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LYNN Mukonoweshuro says her appointment to head Kingdom Financial Holdings Limited (KFHL) is a calling which she has gladly accepted.
She was appointed substantive chief executive officer of the group effective this month.
Before then, she had been holding fort albeit in an acting capacity following the resignation of Onias Makamba last year.
In her six years at the group, Mukonoweshuro has risen from human resources director to chief operating officer, acting CEO and now substantive CEO.
“My calling is Kingdom. I am answering my calling by working for Kingdom,” she said.
“Kingdom shaped me and I have passion and desire to see Kingdom compete at the international level.”
She becomes the first female CEO of the group since inception and she sees the appointment “as testament to the human resources and entrepreneurial development strategy that the group is well known for”.
“It shows that Kingdom recognises and rewards talent irrespective of gender and age, and we always encourage all our staff to strive for greater calling,” she said.
Mukonoweshuro also becomes the third female executive to head a financial services group after Pindie Nyandoro (Stanbic) and Charity Jinya (Barclays).
She will spearhead the re-listing of the group on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange following the demerger of Kingdom Meikles Limited.
Her rise to stardom has seen her passing through IBM Computers, Coca Cola and TA Holdings in a career spanning over 20 years.
At IBM, she was responsible for human resources and training.
As Coca Cola’s regional executive (Human Resources and Training), Mukonoweshuro was in charge of 14 Southern, Eastern and Indian Oceanic countries.
She was part of the four-member team that spearheaded TA’s forays into Botswana and Uganda.
Having being seconded to the Zimnat group, Mukonoweshuro was there when Botswana Insurance Company was being formed. She was part of the team that undertook the due diligence work on Uganda Lion.
Each move was well thought-out and each organisation had helped in shaping and moulding her qualities, she said.
“American companies have a different work ethic focused on giving your best.
“You are on duty 24 hours a day and their brand matters, they expect you to think, eat and breathe that brand,” said Mukonoweshuro who is married and has three children, referring to Coca Cola.
Her appointment comes at a time the group’s flagship, Kingdom Bank, has lost some market share.
Statistics from the Reserve Bank show that Kingdom was the sixth on the pecking order in mobilising deposits up to December last year.
Figures show that the so-called big brothers — Standard Chartered, Barclays, Stanbic and CBZ — contributed more than half of the US$1.3 billion leaving the remaining 22 banks to share the remainder.
She admits that Kingdom had lost some market share and said the groundwork laid so far will see the bank not only regaining lost ground but “more importantly take a leadership position in various markets that our business operates in”.
“We have restructured the group which included right-sizing the business through a number of initiatives, and I am convinced that we now have the solid base from which to grow and expand,” she said.
She says the group will take competition head on, driven by innovation and flexibility in coming up with products and services unique to the group’s customers.
The market will see a completely different Kingdom that is hungry for success yet still cares for its customers and other stakeholders, she said.
“I see Kingdom being in the top tier of the country’s financial services sector, a leader in its core markets and a major regional player.
“You have heard our founding shareholder Nigel Chanakira promising to enhance shareholder value by considering a regional listing of Kingdom and, ultimately, on Wall Street.
“That might appear a dream but to us it is an inspirational objective that can be achieved over time,” she said.
Mukonoweshuro says the collapsed merger with Meikles would have seen the group next door to Wall Street but says there are strategies that will result in KFHL realising its dream.
“We haven’t gotten where we want to go and we will go there, there is no doubt about that.
“Having come out of the demerger, we have a strategy which we believe will take us there,” she said.
Mukonoweshuro said the shareholders’ fight affected the bank but is happy the parties are tying up a few loose ends to resolve the matter.
Shareholder issues aside, the group has engaged stakeholders to understand what they expect from the financial services group, she said, adding that such consultations have resulted in new initiatives to be unveiled at the appropriate time.
On the local market, she says, efforts are being made to grow the microfinance arm of the group, MicroKing.
She says the arm is designed to help people with start-up capital to commence businesses and “once they get to a certain stage we will wean them off to the commercial bank”. The group has applied for a micro-finance bank licence for MicroKing.
The restructuring at the group has resulted in the disbanding of the discount house arm and Mukonoweshuro said the consolidation resulted in a new business model for the future.
BY NDAMU SANDU
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