Sonny Zulu - The Eccentric Banking Czar

When preparedness meets opportunity, it produces leaders like Sonny Zulu whose commitment to doing things differently leapfrogged his journey on the corporate ladder. In this exclusive interview with African Leadership Magazine UK, the Chief Executive Officer, of Standard Chartered Bank, Zambia, talks about, leadership, Banking, among other sundry issues.

Excerpts:

You are one of the continent's leading light in Banking; Futuremakers programme, which aims to lift participation of women by enabling them to grow their businesses through technology. Can you share your growth phases. What shaped your leadership journey?

I had the privilege of ascending to a senior leadership position at a very early stage in my career. Within about 7 months of joining Standard Chartered as a management trainee, I had the privilege of acting as the Country Head of Corporate Affairs and was later confirmed. Interestingly, what got me into the top management team was neither the double calculus nor my knowledge of assets and liabilities management. It was the demonstration of leadership on the delivery of a mundane task which involved the closing of numerous accounts manually.

A few months after joining the bank, I was given the task of closing over three thousand accounts one by one which, in the past, notoriously kept reopening when the bank performed the end-ofmonth run. Using my problemsolving skills acquired from my engineering background, I quickly figured out the reasons why these accounts were force-reopening and my one-page report on the root cause and the corresponding solution become my one-way passport to the Boardroom. Although the ascension did not happen immediately, everyone in the top management at the time got to know the young management trainee who had solved the long outstanding risk issue that was being tabled at Executive Risk meetings for months.

Soon after delivering on this task, I was assigned another chore of manually sorting out piles of hundreds of physical files for client segmentation. At first, I wondered whether I had made the right decision to join a management training program where I was being asked to sort and pack hundreds of dusty files. As days went by however, I found myself learning a lot about the clients. At the end of the project, I became the go-to person in the Bank for any queries relating to segmentation. Name the client, and I could tell from my sleep in which segment they were sitting. On a few occasions, I was called into senior management meetings to clarify the segmentation for a few groups of companies. It was moments like those that started to shape my leadership journey

I learnt very early in my career that school will only teach us so much, the rest we learn from what I call the untaught syllabus in my book, Eccentric: Thoughts Unraveled.In addition to working smart and working hard, attitude, humility and good relationships with colleagues plays a critical role in one's leadership journey

Your Bank recently unveiled its $40 Million Headqauters in Zambia in the presence of the president and key stakeholders. This bold step strategically positions the bank as one of the country's biggest financial institutions. Can you share the bank's history in Zambia?

The opening of our new Headquarters in Lusaka was a significant moment for us. This iconic structure is the first-ever building in Zambia to meet the globally recognized Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies (EDGE) certification. We continue to thank the President of the Republic of Zambia – Mr. Hakainde Hichilema for gracing the occasion. His presence at the launch of this energy efficient building reinforced the tone from the top on the country's commitment to the sustainability agenda.

Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc was the first bank to open in Zambia. Established in 1906, the first branch opened in Kalomo District (Southern Province). Since 2019, Standard Chartered is the first-ever Digital Bank in Zambia. We are the only bank where one can open a Zero monthly fees; Zero monthly charges bank account in 15 minutes via smartphone or online, without the need to ever visit a physical branch.

Today, over 116 years later, Standard Chartered Bank remains one of the leading banks in Zambia, with an excellent franchise. The bank has branch presence in Lusaka and the Copperbelt. We are also the only international bank in Zambia listed on the Lusaka Stock Exchange (LUSE) and we have been ranked the Best Digital Consumer Bank in Zambia for the last 7 consecutive years.

Over the past decade, Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc has pursued a clear strategy of focused organic growth and being a market leader in providing innovative, banking products and services to its customers. The bank is in a unique position to leverage its deep-rooted local knowledge, its international network, and expertise for the benefit of Zambian corporates, individual depositors, and multinationals.

The Bank's Futuremakers programme, is designed to lift the participation of women by enabling them to grow their businesses through technology” Can you tell us how this has fared thus?

Futuremakers by Standard Chartered is our global initiative to tackle inequality and promote greater economic inclusion for disadvantaged young people in our communities. Futuremakers by Standard Chartered is anchored on three pillars: Education, Employability and Entrepreneurship.

Launched In Zambia in 2020, Futuremakers programmes have been actively promoting social and economic inclusion for more prosperous and sustainable communities. Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc has four active programmes under FuturemakersSC Women In Tech (WiT) Incubator Programme, Youth To Work, Enhanced Youth Entrepreneurship and Employability (EYEE) Programme and Goal.

As Standard Chartered Bank Zambia Plc we are firmly committed to our clients and the communities in which we operate, including lifting the participation of women in the economy. That is why we launched 'Women in Tech' in November 2020 in partnership with Bongohive to align with calls for more diversity in technology, entrepreneurship, and the need to create more opportunities for Zambian women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership excellence. WiT supports Zambian women-led or women-owned businesses to apply technological innovation to their operations or business. Most important, WiT gives access to seed funding - each year USD150,000 is invested in the programme for Zambian women to scale-up their businesses through the power of technology.So far 10 Zambian businesswomen from various sectors have each received USD10,000 seed funding through this initiative with 22 women going through the incubation phase.

With no mistakes, you have worked tirelessly to get to where you are today, enlighten us on your biggest moments in the industry?

Oh no! I have made several mistakes on my journey. Chapter 1 of my book Eccentric: Thoughts Unraveled highlights one such moment where I thought that was the end of my career. I will not spoil it for those that are yet to read the book. On my big moments, there has also been several. To mention a few, I was privileged and honoured to have led the introduction of extended banking in Zambia after my exchange programme in India where I found a 24/7/365 Branch. It was also an honour to have led the introduction of the first mobile banking platform in Zambia. At that time, it was not even on smart phones, it was only based on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD). I personally worked with Aggregators, and I had to engage the Central Bank on several occasions to get approval. Great memories when I see how far we have come. The most recent big moment was my assignment in the United Arab Emirates. I was given the task of turning around a business that was almost being shut down. With support from several colleagues in the Bank, the business was transformed and has since become the best performing business across the Africa and Middle East region.

According to a 2021 survey by FinCop, about 40% of Zambians adults do not have access to quality financial products, and about 60% who have the access, do not use it. What is your leadership doing to change this numbers?

I will start by stating that financial inclusion is not just having a bank account, we believe it's about having access to affordable financial products and services. You may have a current account, but if you do not have access to loans or wealth management products when you need them, then you have been excluded. To this end, we have ensure that we our digital platforms continue to evolve and to include all the products and services that our clients need. Regarding the traditional definition of financial inclusion, we are very delighted that through our digital bank, we are opening 5 times more accounts that we were opening with brick and motor. We are not opening account across the entire country in all province while in the past, we were only acquiring clients in the cities where we had physical presence. In partnership with the mobile network operators (MNOs), we have reached out to many Zambians out there. Some of our Corporate clients are paying over 5,000 individual beneficiaries from their corporate account using our Straight2Bank platform to the mobile banking wallets.

Alongside the digital migration, we have created a hybrid model. We have introduced agency banking where we have already commenced the roll out of 100 agencies across the country including remote areas and we are looking to increase the number of these agencies to over 300 in the next phase.

What are the guiding principles that have served as elements to your rise in Leadership, Business and management?

One key guiding principle for me is relationships. As a trainee Metallurgist, I would often be left alone at Konkola Copper Mine (KCM) to manage the froth flotation plant. Armed with my training, I would adjust the underflow discharge of the Hydrocyclones by simply making a few changes to the apex or the input parameters. Too technical? Well, let me come back to banking. When I moved from working with machines to working with people, I realised I could not change the output from colleagues by simply pressing a few buttons as I did at KCM. I needed to build strong relationships. We are in a people business.I have heard some people say, 'I am not here to make friends.' This effectively means they just want to do their job and go home. This may also mean that they don't care how others feel as long as they get the job done. Well, from my experience, teams are more effective when colleagues share great working relationships.I cannot easily recall all my budget numbers from previous years. However, I clearly remember the moments I spent with several individuals and teams. Over the years, I have learnt a few principles on relationships that have helped me:

LISTENING - We naturally connect with people who listen. Whether you are a people leader or a member of a team, develop the habit of listening. Listen to the unspoken words and ask open ended questions to genuinely understand. Show empathy and genuine interest in others. Offer support.

HUMILITY - When we relate with others with the

Financial inclusion is not just having a bank account; we believe it's about having access to affordable financial products and services. You may have a current account, but if you do not have access to loans or wealth management products when you need them, then you have been excluded spirit of humility, we learn and we grow. It also demonstrates that we are secure, and it becomes easy for others to connect with us.

LEAD THE HUMAN, NOT JUST THE TASK - Human beings connect with human beings - not machines. Humans face challenges. They forget things and sometimes they have no answers. If you always portray yourself as a superhero, flawless, and one who has all the answers, it will be hard for others to connect with you.

BE DELIBERATE – Happiness is a choice, and happy people overachieve. Create an environment that will foster happiness as you work with your colleagues. Be creative with your team building activities. A team that does not find any time to have fun together may struggle to build strong relationships. When you invest in happiness, the scorecard begins to turn green!

I have said a lot but just remember that people are not machines. They have emotions and they make choices. Connect with people before attempting to connect them to your vision.

From your experience so far, how best do you think Zambia, Africa can be economically improved?

Zambia and many African countries must review their current governance systems. Developing countries must define for themselves what they consider and accept to be democracy. The current approach where everything is centred around a 4–5-year election cycle may never develop any country. Real and tangible economic development requires sacrifice and several mediumto-long term plans. Unfortunately, most leaders do not have the opportunity of executing long term plans. Just as they plan to start, an election is knocking on their door. Leaders are therefore torn between pursuing initiatives which they know are required for long term gains, or to do what will please the majority to win the next election. It will require a lot of selfless engagement to change the borrowed governance systems as it will never be an easy discussion. Unfortunately, this can not be changed by anyone from outside, we have to do it ourselves.

I strongly believe that we have what it takes and we have everything we need. We also have a lot of great plans. We just don't give ourselves time to execute them. Leaders get in a hurry to acquire, and to do as much as they can within the shortest possible time before their time is up. That's a cancer we must cure.

Happiness is a choice, and happy people overachieve. Create an environment that will foster happiness as you work with your colleagues. Be creative with your team-building activities. A team that does not find any time to have fun together may struggle to build strong relationships