Friday, 28 February 2020 – Gaborone, Botswana: Letshego has confirmed three permanent appointments for its top executive roles as follows:
Aupa Monyatsi appointed Group Chief Operating Officer (Group COO)
Aupa is a well-rounded and experienced banker, having worked in regional financial services sectors for 17 years.
Aupa joins Letshego from his role at Absa Barclays Group, where he has been responsible for leading the team that spearheads and develops the regional bank’s digital innovation and virtual channels. Aupa’s responsibilities expanded across 12 markets in sub Saharan Africa. He spent two years traveling between Ghana, Senegal and Nigeria incubating select fintech’s to drive financial inclusion through mobile money, using block chain. Furthering Aupa’s passion and expertise in fintech development, he spent time in Silicon Valley (USA) and Spain to benchmark global trends in innovation. Prior to this, Aupa held leadership positions in Barclays Botswana, including Chief Operating Officer and Head of Distribution Channels, with his last role being Acting Managing Director Botswana, before transferring to his group responsibilities at Absa’s regional head office in South Africa.
Aupa commenced his career auditing for PWC in Botswana. Aupa graduated with a Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of Botswana in 2003, participating in numerous specialised executive development programmes thereafter, including courses from Duke University in the (UK).
Gwen Muteiwa appointed Group Chief Financial Officer (Group CFO)
Gwen brings 20 years of experience in banking, joining Letshego from the role of Group Chief Financial Officer at ABC Holdings Ltd (BancABC, part of Atlas Mara), where she was responsible for the finance function in six operations in Southern and East African markets. She spent a total of 12 years at ABC Holdings in roles including the Chief Financial Officer for Zimbabwe, incorporating retail and wholesale banking, asset management and micro- lending subsidiaries, as well as a role of Group Head of Finance Transformation. In her transformation role she led the implementation of a financial controls framework, standardisation of financial control systems and processes across the Group. Prior to this, Gwen spent several years in the Zimbabwe banking sector, including three years as Managing Director for a local merchant bank, where she was responsible for strategy implementation, customer acquisition and growth, as well as a stint in corporate advisory. Gwen completed her Bachelor of Commerce (B(Comm) Accounting) at Rhodes University, South Africa. She holds a Certificate of the Theory in Accounting (CTA) and Honours in Accounting Science, both from the University of South Africa (UNISA).
She attained a qualification aimed at strengthening leadership in banking, entitled ‘Management of Banks and Financial Institutes’ from Galilee College in Israel, and completed the Executive Leadership Development Programme from Stellenbosch University. Gwen completed an MBA with Steinbeis University (Berlin, Germany) and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Zimbabwe (ICAZ) and the Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA).
Bella Tshepang Dihutso appointed Group Credit Risk Officer
Bella brings more than 12 years of experience in credit risk management, and is an example of how Letshego is successfully developing its talent for leadership positions. Bella has played a significant role in the Group’s credit and risk framework for the last 4 years. Over the last 10 months, Bella has held the Group Credit Risk Officer role in an acting capacity, a natural step up from her previous responsibility as Letshego’s Group Credit Risk Models, Impairments & Analytics Manager. Soon after joining Letshego, Bella successfully implemented IFRS9 across all 11 subsidiaries, as well as introducing and implementing automated credit reporting across the Group.
Before joining Letshego in 2016, Bella was the Head of Impairments, Models & Analytics at Barclays Botswana, having been promoted from the Consumer Risk team, where she was responsible for MI (Management Information) Analytics. Bella has a BIS Computer Information Systems from the University of Botswana, a SAS (Statistical Analysis System) Programming 1 and 2, and well as completing Stellenbosch University’s Management Development Programme.
Andrew Okai, Letshego’s Group Chief Executive, confirmed, “We are delighted to have secured a differentiated set of expertise to bolster our executive leadership team, and welcome Gwen, Aupa and Bella to Letshego’s top team. I look forward to our expanded leadership team achieving a marked contribution to our future strategy, directly influencing our value proposition and the enhanced experience we can create for our customers. I am confident we have the ingredients to create a future-ready organisation, cementing the Letshego brand as a world-class retail financial services organisation.”
ENDS.
About Letshego Group (Letshego Holdings Ltd)
The Letshego Group is a proudly African multinational organisation, headquartered and listed in Botswana and focused on delivering inclusive finance solutions to underserved populations across 11 Sub Saharan Markets.
With a staff compliment of over 3,000 – including both direct and indirect sales agents – and more than four hundred thousand customers, Letshego is synonymous with leveraging innovation and technology to improve the lives of individuals who have limited access to traditional financial services.
In 2019, Letshego celebrates 21 years of supporting regional communities, with strong progress towards the Group’s ambition to be Africa’s leading inclusive finance organisation. For more info visit www.letshego.com
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