Lessons On Becoming A Corporate Amazon

Bold, courageous and forward-looking, Dr Sibongile Moyo, the Managing Director of Nedbank Zimbabwe, is relentless in her pursuit of excellence. She tells us more about leading a successful brand and making a difference. Excerpts:

You are an inspiration for women in the continent who desire to become leaders and heads of corporate institutions in the continent. What lessons can you share on your journey to the top?

I am deeply honoured to have been recognized by the African Leadership Magazine community as an inspiration to fellow women in the corporate world on the continent. I was privileged to be raised in a home with a strong matriarch, my grandmother Mavis Moyo (nee Zulu), who is ninety-three (93) years old now, and who was an incredible inspiration and role model as an accomplished professional and someone who demanded the highest standard in everything.

I began my corporate career in Africa in my thirties after spending years abroad, immersed in contexts encouraging individual expression, creativity, self-assurance and courage. Courage is the single most critical determinant of whether fellow women grow to achieve their career potential and rise into positions of leadership and influence. Women have incredible ability, strength and often more excellent aptitude. However, our socialization has only sometimes enabled us to be as courageous and bold as we need to be professional. We need to exercise professional courage: in the face of opportunities and challenges; make decisions with clear convictions; make our voices and those of others heard; choose our battles; and influence at scale in the spaces where we operate; continuously

With leadership aspirations, you are already outstanding, conscientious, committed, hardworking and purposeful. Therefore, the second critical lesson I share is that you should be willing to start at the bottom, operate at any level and nurture relationships across the board. One needs to be openminded, to teach and to learn, to guide and to be guided, to collaborate truly and to lead by example. This has not been as easy as it sounds, as it requires incredible humility, empathy, and patience and stretches you beyond your comfort zone.

Nedbank, under your leadership in Zimbabwe, has successfully migrated customers from the traditional banking model to the digitally enabled ecosystem. Can you share some beneficial outcomes of this digital migration?

Digital enablement has been at the core of our business strategy to drive client-centricity, accessibility and convenience. The Bank delivered a record number of solutions in line with industry trends and keeping with the demands of the changed operating environment. Over eighty per cent of our clients are digitally active, with the bulk of these using our enhanced mobile banking solution launched in the first quarter of 2021. Mobile banking enhancements included: pioneering zero data-rated mobile banking application access; online query logging; online account application; biometric login; and interoperability of funds transfers to mobile numbers across all three mobile network operators (MNOs). Contactless payments were also enabled via "tap and go" cards availed to our clients for seamless transacting.

The most rewarding digital enablement in terms of impact on entrepreneurs has been providing thousands of Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) access to our mobile banking application and ATM cards. With ATM cards, SMEs can make payments on point-ofsale terminals market-wide and withdraw cash at ATMs in multiple currencies, enabling them to transact online from anywhere twenty-four hours a day all year round. We further launched an instant person-to-business (P2B) merchant payment solution on our mobile application for SMEs to receive funds from their customers anywhere. The Bank also launched an electronic and printed SME Handbook to assist entrepreneurs in navigating issues around the formalization of their business operations, banking, and compliance with tax, companies and other legislation. (The Nedbank Zimbabwe essential guide for small business owners may be accessed by clicking https://bit.ly/3Ru61U6)

We introduced open banking to our corporate and institutional clients through application programming interface (API) integrations to facilitate multi-user and bulk payments and collections initiated by debtors or creditors. Via API integrations, our clients and their ecosystem users can access the Bank directly from their enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems for seamless transacting.

Client engagement, query logging and resolution via our twenty-four-hour contact centre are undergoing further enhancement to integrate additional communication channels, including Webchat, on our journey to achieve omnichannel access. Further, our clients that prefer to walk into our brick- and-mortar branches have enjoyed the in-branch WiFi-enabled tablets for query logging and self-service.

The Bank, under your leadership, has continued to promote the financing of critical sectors in the country, including mining, Agriculture, manufacturing, and green energy, amongst others. How has the Bank's financing helped to advance the growth of these sectors in Zimbabwe?

As a subsidiary of Nedbank Group, Nedbank Zimbabwe benefits from history and expertise shaped over a century in African and global markets. We have tapped into this legacy to deliver client solutions across various industries. Our mining financing has extended existing relationships with regional and international mining houses and DFIs. The latter provides funding for significant capital expenditure and mine development. We have offered complementary financing of last-mile activities in local operations, funding value chain SMEs, and facilitating international trade-based transaction banking services. The mining industry has grown in leaps and bounds regarding overall output volumes across critical minerals of gold, chrome, lithium and platinum group metals. We are proud to be part of the story

In funding primary Agriculture, our Asset Backed Financing (ABF) solutions have contributed to expanding capacity via mechanization, irrigation infrastructure and specialist postharvest handling facilities for highvalue export produce. The tobacco industry, where we have always played a significant role as Nedbank, continues to benefit from our offshore financing to exporting merchants for green leaf purchases and processing. This support extends to the thousands of contract farmer SMEs in their ecosystem whom we serve in seasonal agency banking offices in the remote areas where they operate. There has been a pleasing steady rise in output and export revenue from the agriculture enterprises we Bank and the sector as a whole.

Commodity trade finance solutions have been at the centre of our Manufacturing industry support with instruments used to acquire raw materials, including collateral management structures modelled around marketable securities to free up working capital. Retooling of the industry has benefited from our term loans, vehicle asset financing (VAF), and equipment lease financing via our regional business partners. In the broad sense, our funding to manufacturers has enabled them to extend credit terms to their distributors, essentially SMEs – wholesalers and retailers - which spurs and smoothens overall economic activities. We have seen overall national industry capacity utilization increase steadily over the last three years, with a pivotal role for Banks in availing much-needed tradebased working capital solutions and retooling finance.

Green energy financing is a passion project for us in line with our purpose and the wealth of expertise built up over the years by a pioneering parent, Nedbank SA, in the area of climate action and green financing. We have workshopped renewable energy requirements with many of our clients and EPC contractors, via whom we are financing renewable energy substitution projects for clients in all segments and at various scales. We are excited about the prospects and impact in this space, and we will see these unfolding across industries, including in planned mini hydroelectricity projects.

Nedbank, under your leadership, has continued to post impressive results. How have you been able to increase profitability for the Bank amidst the prevailing global economic headwinds?

The Zimbabwean economy has not been spared from the effects of the global economic downturn, from the coronavirus pandemic's onset and the headwinds from the ongoing geopolitical tensions. The fast-changing environment has challenged our business models, requiring us to be agile to remain relevant to our stakeholders and the economy

I inherited a robust platform at Nedbank Zimbabwe with the strong balance sheet, a strong core client base and a committed team. The challenge for me became that of optimizing the platform with a focus on; seamless transaction banking services; optimal levels of earning assets; capital preservation; client experience; human capital deployment; and team wellbeing in the face of all the uncertainty

With the introduction of the first rigid lockdown restrictions, it became imperative to ensure minimal disruption in transaction banking service to clients by ramping up focus on our digital channels. We became the first Bank in the market to enable our ATMs for multi-currency cash withdrawals in April 2020 for our salaried client base and SMEs. Transaction volumes on our point of sale (POS) machine network in essential service merchants grew significantly with the public's demand for seamless, reliable transaction channels. Our corporate and institutional clients could integrate their ERP to the Bank directly via an application programming interface (API) to perform multi-user and bulk payments and collections initiated by them and their ecosystem users. The seasonal agricultural marketing activities where thousands of farmers rely on Banks for payments presented a challenge with movement restrictions under lockdowns. Therefore, the Bank established several remote agency banking sites with online branch access to serve farmers in small towns across the country for convenience and client retention – a model we have replicated from year to year

We leveraged the Bank's healthy network of international correspondent banking relationships to deploy foreign assets and to conduct brisk business in cross-border payments in all major currencies, even when most major international banks were de-risking from the country When runaway inflation made it difficult for the Bank to advance local currency loans aggressively, we leveraged our Treasury capabilities. This ensured that all excess deposits and resources in local and foreign currencies were efficiently deployed into interest-earning assets in foreign banks and government securities. Through fruitful engagements with our foreign parent, we managed to provide foreign currency-denominated loans to domestic clients for their short- and medium- to long-term investments.

Considering the hyperinflationary environment and its impact on local currency devaluation, we adopted a deliberate strategy to preserve foreign currency earnings as a hedge while preserving capital. This has seen us record profit uplift from the resultant translation gains over time. Further, with our local currency earnings, we have invested in strategic fixed assets to preserve value and benefit from the revenue uplift.

Our clients remain our primary focus when all is said and done, and our success can only be attributed to their loyalty and custom. We continue to put our customers first, prioritizing step improvements in client experience and engagement. This is through continuous enhancements to our contact centre, service excellence coaching and responsiveness by our teams. Our leadership team is actively involved day-to-day as recipients of client communication via the Bank touchpoints, and this has improved issue resolution and user confidence. As a continuous learning and improvement process, putting our customers first has been well-received by the market and yielded positive results.

We are finally focusing on our people and their wellbeing, and striving to make the Bank a "great place to work" has unlocked a positive culture shift with inclusiveness, openness and collective accountability. This heart hand has been our oil as a Bank Can you share some of the Bank's core areas for Corporate Social Responsibility in Zimbabwe?

We continuously seek opportunities to live our purpose to leave a lasting imprint in the communities where we operate. The Bank's core corporate social investment (CSI) areas are youth empowerment, education, environment, health, sport and entrepreneurship.

Youth empowerment and accelerating financial inclusion initiatives for the youth are a priority as they are the country's future business leaders. We launched the Nedbank Youth Accelerator Program (YAP) in 2021 in recognition of our role as a leading employer in contributing towards the empowerment of young graduates. The Bank has extended the programme to over 100 young graduates in two years, with the participants selected from thirty (30) countrywide locations. The Youth Accelerator Programme is a fixed term six months work immersion programme for unemployed graduates under twenty-eight (28). The program equips the youth with formal onthe-job training and job-related skills in financial services whilst being coached and mentored by the Nedbank teams to gain transferable skills to apply in their future entrepreneurial pursuits and formal employment. We are pleased that Banks has employed many program participants on completion as they would now have essential work experience.

In a further commitment to technology education, the Bank invested in an innovation hub in Emganwini township, a marginalized area on the outskirts of Bulawayo city, in early 2022. The innovation hub was opened to advance technology education in coding, computer skills and workforce development for the youth in that area. Young children from schools near the Nedbank innovation hub have been attending an after school-coding and computer skills programme where an average of 1000 students will benefit annually from the free internet access and training by fellow youths from the community

For over a decade, Nedbank Zimbabwe has partnered with Junior Achievement Zimbabwe ("JAZ") under JA Africa and contributed significantly towards the entrepreneurial development of thousands of high school youths who have been enrolled in the programme annually. Further, through the Nedbank Education Fund, the Bank extended its support to thirty-six talented students pursuing STEM programs in medicine, engineering, mathematics, actuarial science and technology in universities across the country. The STEM students have progressed well, and graduates who completed their studies have been employed with the Bank's assistance.

Our healthcare support in 2022 was extended to boosting neonatal care in the two largest public hospitals in the north (Sally Mugabe Hospital) and south (United Bulawayo Hospital) of the country by providing them with highdependency unit infant incubators. We further supported WizEar Trusts for ear, nose and throat (ENT) specialists to host ear camps to conduct free screening and critical surgeries for over sixty children from underprivileged backgrounds. The Bank is also committed to annual programs to support therapy for children with disabilities and children living with albinism.

In line with our sustainability goals, in efforts to counter the negative impact of climate change, we participate in the annual National Tree Planting season. We have planted over 3,600 indigenous and fruit trees with our partners at Tertiary institutions, schools, hospitals and orphanages across the country since 2020. The Bank has also supported the provision of clean water and sanitation through infrastructure investments in highdensity suburbs in the Midlands. As a Bank, we have also had the opportunity to speak on various regional platforms on climate action by the private sector and advocacy

Under the sports pillar as a tool to unify communities, we committed sponsorship over two years towards the national rugby team, "The Sables", in their bid to qualify for the 2023 rugby world cup. The Bank also launched a local rugby challenge cup introduced as a platform to scout for talent from various provincial rugby clubs countrywide for selection to represent the country at the Currie Cup in South Africa and the Africa Cup in France in 2022. The Nedbank Running Club, incorporating both professional Zimbabwean runners and Nedbank staff, participates in several flagship marathons annually, including the World Championships held in Oregon, USA, in 2022 and the Comrades marathon in SA, under our sponsorship.

What is your parting word for women looking forward to playing big in the financial services sector in Africa?

Understand what drives the business and the value you contribute to its success. This requires you to see the big picture and zero in on your contribution and how you will actively drive it. In the financial services sector, it is down to the balance sheet and how much value you move there. Therefore, as you work up the career ladder, it is essential to identify the critical strategic levers and position yourself to contribute and drive value on the balance sheet. If you are in an enabling role that does not directly impact the balance sheet, focus on value-creating collaboration and demonstrable support to the balance sheet drivers. Then, let your hand be seen in the process, and your voice is heard to achieve the same recognition. This will undoubtedly earn you currency, increase your visibility amongst the rainmakers, and earn you a seat at the next higher table. Ten years ago, I had an experience with a senior group executive of the Bank who had jetted into the country with the GCEO for the first time; he came up to me and said, "I heard that you move the traffic around here". This was a defining moment for me where the penny dropped, and I realized that impact does not go unnoticed and cannot be ignored, even in this male-dominated industry

Create and nurture relationships at all levels and actively engage in building networks. Your name should be synonymous with positive outcomes so that when an opportunity comes up, your name is on the lips of the decision-makers. Do not fall into the trap of thinking that you have arrived or allowing yourself to be put on a pedestal, and there is always more and better to learn. Lastly, appreciate the power of fellow women at all levels in your institution, rallying behind you with their support. This is tangible power and comfort, which is good for your soul.

As a distinguished honouree and recipient of both the Special African Banking Leadership Excellence Award and induction into the ALM African Leadership Council (ALC), how do you feel, and how does this add to your personality?

I am deeply honoured and delighted to have been recognized by the African Leadership Magazine community as an honouree and recipient of the Special African Banking Leadership Excellence Award and for induction into the ALM African Leadership Council. It is humbling to have been selected for this award amongst many accomplished colleagues in the Banking sector in Zimbabwe and across the continent. The ALC membership will allow me to learn from the best and contribute to the discourse and action to address issues impacting the continent as a whole.

Critical lesson I share is that you should be willing to start at the bottom, operate at any level, and nurture relationships across the board. One needs to be open-minded, to teach and to learn, to guide and to be guided, to collaborate truly, and to lead by example