Boitumelo Mosako assumes office as DBSA CEO

Johannesburg, 3 April 2023. The Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is pleased to announce that Ms Boitumelo Mosako assumed office as its new Chief Executive Officer and a Director of the Bank’s Board of Directors effective 1 April 2023. The appointment and handover process which kicked off in February 2023 has gone seamless, led by the Board with oversight from the Shareholder, National Treasury.

This is first appointment of a woman, and black woman, into the office of the Chief Executive and it comes from the executive ranks of leadership within the DBSA. As previous CFO, Ms Boitumelo Mosako will lead from a position of intimately knowing how the bank operates. She is a trailblazer who ensured, insisted, and drove governance within the DBSA.

Ms Mosako takes on the role of CEO after a successful career in both the private and public sector. She joined the DBSA in 2013, working within the finance division. This was after working in financial services, venture capital, healthcare, and professional services. Her experience in these sectors was with leading organisations such as Citigroup, Life Healthcare, Triumph Venture Capital, and EY. In 2016, she left the DBSA briefly and took on the role of CFO at the South African Bureau of Standards, then returned to the Bank into the role of CFO in 2018. During her tenure as CFO, the Bank has continued to deliver clean audits, and strengthen its institutions with strict governance.

Chairman of the DBSA Board, Professor Mark Swilling, said, “I am deeply proud of this admirable feat for the DBSA, to kick off a new era for the Bank under the leadership of its first woman and first black woman CEO. That this succession comes from within the Bank is testament to the strength of the institution as a sanctuary for development practitioners. The Shareholder, Board, Executives, investors, partners, clients, and collaborators stand behind her in support as she assumes her new role and meets all its critical demands.”

The assumption of office of the DBSA’s first woman and first black woman CEO comes at an especially auspicious time, as the Bank is turning 40, this year. With Ms. Mosako at the helm, the stakes for continued success are even higher for improved achievement of development impact.

“I am humbled to be stepping into this office to serve my country and my continent. I am most passionate about people – ensuring that the practitioners we have within the DBSA are armed with all the tools, capacity and support they need to excel, supporting all our partners to ensure that they shore up their capabilities par excellence. Equally important are the people who benefit from the work we do – actively paying attention to their needs to ensure that we are fit for purpose in the infrastructure we deliver. In this role, I hope to bring that passion into every room I walk into and together with team DBSA, continue to ignite transformative change towards better livelihoods in our country and across the continent,” said Ms Mosako.

“I look forward to continuing to work closely with our shareholder, the Minister of Finance and the National Treasury; our partners such as government departments, local government, commercial banks, other DFIs, policy makers and influencers, and service providers; our clients who include state owned entities, local governments across South Africa; and business entities in the country and across the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa.” concluded Ms Mosako.

Ms Mosako holds a BCom Accounting Degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT), a Post Graduate Diploma in Accounting from UCT, a Higher Diploma in Auditing, and is a certified Chartered Accountant (SA). She was previously nominated for the 2022 CFO Awards for her work as the CFO of the DBSA.

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