Standard Bank Mozambique announced on 22 November the appointment of Esselina Macome as the new Chairperson of the bank’s Board of Directors, replacing Tomaz Salomão, who held the position for 18 years. Esselina Macome will take office on 1 December and will lead the execution of Standard Bank’s growth strategy for the coming years, the institution said.
“The Bank and its majority shareholder, Standard Bank Group, have the utmost confidence in Dr Esselina Macome to lead Standard Bank on the next growth path while maintaining the highest standards of risk management and compliance,” said a statement from Standard Bank Mozambique, which has been operating in Mozambique since 1894 and is a subsidiary of Standard Bank Group, Africa’s largest bank in terms of assets, earnings and market capitalization.
Prior to her appointment, Dr. Esselina Macome was a non-executive and independent member of the board of Standard Bank Mozambique. She has over 30 years of experience in the academic sector and over 15 years in the financial sector, mainly in the area of financial inclusion. She specialises in the management of information systems in organisations, the use of information and communication technologies for development and financial inclusion, with a particular focus on digital financial services (DFS), green finance and gender issues.
Career at the Central Bank of Mozambique
From 2005 to 2015, Dr. Esselina Macome was Executive Director and member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of Mozambique. She was responsible for currency issuance, payment systems and the information technology portfolio as well as financial inclusion. In this capacity, she worked on various initiatives in the area of financial inclusion, such as the drafting of the national financial inclusion strategy, the establishment of a national payment system to ensure interoperability within the banking system, the drafting of regulations on payment cards, mobile money (trust account) and agent banking.
Promoting financial inclusion in Mozambique
From November 2015 to 2017, Dr. Esselina Macome was a policy advisor with Financial Sector Deepening Mozambique (FSDMOç), a five-year programme that aims to increase access to financial services in Mozambique, contributing to access to financial services for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and thousands of Mozambicans, with a focus on financial inclusion of previously excluded groups of people living in poverty and in rural areas, particularly women. In this position, Dr. Esselina Macome worked with the Central Bank of Mozambique, government institutions and other stakeholders in the implementation of the national financial inclusion strategy.
In July 2017, Dr. Esselina Macome was appointed the CEO of FSDMOç, a position she holds until now.
University Professor
Dr. Esselina Macome holds a PhD in Information Technology from the University of Pretoria, South Africa (2003) and an MSc in Information Systems Analysis, Design and Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science, University of London (1992). She also holds a degree in mathematics education from the Paedagogische Hochshule, Dresden, Germany (1987).
Dr. Esselina Macome is also an Associate Professor at Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique. She has over 30 years of academic experience.
She holds an international certification in leadership for financial inclusion from the Fletcher School, USA, (2016). In addition, she is certified as a Digital Finance Practitioner – a three-year programme offered by Digital Frontiers Institute, in partnership with The Fletcher School.
Dr. Esselina Macome also successfully participated in the Africa Board Fellowship programme organised by the Center of Financial Inclusion Accion (2018-2019). She participated in a course on strategic leadership in inclusive finance offered by Harvard Business School (2019). She is certified by the DFI on Gender Equality Changemaker (2022).
Dr. Esselina Macome has led a number of studies tracking the evolution of telecentres in Mozambique.
