Denys Denya: One of Africa’s Rising Corporate Titan
When the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) closed the $150 million Korean-focused Club Facility in September, last year, with such resounding success that it realized $160 million due to the overwhelming confidence in its brand and solid ratings, Mr Denys Denya, Afreximbank’s Executive Vice President for Finance, Administration and Banking Services could not be more excited. He told partners and inquisitive media persons at the London venue that the facility would help the Bank to diversify its sources of funding “by geography, instrument and investor base”.
Mr. Denya’s hope that such targeted facilities would become a common feature of Afreximbank’s operations to deliver on its mandate of boosting African trade with itself and the world at large are holding up. About the same time as the Korean deal, the Bank signed a $50 million “cooperation” facility with the National Bank of Uzbekistan (NBU) for Foreign Economic Activity, which envisages cooperation on trade financing as well as credit lines for financing export of goods and services between Egypt and other African countries to the Republic of Uzbekistan.
Mr. Denya’s conviction is that the resounding success achieved by some countries in Asia, in particular, China and Korea, began with the critical role played by intra-regional trade in their development. He believes their experience presents Africa with valuable lessons for positioning intra-African trade as a key pillar for economic growth and sustainable development. According to him, “connecting the host of small and disconnected markets through the deepening of intra-African trade and economic integration would create an environment where firms gained access to hitherto non-existent larger markets.”
An advocate of people power and popular participation, Denya is on a self-imposed task of educating African shareholders of their powers to ensure corporate governance in firms in which they own interests, using his home country of Zimbabwe as a case study.
“The apathy of Zimbabwean shareholders and those in most other countries across the African continent is at odds with developments in the rest of the world, especially in advanced economies, where activist shareholders are increasingly using their power as company owners to examine financial reports, monitor executive remuneration, enforce good corporate governance and push for increased sustainability and transparency,” he laments.
He is certain that the survival of corporate and sovereign entities, which contribute to aggregate output expansion and therefore economic growth at the national level, depends on the quality of corporate governance. Some of his thoughts were laid out in a moving address he gave on August 8, 2018, in Dubai at a roundtable session on the theme “How to Attract Investment in Africa,” organized as part of the Winter University Conference of the Institute of Expert-Accountants of Zimbabwe.
Mr. Denya’s sterling leadership qualities have been largely shaped by his academic-cum-professional background. He holds Bachelor of Accountancy and MBA degrees from the University of Zimbabwe. He is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Zimbabwe and of the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators.
Before joining Afreximbank in 2010, Mr. Denya worked with Flexible Packaging Zimbabwe Limited as Group Finance Manager and TA Holdings as Financial Executive/Company Secretary. He moved to First Merchant Bank of Zimbabwe as Relationship Manager where he rose to be Finance Director and Managing Director. He was at Nedbank Limited as Divisional Managing Director in charge of five Southern African countries from 2006 until April 2010.
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry.