Arthur Oginga, the Group CEO of Old Mutual East Africa, is not a big fan of interviews. He prefers to live a quiet, private life, which can be tricky for someone in the public eye. He is not a recluse, though.
He just enjoys spending time reflecting, sometimes alone in his garden, other times with friends, in that same garden that looks out over a forest. He is simply taking time to slow down and enjoy life.
“I hope that my family and close friends can enjoy me as much as I enjoy them,” he says.
You may not know this, but not many men take the time, every (other) day, to engage in philosophical debates, with a plate of nyama choma, or a glass of something, with their close friends. That's not something most men have.
Mr Oginga does, and then some. It’s an image of friendship and brotherhood, the apogee of a life well lived. Was it not the poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who observed, ‘A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature.’
Mr Arthur, is it fun being you?
The positive thing is that there are more good days than bad days. I enjoy what I do. I'm passionate about our business because we actually do good things.
We help people meet their financial needs. With the launch of Thrive App, we're now expanding to mental and physical goals. We’ve been doing that for about 20 years.
I’ve got a very good set of friends who, from time to time, we sit and have a good laugh about life. And family as well provides that space to talk openly and freely without any pretense. So yeah, I think it’s a nice, rounded, balanced life which I’m happy to be in, and I’m happy to be me.
What's a fun activity you like doing?
It sounds boring, but my biggest joy is actually spending time at my house, sitting and looking out into the garden, into the forest. The serenity of those moments is fantastic.
If I’ve got a couple of friends over as well, it just makes it even better. But really, my biggest joy is from having that, the moments when I’m having my downtime and being able to think about life and the future.
What do you see when you’re sitting in that garden?
Half of the time, I’m planning for what I'm going to be doing in five, six years when I retire. The other half of the time, I'm thinking about what Old Mutual is going to look like when I retire, and I see a business that has a lot of potential to improve the lives of our customers. But I also see a very much deserved rest in five, six years from now.
What feelings do you have when you think about retirement?
I’m excited about it. I tell my friends that I’m not going to be as active, except in doing a lot of the things that I've not been able to do in the last 30 years.
My children don't live here; I'd like to spend more time with them. I'd like to travel the country. I'd like to spend time with my loved ones, family, and friends. I think very positively about five, six years from now.
Did you have to sacrifice that to get to where you are now?
In a sense, yes. Look, there are long hours. A big part of my career was also away from Kenya, which meant that I lost touch with a lot of people and friends. So, it would be good to actually spend more time with them. But yes, I could have spent more time with them.
Tell me your philosophy about fatherhood that has remained true for you across the years.
I've got two daughters, and the thing for me has always been that my daughters need to be able to thrive in a very male-dominated world. And they need to be able to stand on their two feet.
I watch them and their careers, and I think they are doing a solid job. But secondly, is really at the end of the day, not forgetting about being a human, with kindness to others being a top priority.
What's a ‘girl-dad’ thing they make you do?
There's one thing about me and my youngest daughter, for example. We always hold hands. It's from when she was this high [gestures seat height].
Now she's, I wouldn't say her age because she might get upset with me, but she's working now, and we still hold hands. There's something about that that is very personal.
You are a father, a leader. How are you taking care of yourself?
The first thing is to know when you need that break. That's what I said earlier about sitting at home and having that serenity at that time. I go to the gym, but I've fallen off the wagon a bit lately. But I was gym-ing at 5am, three times a week.
It's a very good way to get that mental and physical balance. Try and sleep well, and finally, connect with family, my siblings, my mother as often as I can.
What has gotten more important for you as you've grown older?
Friends and family.
Any particular reason why?
I spent a lot of time outside the country, and in some instances, many of the assignments were really based on problem-solving, and those were very long hours. And just coming back home, you start appreciating simple things about friendship that you learnt over time.
Friends and family are the things that begin to matter. You focus a lot on making money, but at the end of the day, why are you doing all of this? And enjoying it with your friends and family is important.
What have you influenced your friends to be doing that they would say that this is typically an ‘Arthur’ thing?
Haha! Well, I never like talking about myself. I think, for me, it's striving for what you believe in. If you believe in something, go for it. Shoot for the stars.
How are you finding time for social graces?
I'm now very intentional. At the beginning of this year, I told my colleagues at work, ‘I'm going to slow down and be very intentional about my time, particularly on weekends.’ I travel a lot, but one of the things I always want to do is be back home over the weekend.
The other thing that has interestingly reshaped me this year is a friend who introduced me to the Stoic readings. And there's something about the wisdom in those Stoic readings and daily readings that is wonderful.
It’s helped me to start thinking about reflections very purposefully. End of the week, end of the month, reflect on how things went, based on your objectives. So, if the objective is I want to spend more time with family, how have I done in the past month? And that's really, really helped to ground and get me going.
What’s a stoic philosophy you’re practising now?
Serenity. I can't remember a specific quote, but it is that, ensure that when there's noise around you, how do you remove yourself from it? And reflect so that when you come back into this noise, you're coming at it with a more reflective view, rather than jumping into the fray, as it were. The power of taking yourself out of those emotional conversations is something that I'm trying to practise.
Has your life been markedly different since you started reading on Stoicism?
Huge. There was a friend who told me that one of my colleagues said that these days I am less in a hurry. And I think that's good positive feedback [chuckles].
What's an opinion you hold that most people will disagree with?
Most of my life, I have worked long hours. I have put in the time. For me, hard work is important. Do many people disagree? Maybe for me it's about the degree. I think I can push very hard.
What’s a trait you share with most CEOs?
Arthur Oginga, Group CEO of Old Mutual East Africa.
Photo credit: Pool
The big one is the ability to step away from the detail and envision the opportunity. So how do you turn things from being seen as a challenge to being seen as an opportunity? The second one is the ability to get people to do your bidding very willingly.
Arthur, you seem like a very perceptive, deep thinker. And that comes with its fair share of being in your mind a lot. How do you get out of your mind?
Do I ever get out of my mind is the question [chuckles]. One of the things that I have valued is one of my very good friends, who has been a true friend who can tell you to your face when you are full of it and when you need help.
I think he helps shape my thinking. He is honest with the feedback, no sugar-coating, this is it. If you don't like it, tough; that's your problem.
What has mattered more in your friendships? The breadth or the depth?
The depth. I don't have many friends.
What have you had to let go of in your life to become the better version of you?
What were my bad habits, haha! I loved spontaneity. When you get into the car and just drive, but you can't do that anymore with kids now. Then, from a work point of view, one of the things that I have not liked about this whole thing is that I like a private life.
And that means that I spend a lot less time than I would like in more public places. It's not anything that I say is wrong from a CEO's point of view, but I just value my privacy.
And being able to sit with friends and have a good laugh without worrying about perception is something that I value. Thus, I entertain a lot at home rather than outside.
Was that by design or happenstance?
I come from a family that loves privacy. Just living anonymously is something that we like.
If it were all to end today, what would people mourn about you?
You ask questions which I don't like [chuckles]. Generosity, particularly of mind.
What do you know that I should know?
Haha! So, I've just gone back to school. And I walked in thinking that it was going to be difficult, but it's actually been an absolute pleasure. And what I learned in three weeks is amazing.
I never understood some of my friends who are doing their Master’s, and PhD programmes. What do you do with all this stuff? But I think the last three weeks have made me change my mind, it’s actually fun. It’s a leadership course in Business Education.
Congratulations. What kind of man do you hope to be?
Thank you, I hope that I can be a model to my daughters. I hope that my family and close friends can enjoy me as much as I enjoy them.
I hope that from a business point of view, we are able collectively to have reshaped not just our business, but the insurance industry in general, to leave behind much stronger businesses run in a more sustainable manner.
Are you a man concerned with purpose and your calling in this world?
I'm clear that it's difficult to divorce myself from a business. And I love the purpose of our business. When you make a difference in people's lives, and when I see customer testimonials about how their lives have changed because of the things we've done, I go home and sleep soundly.
You make the difference in people’s lives; who makes a difference in yours?
[chuckles] One of my biggest joys is seeing my daughters and the progress they have made in their own lives.
If I were to get a crash course about Mr Arthur Oginga, what would I learn?
You are asking very difficult, reflective questions [chuckles]. Now you will make me go home and start thinking, “Am I really useful in this world?”
Anyway, I am very intentional, outcome-driven driven and focused, and at all times want to see things through. I love building, seeing something you started and getting it to the end; it’s fantastic. I love my daughters to bits. I am busy trying to get my physical self well, and I will ensure I do justice to that.
It would be remiss not to ask about your daughters. When you look at them, what do you think they see in you and hope they remember about you when they are your age now?
They probably see someone who cares about them, wants the best, and demands the best out of them. The best does not mean being number 1, but that you have put your all into anything you’ve started. I want them to be happy when they are at my age, in whichever way they define happiness.
What are you looking forward to doing this weekend?
I’ve been in school, and it’s quite intense. We have some games as well, and when I get home, I want to put my feet up, do a bit of homework from school, and then relax on Sunday and probably do some cooking.
What’s your signature meal that you’d enroll in a competition to save Kenya?
I can make a mean curry. Proper. I also prepare some very nice choma, as long as you don’t tell me to cook ugali [chuckles].
