By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK
Erastus Hoveka, previously chief financial officer of the Development Bank of Namibia, has been appointed deputy managing director of Nedbank Namibia, says a statement from the bank.
Advocate Theo Frank, chairman of Nedbank Namibia, said the appointment concluded a comprehensive search for a Namibian citizen to help lead the bank on its growth path.
“Nedbank Namibia has a continuing initiative to innovate and to extend our footprint and bring banking and financial services closer to more citizens of Namibia,” he said. “Our N$4 million expansion programme for 2006 saw branch openings at Oshikango, Kuisebmond, Walvis Bay and at Maerua Mall in Windhoek.
“As part of our future growth strategy, we will be investing a further N$7 million in the next phase of our expansion programme.”
Advocate Frank said Hoveka, who joined the bank in April, would pilot this growth strategy. He will support the current managing director, Bill Turton, who has been assigned on a temporary basis from South Africa.
Hoveka, 38, matriculated from Shifidi High School, Katutura, is an MBA graduate of Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois, in the United States. He gained his Bachelor’s degree in accounting cum laude from Bradley University and also holds a United States Certified Public Accountant qualification.
After graduating, he spent five years with the Simon Property Group, one of the largest US property companies, as an accountant before returning to Namibia in 1999. He was company management accountant at Telecom Namibia, senior manager: corporate finance at Air Namibia, and general manager: finance at the National Housing Enterprise before becoming a founding member of management at the Development Bank of Namibia.
Hoveka is one of nine members selected from around the world to the finance commission of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. He is a director and treasurer of the Namibian Red Cross Society and chairman of the audit committee of the Namibian Government Institutions Pension Fund, the country’s largest pension fund.
He is also a trustee of the Housing Trust of Namibia and a director of Ongopolo Mine, owned by Weatherly International, a London-listed company.