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Business Reporter

AFC Holdings Group chief executive officer, Francis Macheka has been nominated chairman of the Southern African Development Community – Development Finance Institutions (SADC-DFI) Network.

Mr Macheka was nominated to the post on Thursday and will occupy the position for the next two years effective from the 1st of December 2022.

The SADC-DFI Network consists of development financial institutions drawn from across the 15 SADC member states, including Zimbabwe, and has a current membership of 40 DFIs.

As established by the SADC Committee of Ministers of Finance and Investment, the mandate of the DFI Network encompasses a number of activities which include collaborating in cross-border and in-country financing of projects and pooling resources for the development of intra – and extra-regional projects.

Member institutions are mandated to share experiences and develop common best practices in areas of risk management, corporate governance, project appraisal and to build the creditworthiness of members with the ultimate goal of obtaining good international credit ratings.

The DFIs in the network are of varying asset levels with mandates spanning agriculture, industrial, infrastructure (economic and social) and small and medium enterprises development.

Mr Macheka’s chairmanship brings to the SADC DFI Network and SADC-DFRC, over 20 years of experience in general management and executive directorship in banking and agricultural development.

He is a banking and agricultural development expert with a proven record of business leadership in commercial and agricultural banking, and financial inclusion and is also a member of the Institute of Directors Zimbabwe (IoDZ), as well as former deputy chairperson of the Farmers Development Trust of Zimbabwe.

In a statement AFC Holdings group board chair, Advocate James Mutizwa said Mr Macheka’s chairmanship is highly strategic to the country as a whole, particularly in driving the transformation of Zimbabwe’s agriculture sector towards the attainment of vision 2030 goals on economic prosperity as well as on food and nutrition security.

“His appointment is significant to the economy in that it comes immediately after he successfully led the setting up of AFC Holdings upon its formation by Government, in 2021, through the unbundling of Agribank,” said Advocate Mutizwa.

Mr Macheka holds a number of post-graduate and professional qualifications in agriculture, banking and credit management and has contributed to several expert forums in Zimbabwe and across Africa on agricultural finance and banking, including at the SADC DFRC CEO’s Forum.

In his capacity as chairman of SADC –DFI Network, Mr Macheka will also be an ex-officio member of the Southern African Development Community – Development Finance Resource Centre (SADC-DFRC) board of trustees.

The SADC-DFRC is a subsidiary of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) collectively owned by the SADC DFI Network and its core functions include capacity building and institutional strengthening, advisory services, policy research and advocacy.

Both the DFRC and the DFI Network are recognized under the SADC Protocol on Finance and Investment (the FIP).