BCR’s Namara appointed new PSF CEO

Hannington Namara, formerly of Commercial Bank of Rwanda-(BCR), has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Private Sector Federation. He was appointed last week, replacing Rogers Munyampenda, who resigned last October, citing personal reasons. Until recently, Yvette Mukarwema occupied the position in acting capacity. PSF Chairman, Faustin Mbundu, confirmed the changes, saying it was part of a restructuring process. “We are now ready to move forward and make the private sector strong,” he told Business Times over the weekend, adding that the changes make the federation better placed to drive the economy. In other changes, Yvette Mukarwema becomes Chief of Operations while Rwanda Revenue Authority’s Gerald Mukubu is the new Chief of advocacy. Without divulging into details, Namara at the weekend confirmed to Business Times that he had assumed his new position.Sanjeev Anand, the Managing Director of BCR said that the appointment of Namara is a result of the bank’s good working environment and culture that prepare employees for greater opportunities. “It is the way we train and organise the right opportunities to our staff and we have had many who have taken key positions in the sector,” he told Business Times. Namara was the banl’s head of corporate banking department since 2008, after serving as the Marketing and Communications Manager in the same bank for three years since June 2005. Before joining BCR in 2005, Namara who holds a degree in Business Administration (Finance option) from Makerere Business School in Kampala Uganda, worked at Rwanda Investment Promotion agency (known today as Rwanda Development Board-RDB). During his tenure at the bank, Namara boosted the bank’s lending to the private sector, a move that made the bank take a bigger share in private sector lending. At PSF, he faces the pressure of enhancing the private sector’s capacity to drive the economy through increasing Small and Medium Enterprise capacity, vocational and technical training to fill the skills gap in the economy and challenge to increase exports. “I believe the appointment of Namara will add more brains to those already there to position PSF to help the private sector take a driver’s seat in leading the economy,’” Theodore Murenzi, the Executive Secretary of Long distance trucks Association commented.