EXCLUSIVE: Absa, taps Mumba Kenneth Kalifungwa, a Zambian to lead its Uganda operations

Absa Group has tapped Mumba Kenneth Kalifungwa the former Executive Director, Finance at Absa Botswana, as its Managing Director, for Uganda, CEO East Africa has learnt.

Mumba, replaces Mr. Nazim Mahmood who has been heading the bank since June 2019. According to our sources- Nazim leaves the country this month.

CEO East Africa understands that Nazim was here on a short contract to manage the rebranding process as Absa searched for a substantive replacement for Rakesh Jha whose contract ended mid-2019.

Several sources we talked to at Absa declined to comment. We reached out to Mumba on his LinkedIn inbox, but he had not responded by press time.

But according to our deep trusted sources, Mumba’s appointment will be announced this month, following approvals from Bank of Uganda and after his work permit has been secured.

Who is Mumba Kenneth Kalifungwa?

Before Botswana where he worked for four years and eight months, Mumba was the Chief Finance Officer at Absa Zambia (formerly Barclays Zambia).

He has over 23 years’ experience in Banking, Auditing, Taxation and Financial Management.

In Botswana, he was also a Board Member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants Africa Board. He previously served as Chairman of the Board Audit Committee of the Zambia Institute of Mass Communication.

Mumba holds a Master of Business Administration from Herriot Watt University of Scotland and is a fellow member of: the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) and Botswana Institute of Chartered Accountants (BICA).  

Absa Uganda as at December 2018 was the 5th largest bank by assets, lending, customer deposits and profitability, with approximately 10% market share on all those parameters. It, in 2018 registered UGX2.8 trillion in assets, UGX1.2 trillion in lending, UGX1.8 trillion in deposits and UGX69 billion in profits.