Mark Ocitti Ongom takes over as Chief Executive Officer and Director of the Stanbic Uganda Holdings Limited (SUHL) Board effective 10 July 2026, bringing nearly three decades of leadership across consumer goods, telecommunications, and energy.
He succeeds Francis Karuhanga, who had been carrying the SUHL role alongside his duties as Standard Bank Group’s Regional Chief Executive for Southern and Central Africa. Karuhanga now returns to that regional position full time.
Ocitti Ongom arrives from the chairmanship of Equity Bank Uganda, a direct competitor to Stanbic in the local market, a role he steps down from to take up this appointment. Most recently he served as President of Sanlau, and his earlier career spanned senior positions at East Africa Breweries, Airtel Africa, and Shell Uganda. That record across multiple sectors and markets gives him a broad commercial base from which to lead what is one of Uganda’s most significant financial institutions.
SUHL sits within Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank by assets, and spans five subsidiaries: Stanbic Bank Uganda, Stanbic Properties, SBG Securities Uganda, Stanbic Business Incubator, and FlyHub Uganda.
Baker Magunda, Chairman of Stanbic Uganda, said the appointment comes at a critical point for the bank and expressed confidence in Ocitti Ongom’s capacity to accelerate growth across Uganda and the wider East and Central African region. Magunda also acknowledged Karuhanga’s contribution to the business during his tenure.
Dr. Joshua Oigara, Standard Bank Group’s Regional Chief Executive for East Africa, described Uganda as central to what he called one of the continent’s most dynamic growth regions. He called Ocitti Ongom an exceptional leader with the commercial judgment and strategic clarity to drive Stanbic’s next phase.
Ocitti Ongom holds a Master of Business Administration from Heriot Watt University’s Edinburgh Business School and a Bachelor of Statistics with Honours from Makerere University. He is also an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators in the United Kingdom.
In his own words, Ocitti Ongom describes his approach as grounded in people: building winning teams, cultivating brands for the long term, and investing in individuals so they can perform at their best. That philosophy, tested across African emerging markets in multiple sectors, now meets one of East Africa’s most closely watched banking groups.
