Nuru Mugambi, FKIB

Sustainable Finance and Responsible Investment Policy Advisor

Recognized as a Top 25 Global Influencer in Green Finance, Nuru Mugambi has contributed to the Sustainable Finance rewiring of banking industries across Africa. Her contributions to policy formulation have led bankers’ associations towards adopting numerous progressive practices, particularly in Sustainable Finance, Gender Diversity, Digital Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities, and Consumer Protection. According to the Dutch and German development banks, the Sustainable Finance Initiative, which Nuru developed on behalf of the Kenya Bankers Association, leads in Africa. The platform has trained more than 30,000 bank employees on best practices in sustainable finance, and has been modeled in Ghana, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and Tanzania.

Notably, she designed and convened the Kenya Green Bond Program, which established a green bond market in Kenya and facilitated the first certified green bond in East and Central Africa issued by Acorn Holdings. She concurrently led the lobbying effort to introduce the region’s first tax incentive for green bond issuance. Most recently, she supported the Responsible Investment Thesis and Strategy Development of a top multinational fund manager in West Africa.

An advocate for enterprise development, Nuru designed the Kenya banking industry’s curriculum strategy for SME development. The program, anchored on digital learning, reached more than 41,300 entrepreneurs (including 1,300 youth from informal settlements) and unlocked more than USD 16 mn in microloans. Furthermore, she contributed to the National Treasury Taskforce, which set up the country’s first credit guarantee scheme, allocating USD 100mn to SME lending.

Nuru is the youngest female to earn the Fellow of the Kenya Institute of Bankers (FKIB) designation for industry excellence and leadership. And in 2016, she was recognized by the Eisenhower Fellowships program and U.S. President Barack Obama as an emerging African leader. She served as Chairperson of Eisenhower Fellowships Kenya for four years. As part of her Fellowship, she founded the Angaza Awards for African Women in Banking and Finance (www.AngazaAwards.com) to reframe what leadership in finance looks like on the Continent.

Currently, Nuru serves on the Kenya Private Sector Alliance (KEPSA) Economic Diplomacy Sector Board. She is an advisory board member for Ecocapsule and Hisa App, two innovative startup companies. She is attending the Andrew Young School of Public Policy in Atlanta, building on her technical expertise in Sustainable Finance, Responsible Investment and Financial Inclusion policy development and analysis. Additionally, she is a task force advisor of the IFC Sustainable Banking and Finance Network (SBFN).