Dr Jonah Aiyabei is a Kenyan scholar, investment professional, and corporate executive who manages one of the country’s largest public pension schemes.
As a senior figure in Kenya’s financial and pensions sector, Jonah has built a career through university teaching, financial analysis, pension management, and corporate leadership.
He has also worked at the Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), where he managed a major pension scheme and later headed the Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas.
His experience eventually positioned him to lead the Public Service Superannuation Fund (PSSF), with assets worth multibillion-shilling amounts.
Early Life and Family
Aiyabei grew up in a rural Kenyan family of nine children and is the middle child.
According to Aiyabei, his parents were farmers, and his childhood was shaped by financial difficulties and limited access to necessities, which influenced his passion for financial independence and his interest in bonds and equities.
His family’s main source of income in his early life was alcohol, which he stated during an interview in September 2026 with Business Daily that he also consumed before deciding to quit after joining the Anglican Church.
“I was five years old when I said I would never in my life taste alcohol. That was in 1980. To this day, 46 years later. You can make a decision even at 12 years old, or 10, and it can follow you for the rest of your life. You cannot be too young to make a decision. I have never understood how peer pressure can make you change your philosophy.”
In 1991, Jonah set himself the goal of becoming a chief executive and developed a personal strategic plan to achieve it.
Among his early ventures were buying old trailers without engines, refurbishing them, and selling them.
In his personal life, Aiyabei is a father with children at different stages of life, with the eldest about 33 years old as of 2026 and the youngest about 1 year old.
Beyond his executive responsibilities, Aiyabei plays golf and reads extensively, particularly biographies, history, and leadership books.
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Jonah Aiyabei’s Education
Jonah Aiyabei holds a Bachelor of Education in Business and Economics and an MBA from Kenyatta University.
Additionally, he has a PhD in Business Administration, specializing in Strategy and Financial Management, from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology.
While teaching at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa in the late 1990s, Aiyabei and fellow lecturers identified a gap in the Bachelor of Commerce curriculum.
The lecturers subsequently enrolled for professional examinations in financial analysis, with their colleague Peter Gigi among the first to obtain the qualification around 2001.
He later joined the professional institute that evolved into the Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA).
Career and Achievements
Aiyabei began his professional career in academia, teaching finance and quantitative techniques.
At the Institute of Certified Investment and Financial Analysts (ICIFA), Aiyabei progressed through different leadership positions within the institute, including treasurer, secretary, and vice-chairman, before eventually serving as chairman.
He has also served on the KASNEB technical examination committee and as a council member of Mount Kenya University.
Research and consulting assignments undertaken during this period eventually connected him with Kenya Pipeline Company, which was developing its business development function and seeking people with financial and investment analysis skills.
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In 2002, Engineer Absalom Kosgei recruited him into the corporate sector at Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC), valuing his investment analysis skills.
He later moved into pension management when KPC sought a professional with investment and finance expertise to manage its pension scheme.
Aiyabei became Trust Secretary and Chief Executive Officer of the KPC pension scheme, where he worked with fund managers, custodians, and other players in the retirement-benefits industry.
During his tenure, he helped establish another pension scheme and grew the investment portfolio to about KSh12 billion by the time he left the pension role.
Around 2016, Aiyabei moved into another senior role within KPC, becoming director of the Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas.
The position put him in charge of an institution focused on training and capacity building in the oil and gas industry, and he later returned to the pensions industry as CEO of the Public Service Superannuation Fund in 2024.
By June 2026, PSSF’s assets had reached approximately KSh340 billion.
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