Limuru Tea shares were last week’s top price gainers at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). This is after the Capital Markets Tribunal issued a favourable verdict concerning a report issued by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) that had faulted composition of the tea firm’s board.

Following this verdict, Limuru Tea shares last week gained 9.9% to close at KSh340.75 on Friday. With a market capitalization of US$ 2.6million, the counter begun the year at KSh 350 and has since been on a downward slide, placing it as one of the low performers at the stock market this year.

Limuru Tea Board of Directors is chaired by Mrs Dorcas Muli, who is also an independent and non-executive director. She joined the Board on 10th August 2018. The board is dominated by women.

As an Independent Director, Mrs Muli does not own shares in the company, and has served in her capacity for a period of nine years. She is an experienced Audit, Compliance and Risk Management professional with over 16 years of experience. She has previously been at the Auditor General’s office before taking on the appointment as Senior Associate at PriceWaterHouseCoopers.

She also had a stint at AMREF as a Compliance Officer and worked for Centre for Health Solutions- Kenya as a Compliance Manager. Mrs Muli holds a master’s degree in business administration, Kenyatta University and a Master of Arts in Economic Policy Management from the University of Nairobi.

She is also a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Information Systems Auditor, member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK), the Association of Women Accountants of Kenya (AWAK) and the Women on Board’s Network.

Other female directors at Limuru Tea Plc include Jackline Kanyua, Sarah Mbwaya and Felgona Omollo, who is Director Corporate Governance.

Limuru Tea Board has a Nominations Committee, responsible for evaluation, induction, remuneration, appraisal, training and upskilling of directors, nomination of new directors and composition of the Board. This Committee meets at least once a year and has Sarah Mbwaya (Chairperson) with Felgona Omollo and Gerridina Johanna Maria Ten Den as members.

Some of the notable individual shareholders at the listed firm include Hassan Popat, Alimohamed Adam, Shantaben Shah, Kusumben Ambubhai, Ambubhai Amin. The majority shareholder at Limuru Tea is Brown Investments Plc, with 52% ownership or 1,247,976 shares.