The Sunday Mail
DR LANCE MAMBONDIANI (LM)’s departure from BancABC in February set tongues wagging in the market. Last week, THE SUNDAY MAIL Business (SMB) talked to him on this and other issues.
*********************
SMB: Dr Mambondiani, what prompted you to resign?
LM: Firstly, I am truly grateful to the BancABC board, shareholders, the executive team and the entire A-Team for an opportunity to lead a truly inspired team during my tenure as CEO. It was a privilege and an honour, which I do not take lightly. Being a part of the bank’s turnaround in the last four years has been a truly enriching and fulfilling experience, which I will cherish for a lifetime.
While it may not have been public knowledge, I had communicated my decision to step down from the bank, both to the board chairman and to the Group CEO, in the last quarter of 2022 to pursue other interests. For me, it wasn’t a sudden move; it was something I had been considering for a while. I can understand that some might have felt that my departure was too soon; in my head and in my heart, I knew that the time was right to transition to another assignment.
SMB: There have been different explanations in the media on your departure. How do you cope with so much public scrutiny and people’s perception of you?
LM: The burden of leadership, at a certain level, is that we are often subjected to public scrutiny, criticism and intense speculation, whether true or false, right or wrong.
Having grown up in serious professions – law and banking – I have always preferred to steer away from commenting on wild speculation or gossip out of respect to the duty of confidentiality I owe to the wider stakeholders I serve, whether in the past, now or in the future.
I am comfortable and happy to live my truth and equally aware that a lie will travel halfway around the world before the truth has had a chance to tie its shoes. I cannot control how people perceive me. I have learnt early on that you can’t be everything to everyone and still be true to yourself. The only way I can influence others is to give them the best version of me in whatever assignment I am privileged to lead, and allowing myself to be equally vulnerable and open to criticism under all circumstances, no matter how painful, justified or unjustified.
SMB: Are you at liberty to disclose your next move?
LM: It’s a new season. I am looking forward to it prayerfully and with gratitude for the journey I have travelled so far. I believe, however, that I have enough energy and drive to make a significant contribution into whatever God assigns me.
SMB: In the years you took over at BancABC Zimbabwe, the bank’s brand became more vibrant and visible. How do you achieve such turnarounds with every institution you lead?
LM: Brand visibility is a reflection of the collective passion and urgency we implemented as part of the bank’s change agenda. BancABC already had a strong brand equity, which has been respected for many years. Our job as a team was to reignite that pride in the bank’s heritage and awaken the sleeping giant to take its place as one of the best financial services players in the country.
I was just honoured to serve a team that shared the same energy and drive as me in pushing this agenda, and pleased to see our turnaround efforts bearing fruit. I believe in pouring my heart and soul into every assignment I am a part of and leading the change that is desired.
SMB: You are an experienced banker, having worked for financial institutions locally and abroad. May you kindly share your story.
LM: I have been lucky to learn from some of the best in the industry, both in law and in banking. I recall coming out of law school and doing an internship with the venerated Advocate Adrian de Bourbon and Firoz Girach at the Harare Law Chambers, Raffy Costa and Priscilla Madzonga at Zamchiya Costa (now Costa Madzonga Legal Practitioners). I learnt banking and was privileged to sit at the feet of some of the greatest founding indigenous CEOs that this country has produced.
It’s been quite a journey and I am grateful for all the mistakes and failures I have encountered. They have contributed immensely to who I have become.
My shift from law to banking was, in large part, driven by my long-held belief that “banking is the business upon which other businesses are based” and an important engine to drive economic growth in any country.
Access to financial markets and financial intermediation is critical in assisting SMEs (small and medium enterprises) to grow and for them to participate meaningfully in any country’s economic activity.
SMB: Tell us about your doctorate. How did that come about?
LM: Largely by accident or call it a moment of temporary insanity. I went to the United Kingdom on a one-year British Council-sponsored Chevening Scholarship to do a Master’s degree at the University of Manchester and decided, against all wisdom, that it was a good idea to put myself through four more years of gruelling research on Zimbabwe’s banking sector. I don’t regret it. I spent some of my best years in Manchester; of course, watching Manchester United at the “Theatre of Dreams” was also a great incentive to stay in Manchester a little longer.
I decided to come back home after my PhD to make my small contribution towards the development of my country.
SMB: Are there any parallels that you can draw from your experience working in the UK and locally?
LM: I have had the fortune of living and working in a few countries, the longest of which was the UK. In comparison, I absolutely love working in Zimbabwe. Without a doubt, we have many challenges, but these challenges also present our greatest opportunities. We can do things differently, introduce new innovations and borrow and localise some ideas from other countries. Innovation is about solving people’s problems, challenging existing models and introducing relevant solutions to address our day-to-day challenges.
Our current environment allows us to do that, to innovate, accelerate and build a country out of our own imagination with localised solutions relevant to Zimbabweans. More importantly, we need to back our aspirations with purposeful action and command the future with decisive and determined quick execution, focusing on the solutions and not always the challenges that surround us.
Most of the developed countries such as the UK reflect the audacity of their citizens’ industriousness and creativity. There is no reason for us not to achieve the same.
SMB: So far, in your career, what guiding principles have helped you rise in leadership, business and management, and built you to the level of the executive you are today?
LM: I have learnt that, despite the industry you serve in, any business can be turned around or improved with enough vision, leadership and the collective effort of an inspired team. As the old adage says, “everything rises and falls on leadership”.
I believe leadership is about giving each other hope and inspiration to succeed. I believe that, as a people, as a nation and as a continent, you cannot be truly successful without uplifting each other, looking beyond your selfish desires and standing in the gap for others.
The world is not short of keyboard commentators. The main difference between success and failure is often in the audacity to act on our dreams rather than to criticise on the sidelines. I would like to be counted as one of those who chose to be a doer.
Most importantly, I choose to believe in love over hate.
Someone else doesn’t need to fail for you to succeed.
There is enough room for us to succeed together.
SMB: Which ones can you say have been the greatest highs in your career?
LM: I wouldn’t be able to tell. Those I have been privileged to serve in a position of leadership will testify that I am driven by the future and not the past. I live by the principle that “innovation is the only constant”, and that you are only as good as your last innovation.
I have never sat down to count the successes I have had. I don’t find fulfilment in yesterday’s manna. I am motivated by the next idea, the next big disruption and how we can make it relevant to the people we are privileged to serve.
In whatever I do, I try as much as possible not to chase success but significance. I believe that success is about an individual, but significance is about others.
Significance is the impact we have on others because of our talent, ideas, our work or calling no matter where we are called to serve. The greatest gift that any leader can give others is hope. If one kid from Chitungwiza reading this interview gets the inspiration to learn from my successes and my failures to better themselves, then I consider this interview a success.
SMB: What can you say have been some of your major drawbacks?
LM: There have been many. I have failed many times over, but I have never really been scared of failure or making mistakes. I believe that we learn often from our failures than we do from successes. In a recent interview I did with the global edition of the “CEOs Magazine”, I was recalling a very challenging IT problem we encountered in one of my previous assignments. We grew too quickly and our IT infrastructure couldn’t sustain the growth.
We were not prepared for it. This was one of the greatest tests I encountered in leadership – how to manage growth, teams and the temperament of various stakeholders with competing interests.
Every leader is engaged to cause change and to leave an organisation better than they found it. Causing change comes with risk, pain and, in some cases, sacrifices that a lot of leaders may not be willing to take because this can include losing your job. I would rather do something and be wrong than do nothing and be right. We cannot achieve true transformation of anything, whether a company or a country, by playing it safe.
I don’t always get it right, but I have a fierce determination to try.
SMB: What lessons have you learnt from the different banking institutions you have led?
LM: While the trade might be the same, each organisation is different and unique, and a sum total of its culture built over time. You cannot duplicate the experiences of one organisation for another. I have learnt that despite the industry, any business can be turned around or improved with enough vision, leadership and collective efforts of an inspired team.
A CEO is often engaged to solve problems. There may be many trying times as a leader but again the call is the same – how to round up the troops and inspire and encourage the teams on the ground to see the greatness in themselves and achieve significant results together.
SMB: On reflection, what do you want to be remembered for?
LM: Becoming a legacy builder. I would like to teach my kids to do ten times better, ten times faster and ten times bigger than I have done.
I would like to leave my family with a multi-generational and audacious thought process, for self and for the country. I would like to be a part of something bigger than myself and standing up to be counted for something, being a doer and making my small contribution to building this great nation.
Ultimately, I often sum up my life philosophy in one sentence: Do good by you. When done, do good by others.
That is just my two cents.
