They say a picture says a thousand words. The trio are the only female indigenous Chief Executive Officers in the copper producers banking industry and last year were responsible for just under 40% of the sectors earnings.
As the world drives the Environmental Social and Governance (ESG) agenda harder, Africa’s second largest red metal hotspot is breaking the gender bias in the banking industry with 39.7% of its industry profitability generated by 3 top female executives in a 17 bank and male dominated sector. The names Mukwandi Chibesakunda, Mizinga Melu and Lowani Chibesakunda are very synonymous with stellar banking and some trail blazing achievements over the years but in an ESG and SDG era, their existence is more that just their careers, accolades they bring but much more about the contribution the gender balance adds to the financial institution faculty.
Of the 17 commercial banks, 4 accounting for 23% are led by women CEOs three of whom are indigenous (17.6%) responsible for 39.7% of industrywide after tax earnings. For FY21 performance, the trio’s combined PAT was K1.98 billion ($110.4 million) defying all odds after hitting some new profitability highwater marks that the Southern African nation has ever seen. As if earnings were not enough, the trio broke the bias further with managing 30% of the $10 billion industry.
Mukwandi Chibesakunda revealed a sustainability climate fund under her sleeves after making appearances at the COP26 climate change conference steering Zanaco Plc ahead of the climate resilience curve, while Mizinga Melu went all out with lucrative partnerships with the Zambia Development Agency to grow the Small to Medium Enterprise faculty. Lowani Chibesakunda has kept the Citi bank prestige of being the best in transactional banking services no wonder even in liquidity and cash crises, cash is the least of Citibanks woes.
As 2030 draws nigh, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remain topical at various global platforms in determining ecosystem interoperability. For gender inclusivity, SDG 5 and 10 highlight relating to gender equality and reduced inequalities respectively are major dictates of capital funding. This has accelerated adoption in board rooms, executive committees and portfolio structure because financiers command it as a pre-requisite.
The industry does further have latitude to comply with gender inclusivity in other faculties.
Kwacha Arbitrageur
