This is the biography of Dr Lance Shingai Mambondiani, a business executive and the former Managing Director of BancABC Zimbabwe. He is also a lawyer by training and has a PhD in Banking and Finance from the University of Manchester. He is a recognised thought leader in digital transformation and innovation in the banking sector.
Early Life and Education
Dr Mambondiani was born on 16 February 1974 in Dangamvura, Mutare. He was raised by a single mother and his grandmother, who had a stall at Sakubva vegetable market. His family was poor and his mother was assisted to pay his school fees by relatives. She also used to go to South Africa to sell wares.
Dr Lance Mambondiani Biography [Image: Facebook]
Dr Mambondiani’s father and mother separated when he was very young and he passed away when Dr Mambondiani was at university. He says one of his biggest regrets is that he did not have a close relationship with his father and did not know him well.
Dr Mambondiani attended Rio Tinto Zhombe, a boarding school outside Kwekwe, for his secondary education. He set a goal for himself to be the best student in the region. Mambondiani worked so hard he collapsed after preparing for his English exam for 48 hours straight without sleeping. He wrote the exam from a hospital bed and came out the best student in that exam.
Dr Lance obtained 18 points at A-Level and studied Law at the University of Zimbabwe. He always wore a suit at the university and was in the same class with the late Dr Alex Magaisa, a prominent lawyer and academic.
After Law School, he interned with Advocate Adrian De Bourbon. From there, he became an assistant with the late David Zamchiya for two years.
Dr Mambondiani however realised that he had no interest in law. He then became a legal assistant for Tawanda Nyambirai at NMB in the Corporate Finance Department. That was when he fell in love with Banking.
He completed his PhD in Banking and Finance at the University of Manchester, where he researched on the impact of mobile money on financial inclusion in Africa.
Dr Lance Mambondiani Career
Dr Mambondiani has worked for various financial institutions both locally and internationally. In Zimbabwe, he worked for TN Asset Management as Chief Executive Officer, Kingdom Private Bank as Managing Director and NMB Zimbabwe.
Dr Lance Mambondiani Biography [Image: Facebook]
He also worked for other international financial institutions such as Barclaycard in the United Kingdom, UBS in Switzerland, Ulster Bank in Ireland and Investec in South Africa. He also worked as an Investment Executive at Coronation Financial.
Dr Mambondiani was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of Steward Bank, a wholly owned subsidiary of Econet Wireless, in 2015. He led the bank’s digital transformation and innovation, introducing solutions such as WhatsApp banking, digital account opening, mobile app banking and Kwenga, a mobile point of sale device. He resigned from Steward Bank in May 2019, amid reports of alleged forex scandals at the bank.
In July 2019, he was appointed as the Managing Director of BancABC Zimbabwe, a subsidiary of Atlas Mara. He was also the CEO of ABC Holdings Zimbabwe, the holding company of BancABC operations in Botswana, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Dr Mambondiani drove the bank’s digital agenda, launching products such as ABC Chatbot, ABC Wallet and ABC Pay.
He was honoured as the best CEO in the African region for 2020 by the Financial Services Innovation and Excellence summit. In February 2023, it was reported that he had been suspended from his position pending investigations into alleged malpractices.
Dr Lance Mambondiani Personal Life
Dr Lance Mambondiani met his wife at church before he left for the UK and they have two children: an eight-year-old daughter and a son who is going to St John’s. He also has friends in the business sector, such as Danny Marandure, Leslie Javangwe, Lazarus Muchenje, and Chipo Mutasa.
References
- Meet Zimbabwe’s Best Banker – Dr Lance Mambondiani – Gambakwe
- Mambondiani breaks silence on BancABC departure – The Zimbabwe Mail
- Ex-Steward Bank CEO Lance Mambondiani named BancABC MD and CEO – ZimLive
