Lilian Wangechi Kahuthu, an alumna from Strathmore’s School of Management and Commerce surprised friends and family when she emerged the best female candidate in the Certified Investment Financial Analyst (CIFA) exams.

It was double success for her as she also emerged the best overall student in Section 5 and 6 of the CIFA exams.

The proud holder of a Master of Commerce and Bachelor of Commerce-Finance from Strathmore University was not prepared for such achievements. Lilian attributes her success to her closely-knit family and circle of friends who supported her during her studies.

The journey to success was riddled with many challenges as she could not balance between work and study. She was forced to resign from a previous job to create more time for her studies.

At that time, Lilian was studying for both her Masters of Commerce and CIFA course.

Determined to excel, Lilian would wake up every day at 3 am in the morning and read all the way up to 7am.

Lilian, who describes herself as a quiet, introspective and introverted person believes that hardwork, patience and setting of priorities are what enabled her to achieve success.

Besides reading, Lilian also enjoys swimming, cooking and going out with friends.

She hopes to accomplish her lifelong goal of working in the Nairobi securities Exchange (NSE) someday as a financial analyst.