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CEO East Africa Magazine, on January 18th 2023 broke the story that Charles Mwanyara Mudiwa, the former Chief Executive Officer of Stanbic Bank Kenya had been appointed as the next Chief Executive Officer of dfcu Bank in Uganda, pending Bank of Uganda approval.
Although Jimmy Mugerwa, the Chairman dfcu Limited, the holding company for the bank at the time, denied the appointment on phone with this reporter, the bank yesterday, finally confirmed that indeed Mr. Mudiwa would be taking up the position effective 11th April 2023.
Mudiwa, a financial services veteran with over 26 years of experience, 21 of them, within the Standard Bank Group, replaces Mathias Katamba, who resigned from the bank in January this year.
William Sekabembe, the Executive Director and Chief Commercial Officer has been the bank’s interim Chief Executive Officer.
“Charles brings on board over 26 years’ experience in the banking sector, with strong business leadership, success in turning around businesses and increasing business profitability,” dfcu Bank said in a public statement.
He comes in at the right time when dfcu Limited and its anchor subsidiary- the bank have just made a comeback from a couple of years of mixed performance.
dfcu Limited last week reported a 217% growth in net profit, from UGX9.3 billion in 2021 to UGX29.5 billion in 2022, underpinned by a 6% growth in deposits from UGX2.3 trillion in 2021 to UGX2.4 trillion in 2022. Although dfcu reported that lending reduced by 9.7% from UGX1.51 trillion to UGX1.36 trillion, the number of borrowing customers grew by 15%. Assets grew by 3.4% from UGX3.13 trillion to UGX3.24 trillion.
Mudiwa’s 5-year track record at Stanbic Kenya
Mudiwa heads to Uganda following a solid 5 years at Stanbic Bank Kenya, where he grew the bank’s profitability by 111.6%, more than doubling it in 5 years from KES 4.3bn at the end of 2017 to UGX9.1 billion at the end of December 2022- a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 13%.
In his 5-year tenure, Stanbic Kenya deposits grew 84.4%, at a CAGR of 11% from KES153 billion to KES282.1 billion, while lending grew 80.8% at a CAGR of 10%, from KES130.5 billion to KES 236 billion. Total income grew 67.7% at a CAGR of 9% from KES18.6 billion to KES 31.2 billion.
Total assets grew 63% at a CAGR of 8% from KES 239.4 billion to KES390.3 billion.
Although CEO East Africa Magazine could not access the financials of Stanbic Zambia where he was CEO between 2013 and 2017, Dr. Austin Mwape, the Stanbic Zambia Chairperson is quoted in Zambian press with colourful reviews of Mr. Mudiwa, who also during his tenure became the Chairperson of the Bankers Association of Zambia.
“Charles has been extremely instrumental to the Stanbic Bank Zambia success story and it is under his leadership that the bank was first named Best Bank in Zambia and also the most profitable bank in Zambia,” Mr Mwape said of Mudiwa.
Under his reign, Stanbic Bank was named employer of choice in Zambia.
“Throughout his tenure as Chief Executive, Mr. Mudiwa achieved an impressive turnaround and strengthened the bank fundamentally, making it one of the strongest banks in the country. His dedication to the success of the bank and his commitment to clients, shareholders and employees have been exemplary. His contributions to the growth and strength of Stanbic Bank Zambia have been many, and he will be missed,” Dr. Mwape is further quoted as saying.
Prior to Stanbic Zambia, Mudiwa also headed Standard Bank Malawi.
He possesses a wealth of experience in governance having served on several boards including Stanbic Bank Zambia and Kenya, Standard Bank Malawi Ltd; Standard Bank Insurance Brokers of South Africa, Edu-loan Limited South Africa, and Agribank Zimbabwe. He was the founding Chairman of Liberty Insurance Company (Zambia Ltd).
Mudiwa is a University of Zimbabwe graduate. He also holds a sPot GRaduaete Diploma from Leeds Beckett University and has complete an Advanced Management Programme in Leadership and a Certificate in Digital Transformation and Strategy, both from Columbia Business School.
According to our reliable sources at the bank, one of Mudiwa’s strengths over and above his track record is his know-how in running large banks in African markets similar to Uganda.
“The board was looking for someone who has run a large bank with a solid and demonstrable results record. They found that in Charles Mudiwa,” a highly-placed industry source told us.
Having run Stanbic Kenya with an asset base of KES390.3 billion (UGX11 trillion) in assets at the end of December 2022- UGX2 trillion ahead of Stanbic Uganda, the largest bank in Uganda, Mudiwa brings to dfcu sufficient experience in not only running a big bank, but also running against and with other big banks.
dfcu Bank was at the end of 2021, Uganda’s 5th largest bank.
His experience, coupled with that of William Sekabembe, his No.2 and the solid backing of Arise B.V. the bank’s majority shareholder is just what dfcu needs to get back on its feet.
William Sekabembe, the Executive Director and Chief Commercial Officer has over 24 years of banking. Prior to dfcu, he also worked in various senior corporate and consumer banking roles at Stanbic Bank, Absa Bank (formerly Barclays Bank).
He started his banking career at Standard Chartered Bank as Systems Administrator/Banking Officer in 1999.
Arise B.V- an investment and development company that was established by Norfund, FMO and Rabobank, under joint ownership owns 58.7% of dfcu. It currently has ownership in 9 financial institutions in Subsaharan Africa, through which, it has presence in 38 countries on the continent. Arise B.V’s investmentportfolio was worth over USD1 billion at the end of 2021.