Women-focused Enat Bank appoints male president

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Enat Bank, which was founded with the intention of being a female led bank that caters to women has unexpectedly  appointed a male president.

Early this week the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE), which regulates financial institutions in the country, approved the new appointment. It has appointed Wondwossen Teshome to lead the bank, who was the former president of the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), one of the three state owned banks. Wondwossen has become the second president at Enat Bank within just few months. Enat bank is one of the nation’s youngest banks as it was just formed in last fiscal year.

The founding President, Fasika Kebede, left the bank  following a disagreement with the board of directors. Sources said the disagreement was related to the resignation of top management but there was no confirmation from the bank.

Since Fasika left her position in October 2013, the bank has been led by Birtukan Gebreegzi, acting president of the bank, for over three months. The former acting president has been the first option for the bank when it was getting into the sector last year, but NBE, who has tight screening, rejected the selection over what it perceived as her lack of experience in credit mobilization.

Even though the bank promised it would appoint another female president, it has not found a female candidate who could meet the NBE requirements.

Wondwossen Teshome is a senior banking executive in Ethiopia with over thirty years of management, supervisory, consulting, and operational experience. He also served as senior advisor at the Agency for Supervision and Regulation of State Banks.
The bank that opened its door in March 2013 has four branches in Addis Ababa.

Source: CapitalEthiopia.com