After overcoming teething challenges in its early years, microfinance bank wins the hearts and souls of its customers, clinching many prestigious awards in the process
By George Gichuki
Caritas Microfinance Bank carried the day during the inaugural Inclusive Finance Industry Awards (IFIA) 2026 organized by the Association for Microfinance Institutions Kenya (AMFI-K). The name of the fast-growing lender, founded by the Catholic Archdiocese of Nairobi in 2015 with the noble goal of uplifting the living standards of households in Kenya, was on everyone’s lips as the event came to an end. Caritas MFB clinched ten awards, among them the Microfinance Bank (MFB) of the Year, the Fastest Growing Microfinance Bank and the Best Institution in Digital Financial Inclusion Initiative.
As icing on the cake, Mr. David Mukaru, CEO, Caritas MFB, scooped the prestigious Industry Lifetime Achievement Award owing to his illustrious career in finance, spanning over thirty years. Mr. Mukaru cut his teeth as a credit officer at a state corporation before joining a microfinance institution with a big presence in the rural areas, where he played a pivotal role in developing an innovative financial solution for mango farmers. After that, he joined a development organization supporting the economic empowerment of Maasai women. His next workstation was a top regional tier-one commercial bank, where he contributed a lot in setting up a department for groups (chamas) and developing their products. Then he landed a job in Tanzania, where he helped in setting up a commercial bank from scratch. This bank broke even in a record time of only eighteen months. Before becoming the CEO of Caritas MFB, Mr. Mukaru served as the head of business development at Faulu MFB.
Fighting spirit
Sweet as the victory at IFIA 2026 was, it didn’t come on a silver platter. Behind the scenes, Mr. Mukaru and his team have been working tirelessly and strategically to make Caritas MFB a strong and profitable player in a business characterized by very stiff competition. To demonstrate that dedication, in the financial year ending 2025, Caritas MFB registered a net profit of Kshs. 72.60 million, growing by 35% in comparison to 2024.
Asked about the secret behind this successful journey, Mr. Mukaru replied: “The people. The people. I work with very amazing people.” He is right. Talented, motivated and dedicated teams deliver remarkable results for their organizations. Putting up expensive hardware, though good, cannot guarantee the required results if the software (people) is not right.
Caritas MFB has also benefited from the support of the Catholic ecosystem, which remains one of its key segments. Under this ecosystem are worshippers as well as institutions such as churches, hospitals and schools. “The support we have got from that ecosystem since we got established is amazing,” affirms Mr. Mukaru. “All its stakeholders have one goal in common; to ensure that we succeed,” he adds. From the Archbishop of Nairobi Archdiocese, His Grace, Most Rev. Philip Anyolo, to the priests in the parishes and the leaders of various self-help groups together with their members, Caritas MFB has received immense support.
However, the bank’s recognition is not limited to serving the Catholic Church ecosystem. Its broader customer base includes: micro and small enterprises (MSMEs), small and medium enterprises (SMEs), agribusiness and value chains, as well as consumer banking customers. This wider market orientation has enabled Caritas MFB to build a business model around diverse financial needs, while retaining the community connection that has been central to its growth.
Philosophy
Underpinning this growth are philosophical words from one of its founders, His Eminence Cardinal John Njue: “We have come from far, we are far and we are going far.” These are the words, according to Mr. Mukaru, which inspire his team to research and develop innovative products, serve customers with dedication and build trust among stakeholders.
“Every day we work towards becoming better, every day we strive to conquer one mountain, as we look forward to conquering a bigger one tomorrow,” Mr. Mukaru avers. He likens this fighting spirit to Kaizen, a Japanese philosophy which advocates for continuous improvement by taking small intentional steps on a daily basis.
This well-calculated and focused daily journey to success is also captured in the lender’s tagline in Kiswahili: ‘Twaimarisha jamii.’ This means: ‘We empower communities.’ The main goal of the lender, according to Mr. Mukaru, is not to make huge profits, but to transform all the members of the communities it serves by offering them affordable and innovative financial solutions.
Willing, able and ready to serve
By and large, the steady growth of Caritas MFB has been defined by the customers themselves. “We have a very demanding ecosystem – the Catholic Church and its faithful –who have had a lot of experience (bad and good) with other financial institutions over the years and they therefore expect us to have very high standards,” says Mr. Mukaru. “They set up Caritas MFB – their own institution – after consuming products from other players with the expectations that we would fill the gaps left by the latter,” he adds.
Against this backdrop, the business model of Caritas MFB has been shaped with its ecosystem in mind. This includes the church and its archdioceses, dioceses, parishes, small Christian communities as well as its affiliated institutions such as hospitals and schools. The needs of these stakeholders vary, but the bank is expected to develop solutions that meet them.
In the small Christian communities, popularly known as Jumuiyas in Kiswahili, for instance, the bank has customers operating micro enterprises in agriculture, trade, services and hospitality, among other fields. The bank has therefore developed products that address their needs. In the same vein, churches and outstations require banking services once their congregants give offertories and tithes, among other contributions.
“With time, we have become better and better,” says Mr. Mukaru. Caritas MFB also scooped the Overall Best Microfinance Bank award at the 2026 Think Business Awards.
Values and governance
Caritas MFB is strongly founded on its core values, with an acronym ETHICS focused on ethical and sustainable banking. “We take ethics and compliance matters very seriously,” says Mr. Mukaru, adding that this has won them an award from the Institute of Internal Auditors Kenya.
The bank’s mission is: ‘Driving ethical transformation through sustainable financial services.’ Its core values are Ethics, Teamwork, Honesty, Inclusion, Customer centric and Stewardship.
By embracing these values, all staff members of Caritas MFB strive to do the right thing without being supervised. They also strive to offer exemplary service to their customers, hence cultivating trust and loyalty.
“These values have helped us a lot to stand out in the market, winning many awards in the process,” Mr. Mukaru observes. “By embracing teamwork in all our departments, for instance, we were recognized in agribusiness, innovation, financial inclusion, digital transformation and business development during IFIA 2026,” he adds.
He further points out that as a lender, Caritas MFB strives not to overpromise its customers. This minimizes cases of disappointment. Additionally, given that these customers are from diverse economic backgrounds – for instance educated, uneducated, low income and high income – the lender has developed an array of products that ensures their needs are catered for.
“We listen to our customers before developing products for them, hence ensuring that they are all financially included,” Mr. Mukaru avers. Against this backdrop, Caritas MFB clinched the top lender award in the microfinance category at the 2025 Banking Customer Satisfaction Survey Awards organized by the Kenya Bankers Association (KBA).
Caritas MFB is also a faithful steward of all the resources it is entrusted with by its stakeholders, mainly customers and shareholders. It utilizes such resources prudently, hence getting good returns from them. This has contributed a lot to its fast growth.
As the team leader, Mr. Mukaru leverages an interactive, participative and empowering governance structure. He operates through a committee of department heads that meets weekly, with members alternating as chairs for ten of those sessions each year. Strategically, the CEO chairs only two sessions, an approach that fosters teamwork, knowledge sharing and leadership succession.
“We give each other space to contribute to the growth of our organization while challenging ourselves to unlock our full potential,” says Mr. Mukaru. Department heads in turn mentor their respective teams to drive excellence across all levels.
The CEO serves as the vital link between the board and executive management. This strengthens the governance structure. The board collaborates with him through dedicated committees to maintain strategic oversight. “We have a very supportive board and shareholders who are keen on seeing us improve every day,” Mr. Mukaru observes.
Leadership philosophy
Mr. Mukaru’s long journey as a leader has been largely defined by his ability to create structures that give the teams under him ample space to be innovative. By so doing, these teams are able to grow. Equally, he listens to his customers so that they can guide the solutions that he offers them. More importantly, he makes bold decisions and avoids procrastination.
He also truly believes in God and His creation. “God has provided mankind with resources and our challenge is to identify and utilize them properly so that we can attain our goals, the nature of our environment notwithstanding,” he notes.
To build resilience as a leader, he continuously seeks and acquires knowledge. “The more you know, the better you become and I therefore read and travel widely,” he says, adding that he never gets tired of going back to school in pursuit of more knowledge. As a testimony to that, he is currently undertaking a doctorate (PhD) in management and holds a Master’s degree in Agribusiness Management.
Mr. Mukaru is an attentive listener who values diverse perspectives, regardless of a person’s socio-economic background. His humility as a leader keeps him approachable and constantly learning.
Take off
Caritas MFB is aspiring to become one of Kenya’s leading social banks. “Our goal is to become the biggest social banks in Kenya and we are therefore coming up with the foundational strategies,” Mr. Mukaru says.
In that regard, the lender is developing products that address the needs of farming communities in Kenya, comprising over 60% of the population. “Our mandate is to transform the lives and livelihoods of these households by working with them ethically and with a lot of integrity,” he affirms.
In the effort to drive household empowerment across Kenya, Mr. Mukaru warns that overly rigid regulation can stifle innovation and growth for microfinance institutions. While acknowledging the need for consumer safeguards, he emphasizes that empowerment must be considered in the regulatory framework, and that the Microfinance Bill 2026 must carefully balance the two objectives. In particular, provisions threatening the foundational Grameen model of collateral-free micro-lending require sober re-examination.
For Mr. Mukaru, the journey ahead is therefore about more than growing an institution. It is about building an organization that gives its people room to lead, listens to its customers and uses financial services to create opportunities within the communities it serves. After more than three decades in the financial sector, his own philosophy of continuous learning, mentorship, innovation and decisive leadership continues to shape the institution’s next chapter.
