In 1989, Joyce-Ann Muthoni Wainaina joined Citibank as an intern. Little did she know that a quarter century later she would head the bank’s unit in Kenya and the East Africa region. Before her appointment, the American multinational never had a female chief executive officer for the 40 years it has been present in Kenya. Equally, no Kenyan national had been appointed to the position. But last month, Mrs Wainaina was appointed chief executive of Citibank Kenya and the East African region (Uganda, Tanzania and Zambia), opening a new chapter in the bank’s history.