Evans Nakhokho

In the Chief Manager-Agribusiness role, I achieved the following:

• Established the Agriculture Credit in the Credit Division and the Agribusiness Department in the Commercial Banking Division in 2013 and 2019, respectively. Delivered triple-digit growth numbers five times since 2013.
• Spearheaded new initiatives to enhance the organization's productivity, efficiency, and quality control measures. The agribusiness book stands at $150,000.
• Onboarded critical strategic partners, including the World Bank, DANIDA, EADB, etc., for credit lines for lending to the microfinance, SME, and corporate clients of Centenary Bank. I mobilized over $50,000 for lending in the last year.
• Monitored compliance, industry regulations, and company policies to mitigate risk, thus introducing social performance management and environmental and social management to the bank. I mobilized funding for implementing the project and provided overall leadership for implementation.
• Introduced the online account and credit onboarding solution for SMEs and corporates to respond to the challenges of the "lockdown" while the government was taming the COVID-19 pandemic. I supported reviewing processes and the incentive bonus model to motivate staff.
• I conducted research and development, the subsequent development of the Bank's agriculture finance offering, and the recruitment process for staff at four different levels below me.
• Led the establishment of the bank's business development and customer relationship management. This has evolved from a business unit of three into a business development division that has further developed into the Bank's commercial banking division, responsible for creating relationships, new business, business incentives, capacity building, and client retention.

I have a fiduciary responsibility involving financial and legal duties in this role. I am accountable to entities and individuals such as creditors, employees, and debtors. Achievements include:

• Facilitated discussions among board members regarding new initiatives or projects. Improvements in evaluation and oversight have.
• Ensured compliance with applicable laws, regulations, ethical standards, and industry best practices
• Successfully handled the transition from Send a Cow to Ripple Effects.
• Supported financial inclusion in the communities through the structures of the organization.
• Successfully planning and setting direction: I supported the institution with key direction and strategy to adjust to the new normal as COVID-19 ravaged businesses and the potential of rural dwellers to obtain basic needs.
• Policy development: Contributed to improvements in the organization's procurement, communication, safeguarding, and policies.
• Evaluation and oversight have enabled the organization to remain sustainable.

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The bank required me to support the Credit Division after the retirement of the general manager. The following achievements were registered:

• Reviewed employee performance and provided ongoing feedback and coaching to drive performance improvement.
• Led the strategic planning process for the Credit Division and, subsequently, the operating plan that enabled the bank to expand its credit growth (UGX 3.5 trillion) and loan quality (1.5%) targets for 2023.
• Developed effective methods for tracking performance metrics across teams and the motivation program for Credit Analysts, involving the recognition of outstanding analysts across the Bank network, increasing productivity by 30%.
• Introduced performance conversations across the Credit Evaluation Unit to break silos and encourage cross-functional engagement, which increased overall productivity for the Corporate, SME, and Microfinance evaluation departments.
• Developed a successor pool and supported two staff members for the Chief Manager, Credit Evaluation role. One of the candidates was replaced in this role.
• Developed an innovative tracker for loans and a reviewing system, allowing maximum feedback collation before reverting to the branches. Turnaround time improved to four days of processing time across all levels, up to the Board.
• I established a performance culture by integrating my Commercial Banking knowledge into credit structuring to deliver a high-performance culture in the Credit Division of Centenary Bank, leading to better turnaround time and an increase in the loan book.

• Developed and established risk management systems, policies, procedures, and controls that address significant activities and associated risks, and ensured that they are effectively implemented and complied with across the business (Market, Liquidity, Operational, Credit, Legal & Regulatory, Country/Geopolitical, and Innovation Risks).
• Designed an effective risk identification and monitoring strategy aligned with Centenary Bank Malawi's strategy, and implemented it to ensure management and the company do not lose sight of their strategic objectives and expected rewards.
• Contributed innovative ideas and solutions to enhance team performance through designing, supervising, and implementing tools to aid in sourcing, identifying, measuring, and evaluating credit facilities. i.e. Proposals for credit facility origination, term sheet, and risk Control Self-Assessments for credit.
• Defined risk appetites across sectors and maturities, measuring risk appetites with respective risk owners.
• Coordinated policy reviews through the different departments to garner consensus before presenting them to the executive committee and the board.
• Developed a new product framework, including business loans under microfinance, alongside SMEs and corporate segments. These include structured commodity finance, invoice discounting, agricultural finance, VSLAs, and top-up loans.
• Developed an incentive framework to reward extra-mile performance by staff to increase business. (Deposits, loans, and good quality loan portfolio). Plan.
• Provided support and guidance to colleagues to maintain a collaborative work environment.

I was charged with the responsibility of building a dedicated agriculture credit department.

• Developed effective methods for tracking performance metrics across teams.
• Established the Agriculture Credit Department of the Bank in 2013. Delivered triple-digit growth numbers five times since 2013. The agribusiness book stands at $100,000.
• Successfully hired all the department staff, with some motivation, to ensure a cohesive team was built to recoup the investment. The department broke even within nine months of its establishment.
• Negotiated strategic partnerships that attracted funding for lending to agriculture projects, staff training, and digitizing reporting for the agribusiness department.
• Developed innovative tools to support decision-making in the branches, and encourage lending to the agricultural sector. The agricultural book stands at 400 billion shillings today.
• Introduced dedicated agricultural finance officers as part of the measures to enable the Bank to have sustainable agricultural lending.
• Negotiated and implemented credit guarantees from USAID, DANIDA, ABI FINANCE, etc., that supported the exponential growth of the Bank's credit portfolio.

Other projects include:

• The project manager for the Lendex project is promoting digitization for loans to improve turnaround time and increase the loan portfolio.
• Project Manager for the Environmental and Social Management, and the Social Performance Management Project for the Bank.
• Vice Chairman of the Innovation Committee (2018 to present)
• Member of the Organizational Restructure and Redesign Committee, code-named "Renaissance" (2018–2019).
• Member of the New Core Banking System Evaluation Subcommittee code-named 'Exodus' (2013-2016).

I was the Commercial Bank’s representative on the steering committee. This scheme seeks to attract domestic private investments in rice by promoting practical options to support climate risk management. The achievements so far include:

• Created project plans with established timelines, assigned to appropriate teams and managed workflow throughout construction.
• Undertook research with Centenary Bank as a case study, and brainstormed about possible financing incentives by commercial banks to drive climate-resilient agriculture. Research findings can be accessed at the Economic Policy and Research Center at Makerere University.
• Solicited the support of the government and input suppliers at the last meeting on August 20, 2015. Findings will be fine-tuned for publishing and implementation.

The project sought to financially include clients in hard-to-reach areas, and those with limited collateral, using a guarantee scheme. As the person in charge of this project, I have achieved the following:

• Developed and updated project plans to document objectives, technologies, schedules, and funding, and communicated effectively with stakeholders to ensure project goals were met on time and within budget.
• Developed a loan portfolio of UGX 140 billion in 12 months, including clients who would otherwise be excluded because of limited or no formal collateral, and the perceived risk of the agriculture sector. Culture sector.
• Financially, an extra 8,000 clients were included, in addition to the regular 40,000 clients mobilized under the standard agriculture finance loan portfolio in 2019.
• Secured funding for technical assistance and capacity building for our staff and clients. Secured two accolades for outstanding investment in agribusiness in Uganda, and another for exceptional reporting efficiency.
• Sought and implemented concessions to support rural clients in managing the impact of COVID-19 on their cash flows and business.
• Secured two accolades for outstanding investment in agribusiness in Uganda, and another for exceptional reporting efficiency.

The Bank signed an agreement with the World Bank to participate in the Agrifin project that sought to augment the Bank's efforts to further financial inclusion by establishing physical (brick and mortar) channels and E-options. As the project manager for the project, I achieved the following for the Bank:

• Created project plans with established timelines, assigned them to appropriate teams, and managed workflow throughout construction.
• Developed the Bank's segmentation criteria and the business requirements for an agriculture management information system.
• Delivered a management information system for agricultural credit to support the provision of reports to the bank.
• Developed the Bank's two credit scoring tools to ease risk rating, pricing, and processing of loans.
• Developed and delivered training materials, with 200 staff trained through the five modules.
• Developed an agricultural lending manual that has guided sustainable lending at Centenary Bank.
• Developed potential assessment tools and a viable enterprise tool/crop calendar.
• Created new job descriptions and appraisal instruments for agricultural lending.

As the Head of SME, I achieved the following:

• Transformed the Bank's sales culture from leveraging walk-in customers to aggressively pursuing business opportunities in the market.
• Led the inculcation of customer relationship management in the business model for the bank. The Department has since transformed into the Commercial Banking Division.
• Developed the reporting formats for business, such as the call reports, tracking reports, and management/board reports that are still in use.
• Delivered training across the Bank, and launched a trainer-of-trainers group to support the inculcation of CRM in the Bank's DNA.
• Developed and delivered the first cohort of sales and executive sales teams that have mobilized business for the bank.
• Introduced total banking, a diversion from transactional banking at the time.

The Bank had issued vehicle and motorcycle leases, whose performance was unsatisfactory; this unique role involved ensuring better collections across the branches. Key milestones include:

• Manage leases, restructuring/refinancing, and closely monitor leases. Ninety-five percent of the outstanding balance at the time was realized in collections.
• Established a leasing and loan criteria for staff to use during the appraisal process to guard against the recurrence of the wrong loan/lease structuring.
• Proposed and participated in the implementation of the centralized approval system as a means of setting the pace for capacity building.
• Trained and prepared leasing staff to cross-sell and diversify their portfolio to include other credit products.

Deployed in a deputy role as the head of the retail and microfinance business for the bank. The duties included crafting a strategy for the growth of the business and supervision. Achievements include:

• Constitution of branch credit committees to review credit client proposals, as presented by the loan and leasing officers.
• Exceeded loan segment targets by 20% over and above the expected growth target for the segment.
• Exceeded the deposit segment's deposit targets, over and above the expected growth target for the segment.
• Developed a vibrant and motivated staff force amidst a background of massive sackings and low confidence levels that destroyed performance in the past.
• Improved compliance rating of 3, and 0 staff turnover during the period I was in charge, compared to the other segments, which had more than 15% staff turnover.
• I introduced door-to-door marketing campaigns and incentivized staff to embrace them during this period. As presented above, we exceeded our targets.
• Transition and management of the deteriorating asset finance and leasing portfolio for the bank.

This job role gave me the unique benefit of serving in two regions' two biggest agricultural-based branches. Milestones registered include:

• Surpassed the 2008, 2009, and 2010 targets by 30% of the expected achievement, with both branches in Uganda's Western and Eastern parts.
• Mbarara Branch registered the highest contribution to profitability, with an overall ranking of second position across the Bank.
• The average bank loan quality is 1.38%, and the Mbale branch's non-performing rate improved from 8% to 2% during the first two months of my transfer.
• Letter of recognition from the top management at Centenary Bank, and a bank-sponsored tour to the Philippines to study their lending methodology and share lessons.
• A certificate of recognition for outstanding performance from the management team of Punla, Philippines. Awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture, Philippines.
• I mentored all the supervisors who followed me, including five others who served in five branches in the network, and 15 commercial loan officers. I received a letter of recognition from top management at Centenary Bank and a bank-sponsored tour to the Philippines to study their lending methodology and share lessons with the Punla, Philippines, management team.

This role involves establishing, underwriting credit proposals, and maintaining client relationships with the 'bigger ticket.' Achievements include:

• Mobilized and underwrote the credit proposals for the pioneer SME and corporate clients in the northern part of the country. A loan value of USD 550,000 was realized within the first six months of this role or my appointment.
• Maintained a portfolio loan quality of 0% for the period of 12 months during which I held this role.
• I won the prestigious Employee of the Year award for excellent performance and smartness for two years.

Achievements include:

• Informed customers of procedures for depositing checks and applying for ATM cards.
• Established a profitable loan portfolio worth USD 580,000 among 305 clients.
• Loan portfolio quality with an arrears rate of less than 1% always, and a non-performing rate (above 30 days) of 0% for the entire period I held the job.
• The staff I mentored during this period have been elevated to positions of branch credit heads, supervisors, and managers at the head office.
• Recognized and awarded the accolade for best-performing loans officer in the Bank for Tanker in 2005.