Marjorie Mayida

Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer

Old Mutual Investment Group, Zimbabwe

Marjorie Mayida is the first woman Managing Director within Old Mutual Group in Zimbabwe. She is responsible for driving the growth of Old Mutual Investment Group (OMIG). The business units under her leadership, namely wholesale, retail and property management, command a market share of 50 percent, 55 percent and 44 percent, respectively, making Old Mutual a major player in the Zimbabwe investment management market; hence driving the direction of the industry. Her portfolio contributes between 10 to 15 percent of Old Mutual’s Africa performance, excluding South Africa. OMIG is also the largest institutional investor on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange.

Marjorie has risen from the ranks within the Old Mutual Group, having joined Old Mutual Asset Managers in 1999 as an Information Technology Officer. Last year, she played an instrumental role supporting the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange with the launch of the first electronic funds transfer (EFT) system in Zimbabwe.

Throughout her career, she has led several notable transactions, including Eastgate SME Mall in Harare, the biggest SME Mall in Southern Africa, with 12,000m2 of trading space. Earlier, she was successful in steering the turnaround strategy for Old Mutual Property, resulting in positive outcomes in financial performance, staff cohesion, control environment and stakeholder management.

Among several charities, Marjorie supports Junior Achievement Zimbabwe (JAZ) and serves as a non-executive board member of the not-for-profit organization that is dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise. In 2020, about 23,000 lives were reached through JAZ financial literacy programs in primary and secondary schools across the country.

Rina Hicks

Operations Director

Faida Investment Bank, Kenya, Rwanda & Uganda

 Rina Hicks directs the Corporate Finance Advisory unit at Faida Investment Bank, and serves as the Operations Director responsible for firm-wide strategic planning and processes in Kenya and Rwanda. She has led the firm in carrying out several capital market transactions over the past five years, including cross listings, rights issues, fairness opinions, mergers and acquisitions, take over transactions and general capital raises in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

 She has led the firm’s growth, garnering a seven-fold increase in revenues since 2017. Some notable transactions over the past two years under her steer include Nation Media Group’s share buyback which was the first ever share buyback in East Africa; I&M Bank Rwanda’s rights issue; and RH Bophelo’s cross listing on the Rwanda Stock Exchange from the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. In 2019, Faida served as the Independent Financial Advisors on the NIC Group PLC and CBA Group Limited merger, the largest merger ever in the country’s banking industry.

 An Authorized Representative under the Nairobi Securities Exchange Growth Enterprise Market Segment (GEMS), Rina has fostered a deep knowledge and appreciation of the challenges that businesses seeking capital go through and this has fueled her desire to advance local retail investor participation and higher levels of savings to finance Kenya’s overall investment needs.

 As the founder of Money-Wise®, a platform that is involved in content creation, investment coaching and training, Rina has increasingly become an internationally recognized voice on financial literacy and investor education. Specifically, she has trained over 5,000 individuals through partnerships and collaborations with organizations such as StandardChartered, KCB Group, Kenya Wine Agencies Ltd., ABSA, Telkom Kenya, Kenya Revenue Authority, Minet Kenya, and many church-based organizations.

 She authored the book “Money-Wise: Create, Grow & Preserve Wealth” in 2017 and hosts the successful YouTube Channel “Money-Wise with Rina Hicks,” which has more than 29,000 subscribers, and over 1 million total views from over 50 countries. Her personal vision through these platforms is to see Africans propelled to greater heights in the management of their finances, creating a Continent of financially secure families.

Rahel Musyoki

Immediate Past Business Development Manager

CarePay (M-TIBA), Kenya

 Rahel Musyoki most recently was responsible for the growth of CarePay's revenue and portfolio through its disruptive health e-payments technology solution dubbed M-TIBA. By leveraging partnerships with private and public sector organizations, as well as, donors and philanthropic organizations, Rahel led the company in co-creating sustainable solutions that enable citizens in vulnerable and marginalized communities to have access to affordable healthcare services and financing across a wide network of medical service providers. Her unit built a network of 1,000 plus healthcare facilities with negotiated costs where individuals with low incomes and the working poor, as well as their families, access and receive quality healthcare.

With only 20 percent of Kenyans having either state-sponsored or private health insurance, M-TIBA is poised for exponential growth. Capitalizing on the market opportunity, Rahel influenced technical improvement and development on the M-TIBA platform collaboratively with CarePay's technical team. She contributed to the design of features that enhance the user experience and functionality towards providing M-TIBA service providers with seamless healthcare administration. In 2020, she led the development team that secured contracts with two of the largest insurers in the country. The proposition featured micro health insurance products with premiums as low as USD 32 annually, which attracted significant uptake of M-TIBA services and revenue growth for CarePay.

Despite an intense work schedule, Rahel still finds time to volunteer. Between 2017 and 2020, she volunteered as a coach for the Mizizi program under the Mavuno Church Organization. Mizizi helps 20- to 35-year-olds discover their purpose. During this period, she and the team she coached, participated in supporting children’s homes in informal settlements in Dandora and Mathare and helped to equip inmates at Langata Women's Prison with study materials and practical skills to earn wages after their release. Currently, she serves as a co-founder for The Afro SHErose- a women's community group that focuses on holistic empowerment of women.

Gakii Mwongera

Group Head of Internet Banking

Equity Group Holdings

 Since joining Equity Group in 2012, Gakii Mwongera has directed the bank’s digital channel portfolio which has witnessed tremendous growth in transaction volumes, from USD 9 million in 2012 to over USD 10 billion in 2021. She has championed the training of more than 6,000 bank employees on features and benefits of digital transaction banking platforms, thus improving product uptake and achieving a return on digital channel investment within two and a half years – two years ahead of the projected date. Recently following Equity Group’s acquisition of Banque Commerciale du Congo, she managed the bank’s successful migration and digitization in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), which has seen Equity BCDC become the second best-performing subsidiary in internet banking in less than a year.

 Additionally, Gakii has been tasked with supporting Equity’s Manufacturing Sector, where she has led the growth by 35 percent of the bank’s corporate manufacturing sector asset portfolio. In this capacity, she worked closely with the Equity Group Foundation in identifying manufacturers, both large and small, who can benefit from financial literacy education – directly or through their value chains – and facilitated training sessions that enabled these entrepreneurs to manage their businesses more sustainably. Moreover, she spearheaded the development of a cashflow based lending product which resulted in simplified access to working capital for manufacturers; and resulted in the disbursement of more than 439,000 business loans worth over USD 200 million, a major win for job creation and growth of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Kenya.

 Gakii has been intentional about building her teams and colleagues into future leaders within the Group. Her efforts have been profoundly beneficial, ensuring business continuity and flexibility in the execution of duties. She also recently signed on as a volunteer with the bank’s Equip Book Club, an initiative founded to promote and entrench a reading culture across Equity Group. This has resulted in her division being recognized internally for their flexibility and expertise in relationship management, customer service and support, operational efficiency and on overall year-on-year growth in non-funded income for the bank.

 Groupwide responsibilities including international travel has not deterred Gakii from giving back to society. For more than six years, she has volunteered as a mentor in conjunction with the Equity Leadership Program under Equity Group Foundation. She helps guide scholars in matching skills and interests with career opportunities. She serves as a board member of Kibirichia Girls High School and mentors students on general life skills and the need for academic excellence, specifically in Mathematics. Since July 2018, she also has served as a sighted volunteer at Be My Eyes, an organization that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers for assistance in managing their daily activities using mobile technology. She is passionate about empowering persons living with disabilities and supports the use of technology to empower PWDs across Africa.

Sharon Kinyanjui

Regional Director - EMEA (Europe, Middle East & Africa)

WorldRemit Ltd.

 Sharon Kinyanjui is the first woman to direct WorldRemit’s operations across 70 countries, of which 42 countries are in Africa. The region she is responsible for driving the strategic direction of, identifying new markets, and optimizing financial performance is one of the largest contributors to WorldRemit's global revenues and gross profit.

 She has been instrumental in leading the charge and being the first International Money Transfer Organization (IMTO) to provide a completely new payout currency (USD pay-out) for customers sending payments to Nigeria. Due to her efforts, WorldRemit has regular interaction on market development with the Central Bank of Nigeria as one of the key forex revenue earners for the country. Nigeria is one of the largest remittance markets globally with inflows of USD 16.8 billion in 2020, according to World Bank data.

 Sharon serves on the board of five WorldRemit entities in South Africa, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya. Her leadership style has energized a team of cross-functional experts towards a common goal. Additionally, she has spearheaded product rollouts to reduce the cost of cross-border payments for customers across Africa in conjunction with key Mobile Network Operators (MNO's), including Vodacom, Safaricom, MTN, and Airtel, as well as, several banks, in Uganda and Rwanda, amongst other markets.

 In February 2021, she co-founded Ngewa House, a rehabilitation center that provides a haven for women who have undergone traumatic experiences, including gender-based violence.

Christine Baingana

Chief Executive Officer

Urwego Bank, Rwanda

 Christine Baingana is responsible for Urwego Bank’s Christian-based mission to provide a ladder of opportunity to underserved communities in Rwanda. She has fostered an organizational culture that makes the mission possible—a culture where both staff and clients flourish. Her greatest achievement over the last five years as CEO is driving profitability in the year 2021, despite the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

 Since 2012, Urwego Bank has failed to make a profit and struggled to manage multiple bottom lines, while consistently serving clients with excellence. Christine spearheaded a turnaround strategy from 2017 through 2019, which centered around culture change and involved vast organizational changes in staff positions and operating processes. Some of the changes were iterative, and by the end of 2019, the right staff were in the right positions and fundamental processes, such as loan origination and delinquency management, had been rebuilt to both reduce risk and improve efficiency.

 The onset of COVID-19 in March 2020 dampened operations; however, the momentum she had led carried their microfinance business through the most challenging operating environments in recent history. With her guidance, Urwego focused on stabilizing liquidity; building the portfolio through diversification and reaching underserved communities; and, pushing forward digitization to serve existing clients better.

 In 2021, Urwego Bank achieved the unlikely: profitability. For this monumental milestone, she is credited for pushing through “courageous” cost controls, including migrating the bank’s branch network to a more financially sustainable footprint; a “back-to-budget” strategy; and gaining buy-in across the organization. Today, Urwego is an efficient, digital-driven microfinance bank. Over 80 percent of transactions at Urwego are fully automated over digital channels.

 The bank has grown its microfinance portfolio and expanded its agent network amid a particularly challenging operating environment. As the bank has grown, risk metrics have been carefully monitored and delinquency metrics have improved. The bank has worked with existing clients to encourage loan repayments and provided fresh capital to businesses that are recovering and growing in the current COVID-19 environment. 

 Christine is excited to help Urwego emerge as a leading microfinance bank, not only in social transformation but also in financial performance and stewardship. Outside of her role as CEO of Urwego Bank, she has been heavily involved in multiple ministries at Christian Life Assembly (CLA), including helping to launch a ministry for teenagers. She is part of a group of professionals who advise managers on ways to manage people, and better manage their financials. And when COVID-19 lockdown protocols were announced, she volunteered in events held via Zoom that provided an open platform to anyone seeking advice on their wellbeing.

 A talented singer, Christine performs often during women’s conferences convened by her church and provides career guidance to younger women. Additionally, she has supported the Rwanda Bankers’ Association’s (RBA) financial inclusion programs.

 Venus Hampinda

Finance Director & Regional Head

Strategic Tax Solutions

Absa, Zambia

 Venus Hampinda has steered Absa Bank Zambia PLC as Chief Financial Officer since March 2020. Under her leadership, the business has been on a progressive path despite balancing growth with rebranding to Absa post separation from Barclays PLC; and the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a challenging macro-economic environment, resulting in country credit rating downgrades.

 In 2020, impairment provisions grew by more than 200 percent from prior years. However, the bank saw impairments significantly reduce (by 86 percent as at end of September 2021) on account of her prudent credit management which resulted in lower impairment charges and releases with business trending favorably in line with budget. The bank exceeded its operational efficiency targets over a three-year period, driven by renegotiation of key contracts, branch rationalization, a voluntary separation program, migration of key processing services from South Africa to Zambia at lower costs, and reduction in operational costs.

 As of September 2021, the bank’s headline earnings had grown by more than 400 percent to trend favorably to budget. The bank also posted positive performance on key ratios, including Net Interest Revenue to Total Income, Loan Loss Rate, Cost to Income, Jaws Ratio, and Return on Equity. As at half year 2021, in comparison to competition, the bank regained its market position as a top three bank in Zambia in terms of revenue, profitability and balance sheet with market share of 14 percent.

 Moreover, the bank maintains a positive control environment with a green rating on quality and timely submissions to both local regulators (Bank of Zambia, Zambia Revenue Authority, and Zambia Securities & Exchange Commission) and regional regulators (South African Reserve Bank). In addition, Venus promotes alternative dispute resolution as a means of reducing legal costs and exposure. She negotiated an out-of-court settlement in relation to one of the bank’s largest legacy legal cases.

 Venus is an all-round finance professional who has worked in all “three lines of defense”: risk taking, risk oversight, and risk assurance. She started her career in external audit, worked as a corporate relationship manager looking after government and public institutions, then transitioned to Director Risk and Internal Audit before finally getting into the Finance function. She therefore prides herself in being a “co-pilot to the business,” who fully understands the needs and challenges of a bank. For her achievements that span over 18 years, she has been recognized by the Zambia Institute of Chartered Accountants (ZICA) as one of the 27 Female Accountants in Zambia that have excelled in their fields.

 Previously, she served at Chief Finance Officer at StandardChartered Zambia, where she was able to work on a business case and obtain approval from the bank’s Group Chief Finance Officer for the financing and construction of a new, state-of-the-art head office building. The StandardChartered building is the only Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) certified building in Zambia. Prior to StandardChartered, Venus served as Director Finance and Corporate Planning at Zambia National Building Society, where she steered the organization out of loss making into profitability.

 Outside of the office, Venus says her “superpower” is being a mother to many. For more than five years she has mentored and given motivational speeches to students in local schools and universities, and in conjunction with various community organizations, including Lucy Mlewa Foundation. While at StandardChartered she was executive sponsor for Seeing is Believing, a program that tackled preventative blindness and spearheaded initiatives that led to over 35,000 Zambians benefitting from free eye screening in 2019. In 2020 she served as Breast Cancer Awareness Ambassador for the Zambia Cancer Society, and as a mentor to young female professionals with Women Females Lead (WFL).

 Last year she served as a panelist on the ACCA Africa roundtable discussion on climate change that focused on how accountants can contribute to achieve the net-zero target for carbon emissions in Africa.

Dr. Millicent Omukaga

Office of the President Advisor - Women Empowerment and Affirmative Finance

African Development Bank Group, Côte d’Ivoire

Dr. Millicent Omukaga is a policy advisor in development programming and finance with expertise in investment projects and portfolio management and market development for rural and agricultural communities across Africa. In her current position at African Development Bank (AfDB), she guides on financial inclusion through policy engagements at corporate and country levels, and provides technical assistance through access to finance and markets programmes targeting women entrepreneurs across the Continent. Some of her recent achievements include contribution to the establishment of the Bank’s 10-year Gender Equality Trust Fund, which is the first thematic fund on gender in the Bank Group’s history; USD250 mn Risk Share Mechanism; and USD25m Technical Assistance project.

Prior to joining AfDB, she worked in public and private sector financial institutions, where she was directly responsible for implementation and supervision of rural and agricultural development programs across East Africa. Organizations where she played a key role in advancing women’s economic empowerment include African Rural and Agricultural Credit Association (AFRACA), KCB Group, and Kenya Women Microfinance Bank (KWFT).

She also has served as Chief Operations Officer for Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) Kenya, a position she held for three and a half years. At AFC, she was instrumental in the development finance institution’s (DFI’s) successful recapitalization, effectively increasing its capital base by 30 percent. She led the bank-wide effort to develop a new strategic plan (2018-2022) and worked closely with the CEO to ensure prudent operations that improved the bank’s external rating (from B to AA in 2019).

She developed a special initiative for AFC dubbed “Women Affirmative Access to Agri-finance Window” or WAAW that bundled capacity building and alternative collateral. The WAAW initiative increased the number of women agri-MSMEs financed by AFC, growing the portfolio from approximately one percent to 16 percent within the first year; 600 women entrepreneurs were trained with 100 receiving customized technical assistance thus leading to improved access to additional capital. Leading a dynamic team of over 360 staff, she grew the portfolio for the bank’s USD 80mn agri-finance revolving fund by 30 percent while stabilizing quality by reducing the portfolio at risk (PAR) by 54 percent. At the same time, she championed AFC’s advocacy and publicity agenda, raising the profile of AFC through traditional and digital media platforms, and positioning AFC as a trusted national DFI.

She has initiated successful policy dialogue platforms with governments, private sector and civil society organizations –particularly on rural development and financial inclusion. She is also a regional advocate for financial inclusion and women's voices through the African Women Leadership Network (AWLN), a network by the African Union Commission (AUC) and the United Nations (UN) through the Office of the AU Special Envoy on Women, Peace and Security and UN Women.

Millicent is internationally recognized for championing inclusion of vulnerable communities and has earned several awards, fellowships and commendations including from Harvard Business School and Womens World Banking. She is also a Trailblazer Award recipient conferred by the President of the Republic of Kenya. She is a qualified banker and accountant, and is certified in internal audit and project management for development. She earned her doctorate (PhD) in Development Studies, and has a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) and Bachelor of Commerce degree (1st class honors).

 Njeri Jomo

General Manager

Retail Business Development

Britam Group, Kenya

 Njeri Jomo is General Manager of Britam Group’s retail and commercial segments. She leads the insurance agency’s business development strategy and is also responsible for the distribution strategy and channel management of Britam’s Financial Advisory unit which is supported by a network of 2,200 agents across 31 branches coupled with the Independent Financial Advisory (IFA) Network of 1,500 agents. She has been instrumental in driving customer acquisition and revenue growth of the Company’s retail product portfolio, which includes Individual Life Assurance products, pre- and post retirement Pension products, Investment and Wealth Management Solutions, Health/Medical Insurance Products and General Insurance Products (Motor and Non-Motor).

 Njeri’s achievements include introducing the firm’s Investment Linked product line, which grew under her leadership to command 26 percent of market share in less than four years. She has led the retention and growth of the firm’s Individual Life products portfolio, retaining market leadership with a market share of 29 percent. She also has championed Britam’s sustainability by growing its Youth Segment to 21 percent of the Retail Life Portfolio.

 Passionate about innovation, Njeri has helped advance Digital channels for Britam Life (USSD, Buyonline and Mobile app), working with developers and process owners on proof of concepts, technical designs and user journey mapping, regulatory engagements, and go-to-market and benefits realization. She also established the tele-sales function which successfully grew conversion of digital leads from two percent to 17 percent. In the area of process innovation, she led the pilot and rollout of an E-policy document, a first for the insurance industry. The E-policy is utilized by more than 150,000 Britam Life clients, and has been adopted as an industrywide innovation.

 Recognizing the potential of partnerships, she has facilitated key relationships for the firm including with Cellulant through the Tingg App which promotes Britam products to over 250,000 new customers. Another notable partnership is Lipa na Bonga, which enables customers to pay their premiums through Bonga points (Safaricom loyalty points)—another industry first.

Njeri is an advocate for youth financial literacy. In 2019, she partnered with Comedian Eddie Butita and a group of artists to run a program dubbed "Eddie Butita Campus Tour" that focused on financial literacy, talent monetization and career readiness; the program reached more than 30,000 university students. She also serves as a mentor for the Presidential Digitalent Program, an internship program that develops the ICT talent pool in Kenya.

Jacqueline Karasha

Head of Corporate Business

Sanlam Life Insurance Ltd, Kenya

 When Jacqueline Karasha joined Sanlam Kenya in 2016, she was tasked with turning around the Corporate Business’s performance which had been on a steady decline in terms of revenue and profitability.  The 2016 Full Year revenue stood at USD 17mn and the company’s market position had declined from 1st to 8th. Through effective strategic planning, Jacqueline diversified the firm’s distribution channels to include Bancassurance and Digital channels, and re-engaged key intermediaries in the market.

She revamped the client service model to enhance retention and implemented a high performance culture within the team, introducing goal setting, performance management and frequent feedback sessions. As at December 2020, the revenues of the Corporate Business reached USD 35mn, up from USD 22mn in December 2019.  The remarkable performance helped cushion the Sanlam Kenya business from the economic shocks that were experienced in the market due to the COVID pandemic.

She created and reinstated relationships with key partners for Sanlam Life, and introduced a Sanlam Partner Connect initiative, a platform the firm uses to engage with partners and align performance goals and objectives. Sanlam underwent a rebranding from Pan Africa Insurance in 2016. The Sanlam brand was therefore fairly new in the market and she championed the new brand awareness campaign. 

Her leadership style is anchored on good governance and she has been a champion of ethical business practices in an industry plagued with a reputation of price undercutting, poor customer service and mistrust. Her approach has served her well as Sanlam has continued to grow and the firm is recognized as a trusted brand.

Jacqueline is passionate about young professionals in the insurance industry and is keen on supporting the next generation of professional and innovative leaders of integrity. She is a co-founder of the Sanlam Women Network which champions the engagement and support of all female staff in the firm. In addition, she supports the Lea Mathare Foundation (LMF), a community-based organization that was established in March 2012 to educate and support marginalized and disadvantaged children living the informal settlement of Mathare. LMF offers early childhood education, food and a safe space to the youth living in Mathare, as well as, homeless children from as young as five years old.