The Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) has appointed Geoffrey Monari as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), months after it declared the position vacant.
HELB had, in a December 2024 job advertisement, asked qualified and interested Kenyans to apply for the job opportunity, which is at the center of higher education funding in Kenya.
“HELB is seeking to recruit transformative, competent and self-driven individual with an innate dynamism for the position of Chief Executive Officer/ Board Secretary,” part of the job advertisement read.
“The successful candidate will join a highly performing team and should not only be passionate, innovative, and qualified but also be dependable, emotional intelligent and have effective interpersonal, communication and leadership skills.”
Geoffrey Monari appointed as new CEO
On Thursday, March 13, 2025, HELB Board Chair David Ekwee said that Geoffrey Monari has been appointed as the new CEO, replacing Charles Ringera, who served two terms.
Monari will assume the role for a five-year term effective immediately.
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The new CEO previously served as the founding CEO and Secretary to the Board of Trustees of the Universities Fund (UF), a role he assumed on December 1, 2020.
Prior to his appointment, he served as the HELB Chief Operations Officer. Also, he led the Operations Division, overseeing the Documentation, Lending, Institutional Relations, and Debt Management departments since March 2016.
Monari holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
With over 20 years of working experience in various positions at the HELB, he is also a member of the Institute of Directors (Kenya) and serves as a non-Executive Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs.
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Duties and Responsibilities of the HELB CEO
According to the Authority, the duties and responsibilities of the Monari will be as follows:
Oversee the setting of criteria and conditions governing the granting and recovery of loans.
Establish and maintain strategic linkages with other individuals, bodies, or organizations within or outside Kenya to further the purposes for which HELB is established.
Enter into contracts with financial institutions for the purpose of loan disbursement and recovery.
Ensure that loans are granted within the stipulated criteria and guidelines, either with or without security, as the Board may deem fit, to enable or assist any eligible student in meeting the cost of higher education.
Invest any surplus funds not currently required for the purposes of the Board in investments authorized by law.
With the consent of the Minister, set up and expend such other funds as may from time to time be required.
Borrow monies from approved sources in amounts authorized by the Minister with the concurrence of the Treasury and secure such loans in a manner deemed fit.
In addition, the HELB CEO is expected to:
Serve as the Accounting Officer of the institution.
Be responsible for the day-to-day management and operations of HELB.
Provide leadership in the development of HELB’s programs and ensure program quality and organizational stability through the development and implementation of standards, controls, systems, procedures, regular evaluations, and performance management systems.
Act as the Custodian of the Common Seal.
Oversee the formulation and implementation of sound policies for regulating the management of the organization.
Mobilize resources, including receiving any gifts, donations, grants, or endowments made to the Board, and make legitimate disbursements therefrom.
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