Jul 10 , 2020
By MAYA MISIKIR  ( FORTUNE STAFF WRITER )


The National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) has approved the appointment of Fekadu Shigutie as the new vice president of Debub Global Bank (DGB) in charge of operations as of June 29, 2020.

Fekadu had been serving as acting vice president of the Bank for the last 10 months following Tesfaye Boru's (PhD) move to the presidency position after the departure of Addisu Habba.

Born in Arsi, Fekadu moved to Addis Abeba at a young age where he got a diploma in banking & finance and later a BA in business education in 2006 from Addis Abeba University. He then pursued his second degree at India's Indhra Ghandi University nearly five years ago.



His career has spanned close to two decades in the banking industry. He has amassed experience in international banking by serving as director of the department of international banking at both Awash Bank and Bank of Abyssinia. He also served as division labor head for Hibret Bank.


Under his new position he will be leading the credit management, branch banking, international banking and marketing as a resource mobilisation departments. His recent post came after two years of serving the Bank, heading its international banking department, where he followed in the footsteps of the now president Tesfaye.

Tesfaye worked as vice president for two years before taking the position from Addisu, former president of the Bank. He stepped up to the presidency in June 2019 after Addisu's departure. His experience goes back to the opening of Zemen Bank in 2009 as its risk department and knowledge and  innovation director. Tesfaye then received his doctorate in business leadership from the University of South Africa.




"Fekadu has a long experience in big banks like Abyssinia and Awash," Tesfaye said. "His work in international banking and customer relations has been exceptional. This is the reason behind the board's decision to appoint him as vice-president."

Fekadu has also cultivated the team spirit of the Bank, according to the President.


DGB has indeed shown remarkable growth in its market share, jumping from a client base of over 91,000 to more than 200,000 in the past two years alone. Total assets have grown from 3.2 billion Br in 2018 to 5.6 billion Br in 2019 to over seven billion Birr this year.

Its technological strength has also grown, according to the president.

"We're working on smoothing out current database kinks and making our bank more secure," he said.

The Bank has opened 30 new branches in the past fiscal year, bringing the total number to 82 across the country. With this expansion, and the five employees per branch standard the Bank has, its has over 600 clerical and managerial staff and over 800 others employed in various positions.


Established seven years ago, Debub's shareholder base now exceeds 11,000. It is also in the process of securing a 5,500Sqm plot of land located behind the headquarters of Dashen Bank in Senga Tera to build its own headquarters.

"I would like to see the Bank's financial performance grow in my time here," said Fekadu. "In every parameter, in loans, market share, profit, technology, in turn benefitting shareholders."



PUBLISHED ON Jul 10,2020 [ VOL 21 , NO 1054]


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