For more than 10 years, Edwin Maina has served only one employer—Centum Investments, defying the trend where many professionals are changing employers in search of growth.
Edwin, 33, who in 2014 started as an intern at Centum has risen over the years to become the general manager at Jafari Credit Limited, a micro-lender that is fully-owned by Centum.
He joined Centum as an IT graduate but his curiosity and passion to understand how financial markets work and how investors think quickly transformed him into an investments person. He buttressed this with a Master’s of science degree in finance and management.
Along the way, he has taken up different roles, including being an investment analyst, senior assistant to the CEO, senior investment associate and investment manager. While roles have been changing, Edwin says his goal is one: learning and relearning.
"I am a big believer in going out empty. I teach my team the discipline around seeing things through from start to finish and to be dependable."
“If I go back to the beginning, for me, all I wanted was to learn and I believe I learnt from the very best. So, I have had the opportunity to learn and now I am in a situation where my work is actually to learn, lead and to teach,” says Edwin.
“It feels like a full circle journey where you start not knowing anything, and today, basically everyone is looking up to you to offer leadership in one form or the other. It is a journey that shows that as long as you apply yourself and you’re ready to learn, there’s nothing you can’t achieve.”
Edwin is an early riser and prefers to be in the office by 6.30am. Books, places or people influence who people become. For him, being grounded in faith and being surrounded by his parents and mentors has made all the difference.
He says consistent counsel and challenge from Centum founder, Chris Kirubi, now deceased, and Centum CEO James Mworia helped him to take off strongly. When Centum started Jafari in 2022, he was entrusted with capital to build the business from scratch.
Reflecting on his leadership style and what he would like to pass to the more than 70 employees he leads, Edwin would love his team to get more soft skills than technical abilities. He says resilience and grit win it all.
“I am a big believer in going out empty. I tell my team that our job is to do things yesterday. I teach them the discipline around seeing things through from start to finish and to be dependable,” he says.
In Centum, he says, he found an organisation that champions for young people and that has helped him not want to leave.
“Right at the onset, we were taught what needed to be done. Then when you are thrown into the deep end, the expectation is to teach and lead. That experience in itself is what has moulded me into the professional I am.”