KenGen names commercial services boss Ronoh Kibet Charles as its next CEO

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Kenya Electricity Generating Company (KenGen) has named Ronoh Kibet Charles, the executive in charge of its commercial business, as its next managing director and chief executive, setting up a leadership change at the country’s biggest power producer early next year.

In a statement issued on Saturday, October 24, the NSE-listed company said its board had appointed Mr Kibet as managing director and CEO designate following a competitive recruitment process. He will take office on February 1, 2027, succeeding Eng. Peter Waweru Njenga, who is retiring.

The company said the period between now and February would serve as a handover. The transition “will allow for an orderly handover and continuity in the company’s strategic priorities,” the statement said.

An insider from the commercial side

Mr Kibet has spent more than 17 years in geothermal development, project delivery and commercial strategy, according to KenGen. He is currently General Manager for Commercial Services, a role that covers energy markets, investments, new business and partnerships, marketing and corporate communication, and sustainability.

KenGen credits him with work on renewable energy development, the growth of its international consultancy services and the advancement of the Olkaria Green Energy Park. The company has been courting investors for its projects, including at its Olkaria clean energy conference this month.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in telecommunication and information engineering and a master’s degree in project management, both from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology. He is a certified Project Management Professional and an SAP Project System Consultant, and completed the Organisational Leadership programme at Harvard Business School. KenGen said he has also taken executive courses at IESE Business School in Spain, the University of Cape Town and Strathmore Business School.

He is a member of the Engineers Board of Kenya, the Institution of Engineers of Kenya and the Geothermal Association of Kenya, and holds the Order of the Grand Warrior.

What Njenga leaves behind

The board thanked Eng. Njenga for his leadership. The announcement pointed to a profit after tax of KSh10.48 billion for the 2025 financial year and the expansion of KenGen’s geothermal consultancy work, including assignments in Eswatini.

That result, for the year to June 30, 2025, was a 54% rise from KSh6.80 billion the year before, according to the company’s results statement issued last October. Revenue was flat at KSh56.10 billion against KSh56.30 billion, while operating expenses fell 11% to KSh35.14 billion and finance costs dropped 20% to KSh2.25 billion. Revenue from what KenGen calls non-traditional sources, which includes consultancy, grew by 235%.

The same statement put total assets at KSh505.6 billion and cash at KSh30.1 billion. It listed a 253MW project pipeline, including the 63MW Olkaria I project, the 42.5MW Seven Forks Solar Project and an 8.6MW upgrade of the Gogo hydro plant, as well as a planned geothermal drilling project in Ngozi, Tanzania.

The company he will run

KenGen says it has an installed capacity of 1,786MW and more than 60% of installed generation capacity in the market. More than 90% of that comes from renewable sources: 826MW of hydro, 754MW of geothermal and 25.5MW of wind, with the rest from thermal plants.

The board said it was confident Mr Kibet would strengthen performance, develop the company’s people and push its growth and innovation plans. KenGen said the leadership change comes as it pursues business diversification alongside electricity generation, the same push that drove the jump in consultancy and other non-traditional income in its last full-year results.

KenGen did not say whether other senior management changes would follow the appointment.