New leaders at the NSE and Airtel Kenya

A busy week of corporate reshuffles has put new leaders atop two institutions central to Kenya's technology and business landscape: the Nairobi Securities Exchange and Airtel Kenya.

At the NSE, Tom Mulwa has been appointed chairman of the board, effective July 13, 2026, succeeding Kiprono Kittony. The board approved the move on June 30.

Mulwa brings more than three decades in financial services as the long-serving chief executive of Liaison Group, which he built into a pan-African non-banking financial services firm.

He also chairs Kenya National REITs, sits on the National Investment Council, and joined the NSE board in September 2025.

He takes over from Kittony, who chaired the exchange for six years, a period in which the NSE ended an 11-year drought in new share listings and pushed products meant to draw in more retail investors.

Mulwa inherits an exchange focused on attracting more listings, deepening the market, and widening participation.

At Airtel Kenya, Senegalese executive Djibril Tobe has become managing director, effective June 30, succeeding Ashish Malhotra.

Tobe arrives with more than 20 years across telecoms, consumer goods, and consulting, most recently as managing director of Airtel Congo Brazzaville, with earlier leadership roles at Airtel Chad and Airtel Burkina Faso.

He takes over a company that grew sharply under Malhotra, who rolled out more than 2,000 network sites, lifted Airtel Money's market share from 2% to 11%, doubled revenue, and grew subscribers from 16 million to more than 24 million.

Malhotra leaves to become chief executive of Indus Towers Africa.

The timing matters. The NSE is trying to turn recent momentum into a deeper, busier market that more companies, including tech firms, choose to list on. Airtel, Kenya's second-largest operator, is pressing its network expansion to keep chipping away at Safaricom's dominance.

Both new leaders step in at a moment when execution, not just ambition, will decide how far each institution goes next.