The appointment answers the question industry watchers had after Kinuthia-Otieno stepped down as Airtel Money Kenya chief months before Airtel Africa’s planned initial public offering (IPO) of its mobile money business on the London Stock Exchange. Kinuthia-Otieno joined Airtel Money Kenya in August 2021 after spending more than a decade in the banking sector. Before Airtel Money Kenya, she held senior leadership roles at Absa Group, where she oversaw governance and sales distribution, and spent more than seven years at Barclays Bank. When she took over in September 2021, Airtel Money accounted for 3.1% of the country’s mobile money subscriptions, compared with M-PESA’s 96.8%. After her departure, Airtel Money Kenya appointed Bonke Michael, who had spent nearly a decade at the company, as its acting managing director.