User:John Mwendwa, OGW/sandbox
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John Mwendwa, OGW
[edit]John Mwendwa, OGW is an impact-driven professional with extensive experience in both the private and public sectors. With a combined work experience of over 20 years, including 11 years in public service and 6 years in top-level banking roles across multiple African countries and 4 years in the manufacturing sector. John has become the go-to expert for business and public-private sector delivery, with a proven track record of driving national, regional, and continental change.
Career
[edit]John now serves as the Secretary, Strategy Execution in Kenya’s President’s Strategy & Execution Office. Previously, he held the position of Senior Advisor on Investments in the Ministry of Investments, Trade & Industry (2022-2023). John has also served as the Secretary/Head of the Department of Business Reforms & Transformation (Ease of Doing Business) coordinating business reforms across 63 government agencies and 16 ministries over a 9-year period. He has served in various Ministries including the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Cooperatives (2013-2018), Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries (2015).
John has spearheaded change and transformation strategies to enhance private sector expansion and competitiveness through the automation and digitization of critical public service delivery areas. These include company registration, movable property rights, e-filing processes for commercial courts, imports and export process automation, tax reforms, lands records management, the built environment, energy reforms, business insolvency management amongst others. He has been instrumental in developing over 50 legal and regulatory instruments, and pioneered the Business Laws Amendment Acts, aimed at supporting Business Competitiveness for Kenya. Furthermore, he has engaged in donor initiatives with the European Union, the United Kingdom Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to support Business Climate reforms. He is an investment transactions and negotiation expert with over $1.5bn worth of investment deals closed in the period 2021 to 2024. Under John's leadership positions, Kenya witnessed a significant improvement in the Global World Bank Ease of Doing Business rankings, rising to 56th globally in 2019 from 136th in 2014. This achievement positioned Kenya among the most improved countries globally and on the African continent between 2013 and 2020.
John served as the Director of Portfolio Management in the Ministry of Industry, Trade & Cooperatives, where he championed and led various initiatives including the development of the Kenya Industrial Transformation Programme Strategy (2015-2025) and the Manufacturing Strategy Pillar (2018-2022) under the Country’s Big 4 Agenda, and Kenya’s Export Development Strategy. He has been integral in the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) trade negotiations, Strategic Trade and Investment Partnership (STIP), Africa Continental Free Trade Area (ACFTA) and the East African Community (EAC) common market protocols. John's earlier career in banking saw him contribute to strategy and executive management within the Barclays Group (now Absa) in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ghana and in South Africa (serving 13 countries).[1]
Education
[edit]He holds a Master of Commerce degree (MCom) in Finance from Strathmore University and a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) degree in Finance from Kenyatta University. He has Executive Leadership courses from University of Oxford in the UK and Harvard University USA. He is a member of the Chartered Institute for Securities and Investments (CISI-UK) and the Kenya Institute of Management (KIM). [1]
John was awarded the Order of the Grand Warrior (OGW) in 2018 by the President of Kenya for his role in Kenya’s global accolades on Business climate reforms.
John has served on various Boards, including the Business Registration Service for seven years where at board level he led significant legal and regulatory reforms as well as technology transformation. He also served as a member of the Board at the former Industrial Development Bank Capital (IDB) now Kenya Development Corporation (KDC).
He actively participates in public school Boards, reflecting his commitment to making a difference in the lives of less-fortunate young members of society. In his leisure time, John enjoys motorsports and travelling.