CARE Announces Ken Kinyua as Chomoka Managing Director, Expansion across Africa
Seasoned Industry Leader Tasked with Expanding Chomoka throughout Africa
(Atlanta – October 22, 2020) CARE today announced the appointment of Ken Kinyua as Chief Executive Officer of Chomoka, an industry-leading social enterprise empowering savings groups through digital innovation. A seasoned executive, Kinyua held C-Suite positions at leading MFIs and commercial banks before taking on his most recent role as CEO of Kopo Kopo in 2015. During Kinyua’s time with the start up, he led Kopo Kopo’s expansion from its home market of Kenya to a pan-African footprint, growing revenue five-fold by unlocking access to capital for more than 30,000 small retailers.
“Ken’s combination of executive leadership, market knowledge and financial sector expertise are exactly what Chomoka needs as we navigate an intense growth phase,” Chomoka founder, Christian Pennotti said.
Launched by CARE in 2018, Chomoka aims to enable women and men in savings groups – including the 8.4M member network CARE has built across 54 countries – to improve group performance and join the digital economy. Chomoka’s proprietary Android application, Kitabu, enables groups to improve operations and build technology skills while generating digital financial identities. The complimentary Chomoka marketplace provides users with a pathway to access formal financial services, bulk discounts on consumer goods and opportunities for collective investment. By bundling consumer education with a curated set of products and services, Chomoka offers savings groups a trustworthy, affordable and reliable channel for accessing opportunities for growth. The venture is a joint initiative of CARE’s Social Venture Corporation and CARE’s Savings Group team. Currently live in Tanzania, Chomoka is growing rapidly and will launch in four additional countries over the next six months starting with Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana in partnership with Mars Inc.
“I am thrilled to join Chomoka and lead our mission to expand financial inclusion and alleviate poverty through a sustainable social enterprise,” says Kinyua. “Building on the success of the Chomoka experience in Tanzania, my expertise in organizational development will help expand the across Africa. CARE’s track record of empowering achievements on the continent is well known and I feel privileged to play a part in delivering its next milestones.”
“As we look across our social venture portfolio, Chomoka brings some of the greatest potential for both broad and deep impact, and with Kitabu leading our efforts I am certain we will achieve great success,” says Mark Muckerheide, CARE AVP, Market-Based Approaches, and CEO, CARE Social Ventures Corp.
About CARE:
Founded in 1945 with the creation of the CARE Package®, CARE is a leading humanitarian organization fighting global poverty. CARE places special focus on working alongside women and girls because, equipped with the proper resources, they have the power to lift whole families and entire communities out of poverty. That’s why women and girls are at the heart of CARE’s community-based efforts to confront hunger, ensure nutrition and food security for all, improve education and health, create economic opportunity and respond to emergencies. In 2019, CARE worked in 100 countries and reached more than 68 million people around the world.
About CARE Social Ventures Corp
CARE Social Ventures Corp helps bridge the gap between philanthropy and commerce by funding local, and sustainable businesses. Each business is created by communities to solve local problems, like access to health, food security, education or women’s economic empowerment. CARE helps each enterprise find the right leaders and donated seed capital needed to turn a local program into a sustainable business.
Media Contact:
Rachel Kent, Senior Press Officer, Rachel.Kent@care.org, 1.516.270.8911