Miriam Kaggwa departs WPP Scangroup on June 1, 2026, closing a three-year chapter during which she held three of the company’s most demanding roles — Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and Acting Chief Executive Officer — as East Africa’s largest listed marketing and communications group navigated the most turbulent stretch in its recent history.
The board announced her exit on May 26, citing her decision to pursue other opportunities. The timing places her departure inside a deepening corporate crisis: WPP Scangroup’s full-year 2025 results reveal a net loss that widened to KSh713.67 million, a 40.8% increase from the KSh506.74 million loss recorded the previous year, marking the group’s fourth profit warning in five years.
Three Roles in Three Years
Kaggwa joined WPP Scangroup in February 2023 as Chief Financial Officer. She moved to the Chief Operating Officer role in January 2025, then stepped in as Acting Chief Executive Officer between July and November 2025 following the departure of CEO Patricia Ithau, whose contract ended in July 2025.
The board described her contribution in measured terms, noting that she served “with distinction across three critical leadership roles” and that her “fingerprints are on some of the most meaningful progress this Company has made in recent years.” Company Secretary Winniefred Jumba signed off the announcement by order of the board.
The Company She Leaves Behind
The numbers framing Kaggwa’s exit are stark. The single most consequential event of the past year was the termination of Ogilvy Africa’s contract with Airtel Africa in May 2025, ending a 15-year relationship that had contributed nearly a fifth of group sales. Airtel moved its business to Publicis Groupe Africa and The Partnership, a firm founded by three former Scangroup executives. At least seven agencies now operating in Kenya are led by former Scangroup staff who departed with client relationships intact.
Revenue fell 16.3% to KSh2.04 billion, with gross profit dropping sharper at 27.9% to KSh1.45 billion as client losses and reduced advertising spend squeezed margins. Cash and cash equivalents fell 59.67%, dropping from KSh2.14 billion at the end of 2024 to KSh864.48 million by December 31, 2025.
Minority shareholders have formally registered their concern, noting that the share price stood at KSh5.94 in February 2021 and had fallen to KSh2.24 by May 6, 2026, a decline of approximately 62% in market capitalisation. They pointed to cumulative losses of about KSh3.1 billion between 2021 and 2025.
A Governance Battle Running in Parallel
Kaggwa’s exit arrives alongside a board overhaul that reflects the scale of investor frustration. WPP Scangroup reshuffled its board in May 2026, appointing three new non-executive directors while three others exited. Former CEO Bharat Thakrar, who founded the company’s forerunner Scanad in 1982 before resigning in 2021 amid a misconduct probe, has since teamed up with minority shareholders holding a combined 13.59% stake to demand a special general meeting and the removal of the current board.
The outcome of that standoff remains unresolved. Under Kenya’s Companies Act, the board must convene the requested meeting within the stipulated timeline, or the shareholders have indicated they will call it themselves at the company’s expense.
What Comes Next
Management says its near-term focus centres on strengthening leadership and leveraging AI-enabled solutions through the WPP Open platform to drive future growth. The board has also flagged selective investment in growth areas and tighter cost controls as the pillars of any recovery.
Whether that strategy arrests a decline that has now run four consecutive years is the question WPP Scangroup’s incoming leadership structure must answer and answer quickly. The company that once defined marketing communications in East Africa is running short on both revenue and time.
