Prudential plc school students, in partnership with the NGO Plan Ghana; and a scheme to support actuarial science graduates. In September 2014, Prudential purchased Kenyan life insurer Shield Assurance and rebranded it as Prudential Kenya, further expanding the company’s presence in Africa. Prudential has since entered three other African countries – Uganda in 2015, Zambia in 2016 and Nigeria in 2017. On 10 March 2015, it was announced that the CEO, Tidjane Thiam, would leave Prudential to become the next CEO of Credit Suisse. On 1 May 2015, it was announced that Mike Wells, head of the company's US business, would succeed
Tidjane Thiam named. Thiam's mother, Marietou, was the niece of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, the founder and first President of Côte d'Ivoire. His father, Amadou Thiam, a journalist, was born in Senegal and emigrated to Côte d'Ivoire in 1947. He supported Houphouet-Boigny in his fight for the independence of the country and served more than ten years in the Ivorian cabinet after independence. Tidjane’s uncle, Habib Thiam, was Prime Minister of Senegal for more than 10 years and also served as President of the National Assembly. In 1982 Thiam was the first Ivorian to pass the entrance examination to the École Polytechnique in Paris.