Dandemutande chief executive Never Ncube was declared Chartered Secretary of the Year at the Institute of Chartered Secretaries Annual Conference Dinner in Victoria Falls last Friday. Agribank company secretary Lovemore Rwazemba was the runner-up.
Reading the citation before presenting him with the Chartered Secretary of the Year trophy, ICSAZ chief executive and secretary Dr Lovemore Gomera said Mr Ncube, who took over the reins of the newly restructured Dandemutande last year in a VUCA environment, had displayed the leadership qualities of courage, determination and excellence, achieving many milestones which helped spur business growth.
This business growth had included the reintroduction of Utande as a business unit focused on meeting connectivity demands in the small to medium enterprise (SME) and consumer sectors.
As a service to customers and part of his focus on customer service excellence, he oversaw the reorganisation of customer support into a three-tier customer support centre and introduced convenient hardware purchase options and a customer self-service portal, Dr Gomera said.
Despite the challenging economic conditions, Dandemutande had registered impressive growth. Some key initiatives that contributed to this growth included a partnership with Yahsat, a United Arab Emirates VSAT company, that had allowed Utande to offer connectivity to under-served communities throughout Zimbabwe.
The appointment of satellite services throughout the country had contributed to employment creation.
Additionally he oversaw agreements with leading cyber-security solutions provider Sophos, Webroot Antivirus, Fortigate Appliances and Office 365.
He has authored numerous articles on the Internet of Things (IoT) in the Press, local magazines and online business publications such as Mining Review.
His focus on innovation and new product development saw him receiving the CEO of the Year Award (2018) from the Zimbabwe Business Awards Council with Special Recognition in Technology Advancement and Innovative Leadership Excellence.
“Never has a passion for the development of communities and is a member of the Umzingwane Development Trust. Further to that he ensured participation in educational institutions such as Harare Polytechnic and Mawabeni Secondary School where donations are being made to excelling students in the form of satchels, books, stationery and tablets to encourage the leaders of tomorrow,” Dr Gomera said.
“In partnership with InventXR LLC (a Silicon Valley based company), he has incorporated InventXR Zimbabwe Limited with a view to bringing e-learning solutions to one million students by 2023. This has become a national project supported by Government, Unicef, Google and Unesco,” he said.
Reading the runner-up citation, Dr Gomera said that Mr Rwazemba was an accomplished financial and management executive,. Prior to joining Agribank, which at the time he joined was the Agricultural Finance Corporation, Mr Rwazemba worked for the Department of Taxes (now Zimra).
He has been with Agribank for more than 25 years, during which he has occupied various roles, including acting as the bank’s finance director. He was the bank’s finance manager prior to his appointment as company secretary.
Mr Rwazemba is an Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Secretaries and Administrators in Zimbabwe and a registered public accountant. He holds a Bachelor of Accountancy Degree and a Master of Business Administration Degree from the University of Zimbabwe.
Apart from his company secretarial function, Mr Rwazemba is a member of Agribank’s senior management responsible for supervision of the procurement function, security, administration, facilities and assets custody, and repairs & maintenance.
As company secretary he played a central role in Agribank’s financial performance, which saw profits increase from $7,9 million in 2017 to $12,9 million in 2018, and its winning of various awards.
