NAIROBI, Kenya — September 30, 2026: Stephen Kipsang Busieney has been named Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kenya's Geothermal Development Company (GDC), moving from an acting role into the substantive position as part of a wider round of senior energy-sector appointments.
The appointment was announced by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, according to a September 30 report by TUKO, which said Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi approved Busieney's appointment alongside new leadership at KETRACO and EPRA. The report said the appointments take effect immediately.
Who is Stephen Kipsang Busieney? Stephen Kipsang Busieney is a Kenyan finance executive who has served as GDC's acting managing director and CEO after years in senior finance leadership at the state geothermal company. His appointment places him in charge of an institution central to Kenya's geothermal exploration, drilling and commercialisation programme.
Busieney moves from acting CEO to the substantive GDC job
Busieney was already leading GDC before the September 30 announcement. The company's executive committee page listed him as Acting Managing Director and CEO as well as General Manager for Finance and Investment, while describing him as a finance and accounting professional with more than 15 years of experience.
TUKO reported that the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum said the appointments followed recruitment exercises conducted by the boards of the respective institutions under applicable laws and human-resource procedures. In the same announcement, CPA Tom Odhiambo Imbo was named managing director and CEO of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, while Eng. Edward Mwirigi Kinyua was appointed director general of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
For Busieney, the decision formalises a leadership role he had already been exercising during a busy period for GDC. That matters because the company is responsible for reducing the upfront risk of geothermal development by exploring fields, drilling wells and preparing steam resources that can later support electricity generation and other commercial uses.
XTRAfrica has previously reported on changes in Kenya's wider electricity market, including plans to open electricity imports and resale to private companies, while regional energy links have also featured in Kenya's fuel-supply relationship with Uganda. Busieney's appointment comes as energy institutions face pressure to expand infrastructure while keeping power supply reliable and investment moving.
GDC's official profile says Busieney worked as Chief Financial Officer of CIMERWA Cement Company Limited in Rwanda before joining the geothermal company. It also identifies him as a member of the professional accounting institutes in Kenya and Rwanda.
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Stephen Busieney Named GDC CEO in Kenya Energy Appointments
Sep 30, 2026
Sep 30, 2026
5 min read
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NAIROBI, Kenya — September 30, 2026: Stephen Kipsang Busieney has been named Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kenya's Geothermal Development Company (GDC), moving from an acting role into the substantive position as part of a wider round of senior energy-sector appointments.
The appointment was announced by the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, according to a September 30 report by TUKO, which said Energy Cabinet Secretary Opiyo Wandayi approved Busieney's appointment alongside new leadership at KETRACO and EPRA. The report said the appointments take effect immediately.
Who is Stephen Kipsang Busieney? Stephen Kipsang Busieney is a Kenyan finance executive who has served as GDC's acting managing director and CEO after years in senior finance leadership at the state geothermal company. His appointment places him in charge of an institution central to Kenya's geothermal exploration, drilling and commercialisation programme.
Busieney moves from acting CEO to the substantive GDC job
Busieney was already leading GDC before the September 30 announcement. The company's executive committee page listed him as Acting Managing Director and CEO as well as General Manager for Finance and Investment, while describing him as a finance and accounting professional with more than 15 years of experience.
TUKO reported that the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum said the appointments followed recruitment exercises conducted by the boards of the respective institutions under applicable laws and human-resource procedures. In the same announcement, CPA Tom Odhiambo Imbo was named managing director and CEO of the Kenya Electricity Transmission Company, while Eng. Edward Mwirigi Kinyua was appointed director general of the Energy and Petroleum Regulatory Authority.
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For Busieney, the decision formalises a leadership role he had already been exercising during a busy period for GDC. That matters because the company is responsible for reducing the upfront risk of geothermal development by exploring fields, drilling wells and preparing steam resources that can later support electricity generation and other commercial uses.
XTRAfrica has previously reported on changes in Kenya's wider electricity market, including plans to open electricity imports and resale to private companies, while regional energy links have also featured in Kenya's fuel-supply relationship with Uganda. Busieney's appointment comes as energy institutions face pressure to expand infrastructure while keeping power supply reliable and investment moving.
GDC's official profile says Busieney worked as Chief Financial Officer of CIMERWA Cement Company Limited in Rwanda before joining the geothermal company. It also identifies him as a member of the professional accounting institutes in Kenya and Rwanda.
A GDC annual report available through Kenya's parliamentary library records that Busieney holds a Master of Business Administration and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Nairobi, along with leadership training from the University of Pretoria's Gordon Institute of Business Science. The same record placed him in GDC's senior finance leadership before he moved into the acting chief executive role.
His regional experience has also become more visible through GDC's recent commercial activity. On September 1, the company announced an agreement with Shandong Kerui Oilfield Service Group to provide geothermal well-logging and testing services for an Ethiopian drilling project. Busieney signed the agreement while serving as acting MD and CEO.
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The Ethiopia contract reflects a broader push by GDC to commercialise its technical expertise beyond Kenya. The company said the assignment would provide specialised personnel and technical services for high-temperature geothermal wells in Ethiopia's Aluto area.
Menengai, Suswa and GDC's next phase
Busieney also takes the substantive job while GDC is advancing major geothermal projects at home. In January, GDC said it had started mobilising drilling rigs to the Suswa geothermal field, describing Suswa as its third operational field alongside Menengai and Baringo-Silali.
At Menengai, the company has been expanding the use of geothermal resources beyond electricity. A recent Kenya News Agency report quoted Busieney outlining plans for geothermal tourism, including heated pools, spa facilities and other direct-use projects around the Menengai resource.
GDC has also pushed a wider regional agenda. Earlier in 2026, it signed cooperation agreements involving geothermal development in the Democratic Republic of Congo and research into industrial uses of geothermal energy. Those projects fit into a broader East African effort to turn renewable resources into industrial and cross-border infrastructure, an issue XTRAfrica has also covered through projects such as Grand Inga and regional clean-energy investment.
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What changes with Busieney's appointment
The immediate change is institutional certainty. An acting chief executive can manage day-to-day operations, but a substantive appointment gives GDC a permanent leader as it moves through investment decisions, drilling programmes, commercial partnerships and project development.
Busieney's finance background also puts a commercial-management specialist at the head of a technically demanding geothermal company. GDC's recent strategy has increasingly combined exploration and drilling with partnerships, direct-use geothermal projects and paid technical services outside Kenya.
The next test will be execution. GDC must continue developing steam resources, attracting investors, managing large capital projects and turning geothermal expertise into revenue while supporting Kenya's electricity system. Busieney now carries that mandate as the company's substantive managing director and CEO.
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