In a week that should have ended quietly, two institutions announced the exits of their CEOs. The first announcement came out of Stanbic Bank. The board of the bank announced the exit of Charles Mudiwa who now moves to Stanbic Kenya as CEO. Tenure of CEOs in Zambian banks often ranges from 2 to 5 years. Charles served in Zambia for two years.
Whilst Charles watched Boys II Mens “end of the road” knowing that exit was eminent, we at FiZ were reminded of the Memo that came from Dr. Bwalya Ngandu regarding succession in financial institutions. We published the article “Are Premier Companies Doing Enough to Groom Leaders Organically?” back in August 2017 in order to remind industry of the importance of succession planning. This was as a result of stumbling upon circular number 03/2012 (Date 1 February 2012) from the Bank of Zambia website, signed by Dr Ngandu (Deputy Governor Operations) aptly titled “ENGAGEMENT OF EXPATRIATES IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR”. An extract of the statement reads: “In line with the provisions of Section 31 of the Banking and Financial Services Act and in accordance with the designation procedures prescribed by Bank of Zambia under Sections 6 and 12(3) of the National Payment Systems Act, directors and other senior officers of a financial service provider, payment system and payment system business must satisfy the fit and proper test criteria before being appointed to take up a position in a financial service provider, payment system and payment system business”.
The statement from Dr. Ngandu further elaborates the criteria that should be used as part of the vetting process of acceptance of nomination of expatriates. It states that the employment of expatriate personnel shall be permitted only in specified categories of jobs and only expatriate personnel who meet the prescribed qualifications and or experience shall be eligible. Furthermore, expatriate personnel qualifying for such jobs shall be engaged for a period specified in their employment permits. Lastly, the categories of jobs in which expatriate personnel shall be permitted are those in which the country is at present deficient in local skill. Therefore, the employer of such expatriate personnel shall be required to carry out a genuine programme of training for replacement of such personnel by a local candidate within a period to be specified in the employment permit application.
The second announcement came out of AEL Mining who published through SENS Announcement the departure of Jaco Human as CEO. Unlike in the Stanbic case where the heir apparent remains unknown, Hendrik Jansen van Rensburg has been appointed to take over Managing Director of the explosives company. However, what is interesting is that in October 2017, Fiz published the article “Thinus Bierman exits for pastures green“. Just like Thinus, Jaco exits for a new role at AECI Group. Same company poaching two executives from the same company? It does make one curious. Furthermore, AEL Mining performance over the last few years has been exceptional and shareholders will be keen to know whether high performance stewardship will be retained.
With the choice of successor already know, much will be expected from the new leadership of the explosive company. Hendrik makes his debut at the next AEL AGM and will be primed to please the investors in the company.