Zambia National Commercial Bank (ZANACO) PLC has appointed Mrs. Mukwandi Chibesakunda as its new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective October 1st, 2020, according to an announcement issued by the bank’s Board of Directors.
Mukwandi is to succeed Mr. Henk Mulder, who has been Managing Director and CEO of ZANACO Bank PLC for the past 4 years. Under Mr. Melder, the Bank outperformed analyst’s expectations and remains on course to continue being one of the top-performing banks in the country.
Mukwandi Chibesakunda holds a Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and a post-graduate diploma from Manchester Business School as well as an Economics Degree from the University of Zambia. With over a decade of banking experience, she until recently served as the Managing Director of the National Savings and Credit Bank. She has also held various top-level roles at Standard Chartered Bank, Stanbic Bank as Executive Director, and as the first-ever female CEO of Access Bank Zambia Limited. As if that was not enough, the Central Bank was also a temporary home for her which completes her financial industry exposure that has seen her serve on the regulatory, commercial and state-owned financial sides of in Zambia.
The devout Catholic and mother of three boys and one girl’s ascendancy to one of Zambia’s biggest banks has seen her garner emotional and social capital through the years as she has led diverse banking teams in her previous leadership roles. Often described as a ‘mother hen’ or lioness to her cubs by legions banking professionals that have had the privilege of being led by her, Mukwandi’s leadership exhibits a trait that can only be described as a love mark in a financial sector that is often described as cutthroat. “I am excited to have her come to ZANACO”, said one of her future lieutenant’s in a conversation with the Founder of Financial Insight following the announcement of her appointment. “Mukwandi has arrived at the right moment in the transition of the bank and all the pieces are now falling into place and she has the experience to take us to where we ought to be as a bank”.
ZANACO will be looking forward to Mukwandi’s Midas touch. When the GRZ owned NATSAVE Bank unveiled her as its CEO, the year that followed after her appointment saw the bank turnaround its strategic destiny and become a rebranded entity that demanded to be noticed among the banking elite with announcements such as the signing with MasterCard which signaled a leadership at the bank that embraced stakeholder management to ensure they delivered on their strategic mandate. She will no doubt look back at this experience and use it as a beacon of hope and testimony that private sector thinking can be transformational.
She inherits a bank that has its history embedded in Zambian Banking folklore. Reminiscing on how far the bank has come, the bank’s Board Chairperson, Charity Lumpa said in the 2019 annual report that ”as I reflected on the past year, something felt different about it. I was struck throughout the year about how resilient and adaptive our Bank has been over the five decades of its existence. We reached a milestone, our 50th anniversary; a celebration of a half-century of ably providing financial services and strongly embracing innovation. From a small Bank on Cairo Road in October 1969 all the way through to 2019 recording market firsts in introducing Automated Teller Machines (ATMs), debit cards, mobile banking, and Quick Response (QR) codes and being one of the leading banks that ZANACO has become, is confirmation of how far and extraordinary the journey has been”.
Mukwandi no doubt inherits a bank with a rich history and with a future that is female, this should bring pride to all Zambian women. Every second of everyday girls and women are dreaming, creating, and manifesting change. The last few years have seen a rise in the number of Zambian women that are taking up significant positions in most of the sectors but with the banking industry taking a lead. The likes of Rekha Mhango (Deputy Governor Administration, Bank of Zambia), Mizinga Melu (CEO and MD, ABSA Bank Zambia), Lowani Chibesakunda (CEO, Citi Bank Zambia), and now Mukwandi Chibesakunda (CEO, ZANACO). Cheers to our Zambian wonder women.
This announcement by ZANACO can best be described by the RnB musician Rihanna’s song in which she sang that “there’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.” Financial Insight believes Mukwandi brings grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for answer as she sits at the high table of banking in Zambia.
