Nairobi, July 2 -- Abraham Ongenge's father had a habit of saying, when something needed to get done and done properly: let Abraham do it. He said it about chores. He said it about responsibility. He said it, eventually, about everything that mattered, until it became a prophecy about a man. If it's got to get done, Abraham will do it. So, let Abraham do it.

One imagines those words echoing, years later, in the deep-carpeted rooms where difficult decisions are made, before the call came appointing him acting chief executive of Stanbic Bank Kenya.

It seems fitting. Ongenge has spent the better part of two decades inside the Standard Bank Group machinery, rising through its ranks as a financial accountant, chief finance and value officer ...