The board of the Agricultural Bank of Namibia has confirmed the appointment of Dr Raphael Karuaihe as the incoming CEO of Agribank with effect from 10 January 2022. 

Karuaihe is currently the head of commodities at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) in South Africa. He has been with the JSE since 2012, where he oversees agricultural and non-agricultural commodities within the Capital Markets division. 

Prior to that, Karuaihe spent many years in the financial services industry, where he had advised institutional clients on retirement planning, investments and risk management. He holds a doctorate in Agricultural Economics from Washington State University, USA. 

“The Board and staff look forward to welcoming Dr Karuaihe to our team that is destined to take Agribank to greater heights,” read an Agribank statement. 

The new appointment follows the temporary appointment of Louis Du Toit, who was selected to lead Agribank for three months, as the board has embarked on a recruitment process of the new substantive CEO. 

Du Toit’s appointment as acting CEO followed the departure of Sakaria Nghikembua at the end of his five-year term. 

Du Toit, a qualified chartered accountant, has been with Agribank since 2019.

 Before this, he served in various roles at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) for close to a decade, including being a partner. 

He also served as a chief financial officer in a multinational financial services group for over 10 years. 

Additionally, he has been a member of Agribank’s executive committee.