Angaza Awards 2023 Top 10 Women to Watch in Banking, Finance & Investment

A champion for financial inclusion, Audrey has proactively led the small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) unit at Absa Ghana, where she oversees the Agency banking proposition, women banking proposition, and MasterCard Foundation Young Africa Works program, among others.

Her performance outcomes include a 65 percent year-on-year growth in income and 57 percent year-onyear growth in customer deposits -- achieved amidst the current economic challenges faced globally and within the Ghanaian market. Moreover, the bank’s SME portfolio grew by 21 percent. In 2020, at the heart of the Covid Pandemic, she led the process to conceptualize and launch Absa’s women banking proposition.

Through the Africa Works Program, more than 5,000 SMEs have been trained on business management. The project which aligns with the Sustainable Development Goal on gender, decent work and innovation, has so far disbursed USD 18.44 million to more than 4,900 SMEs, creating more than 9,000 jobs. These efforts have been celebrated in Ghana with Absa winning awards for SME banking and empowerment of women clients.

As a facilitator and public speaker, Audrey has personally trained and engaged thousands of business owners on financial and banking related matters. Audrey also serves as board chair of Rehoboth Foundation Ghana, which is an international organization that provides strategic leadership development services for church and corporate establishments. She also supports various charities that extend health screening, water infrastructure and educational support to poor and marginalized communities across Ghana.

Sheila Wristberg Managing Director

As managing director, Sheila is the iRisk’s chief strategist, responsible for achieving short- and long-term objectives while producing value for shareholders and other stakeholders. She joined iRisk in 2017 as executive director and became managing director in 2018. During this period, she led the transformation of iRisk -from a startup with little operational framework into a reputable insurance brand in Ghana.

Under her leadership, the company has grown its revenues by 1,000 percent. In 2020, following a directive from the National Insurance Commission for brokers to recapitalize, she led the recapitalization exercise which exceeded the regulator’s requirements by a scale of four. The Insurance Commission ranked iRisk as the fifth-largest insurance brokerage firm in Ghana in terms of revenue in 2020 and 2021, out of more than 100 regulated firms, despite the fact that the company only began operations in 2017. It is worth noting that the top four insurance firms have all been in business for approximately 30 years or more.

Sheila led the company’s expansion into several sectors, including aviation, oil and gas, manufacturing and public sector. Her risk oversight includes the Government of Ghana’s

USD1.2 billion Hospital Infrastructure Project, a consortium of insurance companies which provided insurance coverage for the construction of 111 hospitals in all districts across Ghana.

Sheila is actively involved in the development of inclusive insurance products to serve the lower end of the population. In response to consumer pain points, her company has developed innovative products including a market stall insurance policy for women micro traders; and GHCompare, an aggregator website for insurance quotations and claims. Being a motorcyclist, she also spearheaded the development of a bespoke group life insurance policy for motorcycle clubs in Ghana.

In October 2022, she led iRisk to become a signatory to the Nairobi Declaration on Sustainable Insurance, making the firm the first insurance brokerage and third company in the Ghanaian insurance industry to sign onto the declaration.

She serves as Vice-Treasurer of the Insurance Brokers Association of Ghana (IBAG) and is the youngest member of its executive council. She represents IBAG on the GIZ Program for Sustainable Economic Development and the National Insurance Commission’s Inclusive Insurance Planning Committee.

Her community impact includes an all-female motorbike group called Biker Girls GH that promotes safe riding and supports women’s empowerment, as well as advocating for better prison conditions and helping incarcerated women develop skills for reintegration into society.

Patty Karuaihe-Martin Managing Director

Patty oversees the entire operations of Namibia National Reinsurance Corporation Ltd, ensuring that it is run successfully, maintaining profitability, running on sound business principles and achieving its mandate. She is a seasoned business and finance professional with over 30 years’ experience in the financial industry, of which 10 were at PriceWaterhouseCoopers (PWC), where she held the position of Partner: Tax, Strategic Advisory, Risk and Corporate Governance. She is currently the 2nd Vice-President of the Namibia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NCCI).

Since joining NamibRe, Patty has grown the business from a small business to a medium business enterprise with investment grade credit rating, leveraging from gross profit premiums, increasing profitability and efficiency, and ensuring there is systematic shareholder return to the shareholders in the form of dividends.

In the 2019/20 Financial Year the Corporation recorded a recordbreaking Gross Written Premium of NAD 755 million (USD 41.7 million). Patty has led a team that has grown the business from USD 10 million to USD 50 million in the first five years of her leadership. In terms of profitability (the net underwriting profit), NamibRe recorded an effective increase of 82 percent over the three-year period. Underwriting profits have grown significantly, and the company has recorded an increase in its asset component from NAD 200 million (USD 11 million) to close to NAD 1 billion (USD 55.3 million). Shareholders received consistent returns over the past few years.

NamibRe has a high profile in Africa, being positioned 30 in 2019 (top 50 Reinsurers, Atlas Magazine), to being ranked 22 in 2020, and currently 18. This is mainly on account of a combination of two factors namely, employing (and training) staff with the correct expertise and concerted strategy to grow the business of NamibRe not only in Namibia, but significantly enhancing business relations in the region and the Continent.

She strongly believes in thought leadership and continuous professional development; has a great passion for sustainability and an unquestionable drive for making a tangible impact in the insurance landscape. With her backing, members of her executive team are enrolled in the prestigious HEC African Leadership course. Patty advocates for building women leadership, which has been demonstrated in her tenacious ability to get the Namibian Women in Finance annual initiative successfully established. the offering to 15 currencies. In 2018, having seen the opportunities in interest trading, she introduced the Bond Trading desk. To date NMB commands a market share of 10 percent, and the bank has moved up the ranks from ninth position in the market to third. In the same period, she established the Securities Services desk which is now profitable and changing the way NMB invests. have access to the finance they need due to challenges including lack of collateral or limited awareness of available financial products. IFC subscribed to 31 percent of the gender bond (equivalent to Tanzanian Shillings 10 million), which was listed on the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange on 28 April 2022. The bank has also partnered with IFC to attain EDGE certification for green building.

Patty advocates for staff and talent development, supporting employees not only with the pursuit of postgraduate degrees, but empowering a diverse staff complement and embracing competency development initiatives e.g., from someone being a cleaner to becoming a fully graduated member of the Claims team.

A champion for sustainable finance and responsible investment, she serves as the Co-Chair of the UNEPFI Global Steering Committee, is currently the Chairperson of the Organization for Eastern and Southern Africa Insurers (OESAI), an Executive Member of the Africa Insurance Organization (AIO), as well as its incoming Vice-President, starting her term in May 2023. These two represent reputable insurance bodies in Africa.

She serves as chairperson of JP Karuaihe Foundation, established in memory of Judge JP Karuaihe. The Foundation funds underprivileged Namibian students and has since supported over 70 deserving students, who are currently lawyers, directors, and judges adding value to the country’s socioeconomic development.

Gladness manages NMB Bank’s Foreign Exchange exposure through trading in the Global FX Market and locally supporting customers -both SMEs and Corporates -- with their foreign currency demands. These customers may be importers or exporters. Through this, she has contributed to the Bank’s NonFunded Income by as much as USD20.5 million. She also manages the Bond Trading desk that arbitrages on interest rates movement. NMB’s turnover on this desk is close to US$ 50 million and the team has contributed to the Bank’s performance despite the recent changes in the market dynamics.

She leads the bank’s capital market preposition which includes the Securities Services unit that has Custodial services, registry services for listed companies and dividend processing. She also manages the bank’s own register for its corporate bonds as well as provides custodial services to both foreign and local investors allowing them participation in debt and equity markets.

Since joining the bank in 2014, she has helped drive growth through strategic risk taking while increasing

Responding to the low representation of women in the senior management within the bank, she established a platform for mentorship and leadership development and advancement. She also partnered with IFC (World Bank Group) to develop the two-year Finance2Equal program to rally banks and insurance firms to pledge to close gender gaps within their institutions.

Leveraging on the bank’s program for women, in 2022 she led NMB to issue the first Gender Bond called NMB Jasiri Bond that was subscribed by 197 percent and mobilized US$32 million for Women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This bond was awarded Platinum Sustainable Bond of Year by the Global SME Forum. It is the first Gender Bond in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Currently, 75 percent of womenowned businesses in Tanzania don’t

Gladness is a member of the Association of Women Leaders Network (Tanzania Chapter). In 2021, she was awarded the prestigious Eisenhower Fellowship. The Fellowship identifies, empowers and connects innovative leaders through a transformative fellowship experience and lifelong engagement in a global network of dynamic change agents committed to creating a world more peaceful, prosperous and just. Her Fellowship project was centered on accelerating green finance in Africa.

She is also a member of the NMB oundation Board of Directors and has been instrumental in ensuring the scholarships offered give equal opportunity to both female and male graduates. She also supports various initiatives, most recently donating an Oxygen system to a maternal hospital during the pandemic.

Elile Olutimayin Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer CardinalStone Partners Ltd

Elile is responsible for managing the overall operations and resources of the securities trading business of CardinalStone Partners Ltd. and ensuring strategic alignment and strategic objectives are achieved as well as financial performance. Doubling as the Chief Marketing Officer, she directly oversees the institutional sales and trading with key coverage being frontier fund managers, Hedge Fund Managers, and Africa-focused Fund Managers (in three major markets – North America, Europe, and Africa specifically South Africa) and local Fund Managers/Institutions seeking alpha returns in the Nigerian investment space.

Her leadership style has helped deepen relationships with clients, regulators, and other stakeholders; and she serves as a coach to her team, thus driving value to our stakeholders.

Her efforts have led the Nigeria securities trading firm from being a relatively new market entrant to being a competitive leader in terms of volumes and value traded. One of her key accomplishments is leading her team to execute the largest deal in the Nigerian Capital Market which was the sale of Nigeria’s second-oldest bank.

As the first non-owner Managing Director of the firm, she has directly contributed to over 30 percent of the Group’s annual revenue growth. Leveraging on technical and people management skills gained in over a decade of experience covering securities trading, portfolio/ funds management, strategy, and investment advisory, she has been able to consistently achieve and exceed set targets across varied growth and profitability metrics. Overall, the firm has witnessed a 1,800 percent growth in revenue over a six-year period.

Elile is a keen advocate of work-life balance and its ability to promote staff wellness, improve productivity and guard against staff burnout in the highly pressurized securities trading environment. Therefore, she launched several wellness initiatives within the organization, such as convening an annual soccer match with other investment banking firms that help relieve stress and build intercompany camaraderie.

She currently serves as a member of the Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS). CIS is the only body in Nigeria empowered to conduct qualifying examinations and provide professional qualifications to Stockbrokers, Securities Dealers, Financial & Investment Analysts, and Portfolio & Fund Managers. The Institute also regulates the activities of its members. Also, she is a member of several committees within the Nigerian capital market and continuously works with the regulators to deepen and grow a more robust Nigerian capital market.

Elile is an Associate member of the Women in Management Business and Public Service (WIMBIZ), a non-profit organization focused on increasing and supporting the success rates of female entrepreneurs and the proportion of women in senior positions in corporate organizations and public service.

Mtshali

Standard Bank Group is Africa’s largest bank, with presence in over 20 countries. As the Head of Documentary Trade Product for South Africa (Standard Bank’s largest single market and a major contributor to the group’s headline earnings), Nompilo leads the Documentary Trade department that is ranked number one in South Africa and has continuously held this position throughout 2022. Her portfolio of trade product solutions contributes over 50 percent towards Standard Bank South Africa’s total trade revenue and consists of several offerings, including Guarantees, Letters of Credit, Export Confirmations, Foreign Bills of Collection, Risk Participations, Trade Loans and Refinances.

Her deep passion for facilitating intra-Africa trade has been one of the biggest drivers of growth. In the year 2022, she collaborated extensively with corporations, financial institutions and internal colleagues in executing a vast number of trade transactions between several African countries, including Ethiopia, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya and Angola. In addition, through partnerships with government departments such as the Johannesburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry, South African Revenue Services and Department of Trade and Industry, she conducted presentations to importers and exporters on how they can leverage existing trade products and the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA).

One of her biggest contributions was the implementation of an automated document checking system which utilizes the latest technology such as Machine Learning to increase efficiency. She also led the implementation of risk participation agreements which enabled the bank to distribute assets and do more business in markets where there was appetite to increase market share, including Nigeria, Ethiopia and Ghana.

Education and thought leadership are two areas that are extremely important to Nompilo. She is currently pursuing her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Business Finance at the University of the Witwatersrand. She has also lectured on Corporate Finance at the University of the Witwatersrand (between 2017 and 2019), a role she held as one the few black female finance instructors. She enjoys academic writing and has published a research paper titled: Are Dividend Changes and Share Repurchases A Good Predictor of Future Changes in Earning? She has also worked on thought leadership pieces on AfCFTA. In her spare time, she mentors students on personal branding, self-awareness and navigating the corporate world.

Karimi

Caroline provides leadership in the Group formulation of the strategic direction of Co-operative Bank, the third largest bank in Kenya (according to the Central Bank of Kenya, 2021 report) and largest co-operative bank in Africa with 15 million members. In her role, she drives stewardship of the holding company and its subsidiaries, instituting controls, reporting and financial systems. She leads the development of performance management metrics and all controllership functions, as well as all reporting (including environmental, social and governance or ESG) and engagement with the regulatory bodies. She proactively engages with public markets, investors and the analyst community on behalf of the bank.

She has successfully led capital raising initiatives in the last two years, including USD 75 million in 2020 and a further USD 100 million that has gone into strengthening the banks’ core capital ratios. These funds have been sourced internationally with various multilateral lenders and other development finance institutions.

Caroline has risen through the ranks over 10 years with the bank -- from Senior Manager to Group Chief Finance Officer. Over her tenure, she has managed various transformation initiatives such as refinement of the Banks’ sourcing process. She provides oversight of the Treasury team, and in the last two years has revamped the bank’s ESG and sustainability initiatives, winning the Kenya Bankers Association Catalyst Awards. Her community service includes visiting hospice patients, and supporting children schooling in Pokot (region in Northwestern Kenya) in partnership with her local church.

Mughogho

Charity is responsible for the end-toend customer and Channel Strategy at Standard Bank Malawi.

She heads several units, including Products, Affluent and High Networth segment, Personal Banking, Coverage and Distribution (Branch and ATMs), Customer Experience, Customer Call Centre, and Digital Banking which is responsible for all digital channels.

Under her leadership, the customer base has grown by 17 percent, customer deposits by 17 percent and loan portfolio by 47 percent. Her key areas of focus include risk management and cost management. Her contributions have led the bank to a year-on-year profit after tax growth of 58 percent and revenue growth of 32 percent.

Between 2020 and 2021, she led the bank in rolling out the first instant personal digital loan solution in the Malawi market with a loan tenor of up to 60 months and maximum unsecured loan of MK15 million (USD14 thousand) which was the biggest amount offered digitally in the market. This helped to give easier access to unsecured loans to Malawian business owners who normally would have found it difficult to access such loans. Competitors have followed in her steps, introducing similar products in 2022 – a testament of her industry impact.

She has contributed to industry advocacy following changes within the policy environment arising from directives of the Reserve Bank of Malawi. Financial inclusion remains one of her key passions which she partially exercises in partnership with the Malawi Bankers Association and the industry regulator. One of her biggest contributions to the banking sector in Malawi is the onset of the Bancassurance business in the country, which she catalyzed. Today, Standard Bank Bancassurance contributed to the bank’s noninterest income.

Her community service includes mentoring students in secondary schools, colleges and universities. One of her initiatives has reached 100 students to inspire them on how to become useful citizens and balance their lives as students.

Efeh leads Standard Chartered Bank Tanzania’s Transaction Banking department. Transaction Banking holds end-to-end accountability for the bank’s corporate banking deposits and trade and short-term lending book. Corporate Banking deposits constitute over 80 percent of the bank’s entire customer deposits in the market. The trade and shortterm lending book is 70 percent of the bank’s asset book.

As head of Transaction Banking, she defines and drives the execution of the bank’s strategy for acquiring and maintaining corporate deposits and trade and short term lending assets. She also is responsible for the identification, acquisition and implementation of the bank’s payments and collections capabilities in Tanzania. Transaction Banking in the last year has introduced a new online banking interface for corporate clients, positioning the bank as one of the country’s leading enablers for regulatory payments. The team has also transformed trade transaction initiation for the bank’s corporate clients, winning significant business in the process.

She has helped unlock opportunities in the last year alone, moving the bank’s average core corporate deposits by USD130 million (40 percent on prior year) whilst leading the business to add circa USD300 million (60 percent growth) in trade assets and contingents in the same period. It is the first time in the bank’s history that this franchise has achieved the current levels of Transaction Banking deposits and assets. These achievements were the result of a clear business strategy, strong leadership and collaborations as well as the tenacity to draw the needed enabling investments to the local franchise.

She also created fintech partnerships that strengthened fintech product capability and met client needs. Moreover, she has helped reactivate the nascent fintech Association, opening up opportunities for Tanzania’s fintechs to access the bank’s support networks such as the bank’s international fintech bridge and SC Ventures. To date, more than 12 fintechs have been introduced to SC Ventures and 15 representatives from Tanzania accepted in the bank’s Women in Cybersecurity mentoring programme, building the needed capacity in this critical area of financial services.

Efeh’s last two roles have straddled East and West Africa over the last five years. In her previous role, she led the bank’s advocacy and submissions on Central Bank’s payment system changes.

Since 2017, she has been actively involved in supporting the growth of healthy family relationships. Her interest in healthy families was birthed from personal experiences which led her to join like-minded persons to build a marriage support curriculum. As such, she currently co-leads a group of over 1,000 wives spread across Africa, Europe and North America. Using Telegram, Whatsapp and Zoom, she helps women and wives thrive in marriages through weekly online sessions, support groups and annual in person meetings.

Orry Seem Group

Head Of Cards Ecobank

Transnational Inc

Orry currently oversees Ecobank’s cards and digital banking business across 33 markets with an overall revenue of more than USD 80 million. She develops and manages robust card and mobile financial services for Ecobank affiliates, including micro-insurance and credit products; P2P remittance transfer services; international, regional and domestic remittances; digital payments and disbursements; and B2P (salary) and G2P (government and social) disbursements. She also oversees digital services (virtual cards and card remittances) on digital platforms provided by the Bank, Telco operators, Fintech’s and Aggregators.

One of her greatest achievements is working on the single unified mobile banking app to serve 33 markets across Africa. Most of the Ecobank markets had unique market apps making the pan-African offering inefficient. Additionally, she actively works with key partners on marketing campaigns to drive sales for different products (remittances, airtime, virtual cards) and services (payments via QR). This project brought about the most desired results for the brand, tripling the customer base. To date, Ecobank is the only bank that can offer unified mobile banking experience and one-of-a-kind products and services in several of its markets. The partnerships formed through her project, which reaches over 1 million transacting customers, have become critical in supporting a financial inclusion drive in the West Africa region as well as across the Continent in markets where Ecobank operates.

Meanwhile, she supports regulator engagements on product development and approval, roll out and monitoring for effective and efficient service delivery to clients.

Orry over the past five years has been involved in supporting young girls who have dropped out of school due to pregnancies and early marriages. The young ladies are supported through mentoring and coaching and in some cases legal or law enforcement support to get them back in school.