The National Infrastructure Fund (NIF) Board has appointed Dr James Mworia as the institution’s founding Chief Executive Officer, a move that paves the way for the fund to begin full operations and start mobilising billions of shillings for major infrastructure projects, while bringing to an end his 17-year run at the helm of Centum Investment Company.
The board confirmed the appointment in a notice issued on Monday, September 7, stating that Mworia had emerged from a competitive recruitment process, with his term taking effect immediately.
“The Board of the National Infrastructure Fund is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr James Mworia, MBS, as founding Chief Executive Officer, following a competitive recruitment process with effect from 7 September 2026,” the board said.
His appointment comes just two months after he was named to the NIF Board itself, having been appointed by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi on July 8 alongside five other members. Taking up the executive post automatically ends his seat on the board, in line with the fund’s governing legislation, and Mworia’s term as CEO will run for four years, with the possibility of reappointment for a further term.
The NIF is a state corporation established under the National Infrastructure Fund Act, 2026, signed into law by President William Ruto in March, and is designed to help finance large-scale, commercially viable infrastructure by blending government seed capital with private-sector investment.
Rather than relying primarily on conventional government borrowing and taxation, the fund is built around a leverage model in which public money is used specifically to draw in far larger sums of private capital, including from pension funds and international financial institutions.
Officials have said the blended finance structure is designed so that every shilling the government commits can attract as much as Sh10 in private investment. The fund’s initial capital is expected to come substantially from proceeds generated through the sale of government shares in state-owned enterprises and other privatisation initiatives, alongside grants and loans.
Over the next decade, the fund is targeting the mobilisation of close to Sh5 trillion to accelerate infrastructure development nationally, with financing expected to flow into sectors including transport, energy, ICT, water and agriculture.
Specific projects already earmarked for potential funding include the planned expansion of Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, the extension of the Standard Gauge Railway to Malaba, roughly 2,500 kilometres of new dual highways, and the development of 10,000 megawatts of additional clean energy capacity.
Beyond funding infrastructure directly, the law establishing the fund also expands the Railway Development Levy to support continued growth of the country’s rail network under the new financing framework.
The board pointed to Mworia’s track record as central to why he was selected to lead the institution through its early, formative stage.
“The Board is confident that Dr Mworia’s record of building institutions and enterprises, mobilising capital and bringing investments to market will enable NIF to deliver critical infrastructure, deepen Kenya’s capital markets, raise productivity and strengthen Kenya’s competitiveness,” it said.
Mworia brings more than 25 years of experience in investment management, enterprise development and capital allocation, having operated at principal-investment level since 2005 and led Centum Investment Company Plc as Group Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director for 17 years, during which he oversaw some of East Africa’s largest private-sector real estate and infrastructure developments.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi and is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, alongside qualifications as a Certified Public Accountant, Chartered Global Management Accountant and CFA charterholder. He is a member of the Law Society of Kenya, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya, the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants and the CFA Institute.
As CEO, Mworia will be responsible for providing strategic, commercial and operational direction as the fund works toward becoming fully operational, including building out its organisational structure, systems and institutional culture from scratch, and establishing its governance, investment and risk-management frameworks.
His immediate priorities will include developing a pipeline of investable infrastructure projects, mobilising co-investment capital from private partners, and guiding priority projects through appraisal, structuring and execution.
The fund is already in the process of recruiting a broader senior leadership team to support that work, including a chief investment officer, chief engineer, chief financial and operating officer, chief legal and risk officer, and a senior manager for strategic and financial communications.
Mworia’s departure from Centum takes effect immediately, with the company’s board naming Thomas Omondi-Achola, previously Group Chief Operating Officer and Partner for Portfolio Operations, as Acting Group CEO to ensure continuity during the transition.
His move to the NIF places an experienced private-sector dealmaker at the centre of the government’s broader strategy to reduce Kenya’s reliance on public debt when financing major infrastructure, at a time when containing borrowing and easing pressure on public finances remains a stated government priority.
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