Board of
Directors
Johnny is an accountant by training and has over 30 years project finance, corporate finance and strategy development experience. He has led teams advising on major Government infrastructure projects, with contract values of up to USD8bn. He has also undertaken many market research and due diligence assignments in the UK and East Africa, and has advised on the restructuring of Government owned businesses. John married into Kenya in 1994 and has lived here for the last 10 years. He is a trustee of the Vanessa Grant School Trust, an educational charity that supports five schools and educational facilities in Rongai, Nakuru. He is also the treasurer of the Kenya Museum Society.
Fiona graduated with a law degree from Glasgow University in 1973 and practised in Edinburgh before moving to Kenya in 1978. Whilst raising a young family of two boys she studied to become a qualified Company Secretary and joined Chunga Associates, the Certified Public Secretaries affiliate of PricewaterhouseCoopers as manager where she practiced for 18 years. She retired in 2008 but was persuaded to set up her own business to provide Company Secretarial services for several high-profile businesses. She finally retired in 2015. Fiona actively participates in the ladies golfing scene and enjoys tennis and bridge. With more free time available she enjoys travelling and keeping in close touch with her family and now two grand-daughters.
Ben was born in Kenya and educated in Tanzania & Yorkshire, England. He read Agricultural Management at the University of Natal and went on to manage farms in Zimbabwe and Zambia before migrating to Western Australia with his wife Fiona. They lived in Perth for the next 24 years, building up a wholesale bakery business, bringing up two boys, and Ben did an MBA at Murdoch University. In December 2013 they moved back to Kenya when Ben was appointed Manager of Fairseat Foundation – a position he has held since.
Rachel Mbai, a partner of Kaplan & Stratton, heads the firm’s Real Estate department, Private Client, Trusts and Estates. She is a Kenyan Advocate, Commissioner of Oaths and Notary Public. After admission as an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, she joined Kaplan & Stratton in 1991 and is a well-known name in the real estate sector. She joined as a Friend of Fairseat in 2021. She is a member of MCC and sits on the Main Committee and their Governance Committee.
Mahmud Janmohamed, until August 2023 held the position of Managing Director for Tourism Promotion Services, Serena Hotels Africa and Global Head of the Tourism Department for the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development (AKFED) when he retired from the position after 25 years of service. He was responsible for 35 Hotel, lodges, camps and heritage properties located in 9 Countries in Africa and Asia. He was responsible for placing TPSEA on the Nairobi Stock exchange in year 1994. He continues to be on the Executive Committee of AKFED which oversees investments in Tourism, Media, Financial services and infrastructure. He has vast experience in the hotel industry in Europe, USA, Africa and Asia and is an associate member of the Hotel Catering Institutional Management Association (UK) and a member of the Cornell Hotel Society (USA). He is the Founder Chairman of the Kenya Tourism Federation; and in past years served as a Trustee of the East African Wildlife Society; Director on the Board of British American Tobacco, Kenya; and continues as a member on the Eastern Africa Association Advisory Council.
Diana Bird studied English Literature at Homerton College, Cambridge. She then went on to teach English at secondary level at a comprehensive school in Harlow Essex. Diana intended to take a career break from teaching when she was invited to join the head office of Marks and Spencer but she didn’t go back to teaching, instead she stayed with M&S for 6 years working as a ladies-wear buyer. She was headhunted by a recruitment agency who worked on behalf of Inchcape in 1985 and came out to Nairobi to be the buyer for a retail chain called Deacons that was majority owned by the Inchcape Group. After two years she was asked to become the Managing Director and she stayed in this role until 2003. The business greatly expanded during this time, both geographically and financially. She retired from full time work and returned to the UK with her husband and two sons. She stayed as a shareholder and Non-Executive Director of Deacons until 2017. In 2016 Diana joined the Board of Mayfair Insurance in Kenya as a non-executive Director and a member of their strategy committee. She held this position to date. In addition, she has sat on the Board of Art of Living, an NGO, since 2019 and became a Trustee of the Butterfly Trust in 2023. The Butterfly Trust is an organisation that facilitates and trains careers for those in need. The Butterfly Trust is a not-for-profit organisation.
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