Ex-Zim rep lands top post at AfDB

HARARE – The African Development Bank (AfDB) has appointed its former resident representative to Zimbabwe Mateus Magala as the new Vice President for Corporate Services and Human Resources effective September 1.

Magala rejoins the bank he left in 2015 to take up a post as chairman and chief executive officer of the Electricity of Mozambique (EDM).

He had been appointed the bank’s resident representative to Zimbabwe in 2014 having joined the Abidjan-headquartered group in 2008.

In a statement, AfDB said Magala Magala “brings a strong transformation and reform mindset and experience”.

At the EDM, where he heads several thousand staff, he embarked on reforms to put in place performance based systems, cut back on layers of bureaucracy, implemented global talent hunts and established performance-based contracts,” the bank said.

“Within two years, the performance of the EDM saw a rapid turnaround. With recruitment of better-qualified and rewarded staff, EDM saw its revenue rise from $150 million to $500 million and on track to reach $1 billion by 2020.”

Magala said “it is such a great honor to be appointed as Vice President for Corporate Services and Human Resources for the African Development Bank”.

“I look forward to helping to further promote a culture of high productivity, performance and accountability for results, through attracting, rewarding, and retaining best-in-class staff talents,” he said.

“Already, the Bank is the fourth most attractive company among employers in Africa. I look forward to working with President Akinwumi Adesina on his bold reforms and to help fast-track institutional systems and processes to make the bank more nimble for faster responsiveness to the needs of our stakeholders, while accelerating the delivery of the operations of the Bank.”

Adesina said Magala “has led institutional reforms successfully and brings innovative ideas, creativity, passion, drive and determination to implement reforms”.

“He is results-oriented. I expect that he will be able to effectively align the human resources and corporate services to support the Bank on its lending and non-lending operations to achieve greater impacts”.

A Mozambican national, Magala is the first ever Vice President of AfDB from a Lusophone country since the bank began operation 54 years ago.

He holds a Masters in Economics and Econometrics (2000), a Masters in Transport Economics and Management (1998) and a Master’s in Business Administration, all from the University of Sydney, Australia. He also holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Academy of Brno, Czech Republic, (1990). He obtained his PhD in Economics from Victoria University, Australia in 2004.

He worked earlier at the African Development Bank from 2008 to 2015 in various roles, including as Principal Planning Economist and Strategist, Strategy Adviser, and Resident Representative of the Bank in Zimbabwe.

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