At Arise we are passionate about addressing the status quo when it comes to advancing female leadership in Africa. Women’s economic participation and leadership is essential to improving business performance and Arise aims to strengthen the position of women in its own executive leadership through actively promoting gender equality, particularly within senior leadership roles.
It therefore gives us great pleasure to announce the promotion of several female investment and risk specialists at Arise. We would like to extend our congratulations to Carla Bester, who was recently promoted to Head of Risk and Compliance, Linda Ngcwangu, who was promoted to Senior Investment Associate and Andani Madzena, who was promoted to Investment Associate.
Carla Bester – Carla, who joined Arise in April 2019 is responsible for overseeing the risk and compliance portfolio of both Arise and its partner banks in Africa. A certified Risk Management Professional (FRM) and Anti-Money Laundering (CAMS) specialist, Carla is a seasoned professional with an extensive background in risk and compliance, corporate governance and banking and investments. She has worked at leading financial institutions both in South Africa and in Sub-Saharan Africa and is an integral member of the Value Creation Team.
Linda Ngcwangu – Linda, who joined the Arise team as an Investment Associate in July 2019 currently oversees the investment portfolios related to Arise’s partner banks namely Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETI), Zanaco, dfcu Bank and Moza Banco. She played an instrumental role in concluding several investment transactions including ETI’s USD 75 million ATI Bond subscription last year and the Moza Banco’s USD 7.5 million bond subscription and the bank’s capital raise in the same year. Prior to joining Arise she worked primarily on Financial Institutions Group (FIG) advisory and subsequently, general corporate finance covering Sub-Saharan Africa.
Andani Madzena – Andani joined Arise in 2019 as an investment trainee straight out of university. Due to her passion for her work and her unwavering commitment to make a difference in just a few months, she was permanently employed by Arise as an Investment Analyst in 2020. Andani has been an invaluable addition to the investment team, and we are proud of her career progression and look forward to seeing her thrive in her new role as an Investment Associate.
Arise also aims to advance female leadership within its partner bank network and we are pleased to announce that Mukwandi Chibesakunda, CEO of Zanaco will be embarking on a global female leadership programme course with INSEAD. This international programme aims to advance female leadership across all critical business sectors of the economy.
According to Arise Acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr Albert Jonkergouw the advancement of women in management and leadership roles is critically important. Providing training only is not sufficient to support women in their career advancement. In his experience board rooms focus adequately on placing (recruitment and promotion) women in management and leadership roles, but far more focus is required in terms of supporting these women in their management/leadership roles through providing tailor made training, mentorship, and coaching opportunities to ensure that they are successful in their new roles.
“Within Arise we do recognise this need for additional training, mentorship and coaching and therefore allocate resources to support our women, not only in moving into management and leadership roles, but also provide them with the additional mentorship support required. Furthermore, we are committed to advancing this ethos within the board rooms of our partner banks to include into their strategies”, he added. “It is important to note that within the African context more investment is required for women advancement as the management and leadership pool is generally quite young. With the result that the problem is exacerbated as there is a huge shortage of experienced woman in management and leadership roles”, he concluded.
Arise is committed to addressing the current status quo in terms of female leadership and going forward will be embarking on several initiatives aimed at advancing women in the banking sector.
