Habil Waswani: The lawyer stepping into the cockpit of Kenya Airways as new CEO

Habil Waswani's professional story begins at Mang'u High School, where he completed his secondary education before joining the University of Nairobi.

He studied for a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B) from 1996 to 2000 and later trained at the Kenya School of Law, obtaining his Diploma in Law.

His education gave him the conventional route into advocacy, but his career would soon move beyond courtrooms and into corporate Kenya.

A decade into his career, he added a very different qualification: a Global Executive MBA from USIU-Africa, delivered in collaboration with Columbia Business School in New York.

The programme exposed him to strategy, corporate finance, leadership and entrepreneurship - skills that increasingly matched the jobs he was taking on.

He is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya, a Certified Public Secretary and a member of the Law Society of Kenya, Institute of Certified Secretaries and Institute of Directors.

Starting out in law

Waswani began in private practice, completing his pupillage at Iseme Kamau & Maema Advocates before working at Kiplagat & Company Advocates and later Mohamed Madhani & Co Advocates.

His early work covered commercial transactions, litigation, intellectual property and legal advisory work.

Then came the move that changed the direction of his career.

In 2004, he joined Diamond Trust Bank Kenya.

The bank's 2007 annual report records that he entered as a legal officer in corporate banking, moved into credit management and was appointed Company Secretary in December 2006.

By his early thirties, he was already operating at senior management and board level inside a listed financial institution.

Stint in insurance

In August 2009, Waswani moved to Kenya Reinsurance Corporation, becoming Corporation Secretary and Principal Legal Officer, later holding the General Manager, Legal and Company Secretary role.

His remit expanded beyond legal advice into insurance law, regulatory compliance, litigation, dispute resolution and corporate governance.

Kenya Re's 2009 records place him among its senior management team.

At this stage, Waswani was building a career not simply as a lawyer, but as the person sitting between management, regulators, boards and shareholders.

Role at National Bank

Waswani joined National Bank of Kenya in August 2013 as Director of Legal Services and Compliance.

The bank's annual report records his previous four years at Kenya Re and his earlier senior role at DTB.

He was at National Bank during a period of major corporate change, including the proposed acquisition of the bank by KCB Group.

Parliamentary records from 2019 identify Waswani among National Bank's senior officials appearing before a National Assembly committee discussing the transaction.

That experience matters to understanding his later career.

Large corporate restructurings are rarely about paperwork alone; they require an understanding of finance, regulation, shareholders, governance and commercial strategy.

Joining Kenya Airways

Waswani joined Kenya Airways in March 2021 as Company Secretary and Director of Legal, Risk and Compliance.

This is where his career became closely intertwined with one of Kenya's most complicated corporates.

His role has included oversight of legal matters connected to aviation operations, commercial transactions, risk and governance.

In his 2024 Legal 500 profile, he said his team had been involved in structuring and restructuring complex aircraft leasing and financing agreements covering a fleet of more than 38 aircraft, while also working on KQ's capital restructuring and proposed search for a strategic equity partner.

In other words, he was already working on the financial and contractual architecture behind the airline long before occupying its top office.

Awards and accolades

Waswani was named to the Legal 500 GC Powerlist East Africa in 2024 and again in 2025, recognition aimed at leading in-house legal professionals.

His comments in the 2025 profile reveal something about his management philosophy.

He argues that legal teams should understand an organisation's strategic ambitions and work alongside commercial colleagues rather than simply appear when a problem needs a lawyer.

He also emphasises technical development, mentorship and leadership within legal teams.

That philosophy may prove relevant in his new job.

The new CEO

Kenya Airways has appointed Waswani Acting Group Managing Director and CEO, effective September 15, 2026, following the departure of Captain George Kamal while the board searches for a substantive CEO.

It is an unusual route to the top.

Waswani is not a pilot who moved into management, nor an airline operations executive who climbed through commercial roles.

He is the corporate lawyer who has spent years understanding KQ from the inside - its contracts, obligations, risks, governance structures and major transactions.

His temporary promotion therefore puts a new question over his career.

After years of helping Kenya Airways navigate the legal and financial complications of running an airline, can Habil Waswani now steer the business itself?

That is the next chapter of a career that has spent 25 years moving steadily from the law office to the boardroom - and now, unexpectedly, to the CEO's chair.