Dennis Musau, the chief finance and value officer at Stanbic Bank, cannot swim. In fact, he would rather not. Despite this, he has encouraged his daughters to take up swimming so much that there is a room in his house full of medals. Reason for not swimming? “I do not believe in tempting God,” he says.
Professionally, he says, things feel steady. Socially, he keeps a small circle of friends and is perfectly content with that. Family life? “I’m very happy,” he says. But, when asked which part of his life feels less settled, he replies: “Spirituality”. He grew up in the church and even sang in the choir, but these days he rarely attends. Half the time, he is on a plane, heading somewhere.
“When I jump on a plane on a Sunday, I’m wonder if it is a betrayal.”
If I asked your children what their dad does for work, what would they say?
I have different children with different personalities. But in unison, they would probably say I’m a banker. They know I work in a bank. They probably don’t know the details of what I do, but they would say, ‘Papa is a banker.’
What has been your most enduring lesson in fatherhood?
Patience. I guess maturity and growth come with knowing what to do when. But it’s amazing when you get a child, and you can see they clearly want to sleep, and they’re crying about it, and you’re like ‘why don’t you just sleep?’ [chuckles]
My children are growing up in a different generation. My teenage son’s idea of success is not necessarily to ace Math and English, which is how I was brought up. Therefore, it holds that how you bring them up is the influence you want to have on them.
How are you a different father from your father?
I don’t think I’m any different, but I think my dad was a lot more directive and instructive. Do this, do that, not that. I am a lot more laid-back in establishing principles and values, and then watching that we all operate and live by them.
What could you do better as a father?
I don’t think I can get more time, but I wish I could have the freedom to allocate more time to my children, and especially attend their various activities. For instance, this Friday, there’s a musical day at my son’s school, and it’s an hour’s drive from here [Nairobi]. Now I have board meetings, so I would most likely miss that. He loves music, and he’s the leader of the school band, so his seeing me there would have meant something for him, but I have to be at the board meeting.
Someone once told me this about fatherhood: ‘Be patient with your parents, even when they make mistakes, because even they are growing.’ So I am also growing and discovering new things, and I do hope to instill the same principles in life to my children so that they also understand that this guy didn’t have it all figured out.
What regret are you willing to live with?
I am willing to be crucified for telling the truth. If my truth gets me in trouble, I think I am willing to live with the consequences of that. I don’t know whether that’s an answer to that question.
Stanbic Bank Kenya Chief Financial and Value Officer Dennis Musau poses for a picture after the interview in Nairobi on March 3, 2026.
Photo credit: Francis Nderitu | Nation Media Group
What do you miss about your younger self?
I’m a very playful person. Growing up, the environment encouraged that. You would play, make jokes in class, and respond to questions in a playful way. Adulthood doesn’t allow for much of that. I can’t just share the latest joke at the board meeting on Friday, for example.
There’s a mix of people in there, and what board members are expecting is not necessarily facts and principles laced with jokes. They just expect facts and principles. I miss the days when you could basically play or joke, or be light-hearted through pretty much everything. It doesn’t help that finance is probably the factory of seriousness, the money guys.
What’s your idea of fun?
I don’t know whether golf qualifies as fun, but that’s what punctuates my days. I try to get to the golf course every so often. I like to describe golf as meditation with lots of frustration. It’s your quiet space to walk in the park, chase an innocent hole, and unwind. But then it creates a whole cocktail of emotions between frustration, satisfaction, hysteria, and all manner of stuff. I find that fun. It helps if you play golf with some good people.
Have you introduced any of your children to golf?
Each of my children has their own golf sets, but they’re also very good at swimming. Swimming is somewhat different because you can enter a competition and win. My five-year-old daughter went to a competition last weekend and came home with five medals. In contrast, you can go to a golf course for five hours and walk home with nothing. There’s a whole room full of medals for swimming, but Papa only shows up with one prize after six months, if he’s lucky.
You sound like you can’t swim. Can you swim?
I believe there’s a reason God did not give me gills [chuckles]. I’m not trying to challenge God, but I can get myself out of the water. My daughters definitely believe I can’t swim.
Interestingly, I actually introduced all of them to swimming. My second-born daughter got into water at six months. But beyond that, it’s never really piqued my interest. I know it is a bad thing, I fear water bodies. So I think I should have a skill to navigate that fear. Or just steer away from them, which is what I tend to do. I have a swimming coach, by the way, and even paid for the course, but never went.
You’re comfortable managing risk in your profession, why does swimming unsettle you?
I don’t think it’s a lack of time. I think it’s just a commitment. I have no passion for it, but I thoroughly enjoy taking my children to swimming, to competitions, and watching them thrive. They’ve learned very early that you can compete and not get a medal. You can whine about it, but nothing is about to change because of your whining. My daughter is now swimming at the county level at the age of nine, and that is very exciting.
Has playing golf exposed any character flaws in you?
Golf has an uncanny way of calling out your frustration demons in you. Especially when you know what you’re supposed to do, what the club is supposed to do, how to swing, and how the ball is supposed to behave, and then it doesn’t do that. There is a sense of frustration that comes with it, and I have sensed some impatience coming through in some of us in life.
What am I to do when I can’t do what I think I am capable and trained to do? But it pales in comparison with the satisfaction I get in enjoying nature, friendship, company, and then listening to my favourite and old Kamba music while on the golf course.
Remember, quiet is what you define with us. For some people, quiet is the absolute absence of sound. For others, quiet is the exclusion of unwanted sound. If I’m listening to music and that is what my mind wants, and I’ve excluded the chirping of birds, the banter from my friends, or whatever is going on around, that’s my quiet. But professional golf demands silence.
If you’re a newbie or simply curious about golf, what are the things about the game that someone can only truly understand by being on the course? What can’t you learn from a book or a YouTube video?
It’s the power of absolute presence in the activity. It puts a demarcation between me and the world. I’m working Monday to Friday. I’m probably spending Saturday morning taking my children swimming, and I like to play golf on Saturday afternoon. Those four hours, I forget about work, family, and just concentrate. It is refreshing, refocusing, and reflective, where I solve some of the most complex problems, professional or social. What can it teach you that is not in a book? It is finding personal space to reflect.
Dennis Musau displays his prize after winning the Kenya Ports Authority Corporates Golf Day at Muthaiga Golf Club on September 16, 2022.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
You seem like a well-put-together man, based on how you present yourself. Which part of your life is currently all over the place?
I would say my spirituality. It’s probably the one part of my life I don’t feel is optimal. I grew up singing in church as a choir member. I don’t do that anymore. I don’t attend church as often as I should because half the time, I’m on a plane going somewhere. Professionally, I feel okay. Socially, I have very few friends, but I’m okay with very few. Family-wise, I’m very happy; it’s my spirituality that needs some work.
What is the question you’re asking yourself about faith?
I’m asking whether I am too busy for God. I am very clear in my mind that I am a product of God’s blessings. I prayed for this, and God gave me. When I get on a plane on a Sunday, I wonder if that is a betrayal. When I book my daughter for a swimming competition, and it spills from Saturday to Sunday, and I don’t take her to Sunday school, but that swimming competition, have I replaced God with this running around?
If your life were a movie, what would the audience be shouting at the screen?
I live my life with absolute respect for nature, community, and the truth. I feel the world needs a lot more of that. I don’t think we who have been blessed to be in positions of power and responsibility are necessarily doing enough with that power to better communities in private and public spaces. Is that the right answer?
It’s the answer I’m getting. What would you like people to understand more about Dennis?
I am very passionate about what I do, and sometimes that passion can show, not in a nice way. That’s not because Dennis is trying to put you down or he’s trying to act clever. But I also don’t think it is for other people to understand it; it is for me to communicate my being and my persuasions to other people. I don’t walk out of there thinking, you people should know this about me. Just explain it.
What is your vanity habit?
Haha! Trying to understand the world. On a random Sunday, I’ll be watching a documentary about Bhutan and Mongolia. Those are some small strips between China and India. Or that there is a border between France and Spain that changes hands every six months because somehow, they couldn’t agree. That curiosity to just want to understand why things are the way they are. Not necessarily what they are, but why things are the way they are.
Speaking of, do accountants know something about love that they can teach us, mere mortals?
Love is a decision to do something or be there for something or someone. And maybe this demonstrates how old I am, but I think love is well described in the action of persevering, staying through, even when things are difficult. And yes, accountants stay through even when the balance sheet doesn’t balance. That’s clever, right? [chuckles]
Very. What is the perfect Dennis weekend?
The perfect Dennis weekend is a sleep-in on Saturday. Then spending time with the children and the family. It doesn’t matter what we’re doing, whether it’s going to swimming practice or visiting my son at school. Definitely golf in the afternoon. If I can get a good four-ball to play with, that would be just amazing. Sundays with family, starting with church. Then we have fish for lunch.
Dry or coconut?
Either way, as long as it’s made by my wife. She has a way of just making the most amazing fish dishes on Sundays. So, I know my pastor would like me to look forward to Sunday sermons, but I actually do think I look forward to Sunday lunch, especially fish. Haha!
So, she’s a fisher of Dennis, so to speak?
I don’t know how she would take that. Hey, I didn’t say it, so I plead the fifth! [chuckles]
