, Kenya Airways, ARM Cement, Wananchi Group, Industrial and Commercial Development Corporation, Base Titanium, and CarePay.
On April 19, he was grilled by the National Assembly Joint Committee on Finance and National Planning and Communication, Information and Innovation concerning his role in Jamhuri Holdings Limited (JHL) which sold its shares of Telkom Kenya to the government for Ksh6 billion.
The committee was puzzled by the revelation that he was paid Ksh415 million in 5 months for the advice he gave.
"I was paid because I am the best in business and I had already helped Helios revive a company that was on its deathbed. They valued my advice against taking legal action against the Government of Kenya. It wasn't me imposing a fee on them," he stated.
