The man at the helm of the biggest local listing on the Namibia Stock Exchange (NSX), Vetumbuavi Mungunda, has confirmed his resignation and will leave Standard Bank Namibia (SBN) Holdings Group with effect from 1 May 2021.
This advance notice gives the boards of SBN Holdings and Standard Bank Namibia just shy of 10 months to find a suitable replacement for the man under whose leadership, during the 2013 to 2019 financial years, SBN Holdings grew in earnings from N$319 million to N$614 million and total assets ballooned from N$20.2 billion to N$35 billion.
As chief executive, Mungunda oversaw the group completing a 25% localisation of its shareholding in November 2019, which formed an integral part of its successful listing on the NSX. The historic listing added more than 522 million shares to the local bourse and N$4.65 billion in local market capitalisation.
Mungunda, who previously held the position of regional managing partner at Deloitte & Touche (Namibia), and currently serves on several boards, said he gave advance notice of his resignation to allow for a smooth transition process and sufficient time to find a suitable replacement.
Herbi Maier, chairman of the SBN Board, said: “Vetumbuavi has to date been our CEO for the past six years and has provided outstanding leadership, strategic direction and vision through very difficult and challenging times, including four consecutive years of recession as well as a period in which he had to complete and embed a complex core banking system and other regulatory projects of significant importance to the bank. He has also been a key driver of the listing of SBN Holdings on the NSX, in that way broadening the shareholder base in the country. You can add Covid-19 to the list of challenges. His determination and focus on the delivery of agreed strategic initiatives, including the repositioning of the bank and his passionate drive for digital innovation, were exemplary.”
Said Mungunda: “I am particularly proud of the great strides we have made in completing the core banking system implementation, the localisation of the group and in particular the allocation of shares to our close to 2 000 employees who own 8% in the group. The success of our Buy-a-Brick initiative, which has built close to 500 low-cost houses across the country, will always be the highlight of my time at Standard Bank.”
Mungunda noted that he leaves the group both financially and operationally in a much stronger position and at an extremely exciting time in its development.
“We are sad to see him leave and sincerely wish him the very best for the future. We are, however, grateful that he has laid a strong foundation for sustainable growth which allows us to seek a chief executive to lead the business through its next phase of growth,” Maier concluded.