Women overtaking men in leadership positions

PHILLEPUS UUSIKU

Hard work, taking calculated risks and consistency are some of the qualities that will ensure that women remain relevant and make a positive impact in top leadership positions.

The Bank of Namibia (BoN) celebrated women in leadership of commercial banks yesterday. Speaking at the event, Johannes !Gawaxab the governor of the bank notes that four out of the top five commercial banks in Namibia now have female managing directors making Namibia a leader on the continent in this regard.

Transformation of the Namibian financial sector as advocated for by the Namibia Financial Sector Strategy and the Voluntary Financial Charter calls for the localization of the sector.

Localization in this context means ensuring increased local ownership, skills development and decision-making capacity of institutions, he said.

“We have seen Namibian women being appointed on merit to management and executive positions within the banking sector, which is a welcomed undertaking,” !Gawaxab added.

The four women leading Namibian commercial banks are Baronice Hans, the managing director (MD) of Bank Windhoek, Ester Kali, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Letshego Namibia, Martha Murora, the managing director (MD) at Nedbank Namibia and finally Mercia Geises the newly appointed Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at Standard Bank.

Challenges

!Gawaxab stressed that the banking sector in Namibia and globally is going through a challenging time. The banking sector is faced with challenges introduced by Covid-19 which slowed demand for loans, potential quality deterioration, margin suspension and mounting pressures to further cut costs and fees as lenders become more digital and many transactions taking place outside bank branches.

“I have no doubt that you have proper risk mitigation measures in place to continue to ensure the stability of our banking sector which has been stable and sound thus far,” he concluded. - [email protected]