Rakesh Rao, the long serving Chief Executive of Crown Paints has finally stepped down from the listed firm’s corner office, after being at the helm for close to two decades.

Rakesh Rao was let go by the Board at Crown which has reported handed him a handsome compensation package, as a gift for his tenure at the firm.

After a successful stay at Crown Paints, Rakesh has been replaced by Mustafa Turra. The market reacted to Rakesh’s stepping down with the Crown Paints share price at the Nairobi Securities Exchange(NSE) recording a 5.60% gain from the previous closing price of KSh 58.00.

Analysts predict minimal disruptions to Crown Paints Share Price trends at the Nairobi Securities Exchange following this change in top leadership at the firm.

Major changes in leadership of a listed firm can cause uncertainty, triggering a negative or stagnation in share prices. However, in this case, there is still a big positive as the Crown Paints recently rebounded to profitability.

The negative impact on share price might be muted or minimal.

The new Crown CEO, Mustafa Turra, packs over 20 years of international leadership experience, which the board believes will reinforce the company’s market position.

Born in India, Rakesh Rao’s tenure has been instrumental in driving the listed paints manufacturer’s transformation, focusing on cutting-edge and high-quality paints that is now a household name in Kenya’s paints manufacturing business.

Rakesh Rao’s occupation of the top executive seat at crown-paints has not been be smooth, somewhat, especially at the tail end of his stay at the firm.

In June this year, some six top managers at the firm suddenly resigned-all within a week- in what was speculated as internal feuds between the board and the management team.

The alleged purge saw Rakesh stripped of his responsibility of overseeing the firm’s operations in Tanzania, Uganda and Rwanda subsidiaries.

It is also during Rakesh Rao’s reign at Crown Paints , some 4 years ago that  the Competition Authority of Kenya(CAK) accused Crown Paints and other big players in the paints business in Kenya, of having monopolistic tendencies. Apart from Crown Paints, other co-accused suspected of breaching competition rules were Basco Products Limited, Kansai Plascon and Galaxy Paints, all found guilty of collusion and price-fixing practices.

Crown Paints was ordered to pay a hefty fine of KSh 132,995,880, a decision that the paints manufacturer appealed against.

Rakesh leaves Crown Paints with a healthy financial status and balance sheet. The firm roamed back to profitability posting KSh 543,688,000 in net earnings at the end of December 2024 from a loss of KSh 29,130,000 in 2023.

The firm grew its balance sheet size to KSh 9.4 billion in 2024 from 9.3 billion the previous year.

Crown Paints also posted improvement in performance of its subsidiaries. This is except the Tanzania business which suffered unfavourable foreign currency fluctuations.

Crown Paints Tanzania  turned a pre-tax loss of KSh 139 million. In Uganda, the business posted a pre-tax profit KSh 26 million while  Rwanda posted a pre-tax profit of KSh 4 million.

Established in 1958, Crown Paints Kenya Plc has grown into a regional powerhouse, with operations in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda.  The firm is considered the most innovative paints manufacturer  in East Africa, providing cutting edge and tailor-made solutions to the players in the region’s construction and retail segments of the market.

In addition to its catalogue of decorative paints, Crown Paints has supplemented its product range with a wide array of fashion and textured paint finishes.

The firm has focused on its target consumers who want their homes, offices or commercial developments to be an extension of their personality as well as to reflect design trends and colour palettes that can be found anywhere in the world.