Ruth M of our communications desk had a chit chat with Anthony Njenga, our Head of Diaspora to get to know more about what Diaspora Banking entails and know him better. This is what he had to say:
Who is Anthony Njenga and what do you do at ABC Bank?
I am a lover of life. I am the Head of Diaspora at ABC Bank in charge of Diaspora Business growth and services. My role is to support our customers in the diaspora and grow the diaspora business through marketing, referrals, partnerships with groups, saccos.
What does a typical day look like for you?
Each day varies but since I work mostly with customers who are in the diaspora and there is a time difference, I may get whatsapp messages as early as 4 a.m. I get to the office and sort out the customers who may have emailed at night. Thereafter, I attend internal meetings till mid-day then in the afternoon which happens to be the busiest since most diaspora customers are starting their day, I engage with the customers.
How does ABC Bank add value to the diaspora customers?
ABC Bank supports the diaspora customers in both financial and non-financial services. On the financial part, we have a custom range of products to cater specifically for the diaspora customers’ needs. We have the ABC Global Savings, Current, Salary and Youngstar accounts. We also offer them very competitive forex rates. As we can see, the rate of inflation is very high, the dollar rate is increasing and most of them are supporting their families back home so we ensure we give them very good rates for forex and for their savings. We also have partnerships with money remittance companies such as Western Union, Moneygram and Al – Dahab Exchange to also provide our customers channels to remit funds to their beneficiaries in Kenya.
On the non-financial side, we look at the challenges our diaspora customers face and step in to bridge the gap. For example, in real estate and construction industries, a lot of people in the diaspora fear being conned or sending money for projects and the funds being misused or misappropriated. As ABC Bank, we act as the third eye and ensure our customers work with legitimate business partners and conduct due diligence to ensure that the funds they send are channeled to the specific projects.
What do you find challenging in your role?
My main challenge is when I am not able to assist a customer maybe due to banking regulations or controls set in place. This is usually difficult especially since the customer is far away.
What excites you about this role?
Having been in the diaspora business for 16 years, I’d say my joy is in having a satisfied customer. Assisting a customer and knowing that they have the peace of mind to know that their needs have been met keeps me going.
Also, I am a beneficiary of the diaspora business directly as my father worked abroad when I was young. So seeing the challenges, progress and results of how the diaspora remittances has transformed my life and I am sure many other people, it’s my way of giving back and building better. So I guess I was destined to follow this path.
What life lesson do you live by?
Mmmh, that’s a good question. My life lesson is ‘limitation is within you’. If you want to achieve greatness ask yourself the 5 Whys. When a problem occurs, you drill down to its root cause by asking “Why?” five times. At the end of answering the 5 Whys of a situation you will identify the limitation within you that you have to overcome. This is the best problem solving method.