BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Appointed to the board in 2015

Appointed as chairperson with effect from 1 January 2022

Gerhard Fourie has 35 years’ experience as a chartered accountant. He was a partner with EY (formerly Ernst & Young) for 28 years until his retirement as managing partner of EY Namibia in June 2015. Gerhard completed a post-graduate management development programme at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and an advanced leadership programme at GIBS, and was a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Council until 2015. His other board memberships include Bank Windhoek Ltd, and he is chairperson of Namib Bou (Pty) Ltd and the Capricorn Foundation.

Appointed to the board on 6 February 2024

David Nuyoma is widely recognised as one of Namibia's most esteemed business leaders, and his journey is marked by a history of exemplary leadership, strategic insight, and a commitment to driving economic growth through contributions to the public and private sectors. He earned a BA (Honours) and an MA (Master of Arts) in Industrial Development from the University of East Anglia, School of Development Studies, UK. David also boasts numerous professional training courses, which developed his skills and reinforced his knowledge. Beyond his executive roles, David Nuyoma has been an influential figure on various boards and advisory forums at regional, national, and international levels.

Appointed to the board in 2021

Daniel is resident director for the De Beers Group in Namibia and has over 27 years of experience in the diamond industry. He is chairperson of Namdeb Diamond Corporation and a board member of M&Z and several companies in the Namdeb group.

Appointed to the board on 02 February 2024

Mr Jacobus Wynand Brandt has been the alternate non-executive director of Mr Koos Brandt since 2016 and a non-executive director of Capricorn Investment Holdings Ltd (CIH) since 2018. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce with a specialisation in Management Accounting from the University of South Africa and has substantial experience in the financial and agricultural sectors.

Appointed to the board in 2021

Elize has been the Principal Officer of Bankmed Namibia since 1997. She is a generalist human resources professional with over 38 years’ experience and registered her own people-centric business Flexona Organisational Services in 2016. She was a strategic business partner and Exco member at Standard Bank Namibia and from 2006 to 2016. She was a senior manager for human resources and later executive officer: Group human resources in Capricorn Group. She is the chairperson of Women at Work.

Appointed to the board in 2018

Mihe Gaomab is the CEO of the Namibia Industrial Development Agency (“NIDA”). Previously, he was an executive director at the African Development Bank after serving as the CEO of the Namibian Competition Commission until 2016. He was a deputy director of the Southern African Customs Union until 2009. He was the chairperson of the board of trustees of the Government Institutions Pension Fund (“GIPF”) from 2011 to 2016 and is the founding president of the Namibian Economic Society. His other directorships include Capricorn Unit Trust Management Company, NIDA, CRAN, Fishcor and the GIPF.

Appointed to the board in 2018

Goms Menetté is the Deputy Auditor-General of Namibia. He was the deputy director for internal audit of the Ministry of Finance. Until 2021 he was a trustee and the chairperson of the board of trustees of the GIPF and a member of the GIPF’s investment and audit and risk committees. He served on the board of Air Namibia for seven years until 2012 and chaired the airline’s audit committee. He also served on the Road Fund Administration’s audit committee from 2001 to 2004.

Appointed to the board in 2004

Gida Nakazibwe-Sekandi joined the banking industry in August 2000 when she was appointed as executive officer: marketing and corporate communication at Bank Windhoek. In 2008, she was appointed as executive director of Capricorn Investment Holdings. Gida is a founding member of the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa (“PRISA”) Namibia. She has served in various executive roles, including as head of industrial relations and communications and head of corporate affairs at Rössing Uranium. She served in the ministries of justice in Uganda and Zimbabwe as state attorney and public prosecutor, respectively. Gida is a director of several companies in the Capricorn Group, Capricorn Investment Holdings Ltd and Welwitschia Insurance Brokers Ltd. She invests her time pro bono in various social institutions, including MSR, Women at Work and the Capricorn Foundation.

Appointed to the board in 2017

Dirk Reyneke was a partner at EY for 14 years, including the Gauteng Financial Services Group and Gauteng head of banking. In 2006 he joined Absa Retail Bank as CFO. Other positions at Absa included head of finance and operations and later chief operating officer for Absa Retail and Business Bank. Since 2012 he has been employed by Telkom Group, where he is now the Group CFO. Previous positions at Telkom included CFO for Openserve, Gyro Group, Telkom’s property division, Telkom Mobile and head of integration tasked with integrating Telkom Enterprise and Business Connexion. He is also a member of the boards of various Telkom companies including BCX (Pty) Ltd, Swiftnet SOC Ltd, Gyro group of companies and Trudon (Pty) Ltd.

Appointed to the board in 2013

Thinus Prinsloo joined Capricorn Investment Holdings in July 2011 and was appointed as managing director of Capricorn Group on 1 January 2016, a position he held for eight years. On 1 March 2024, he was appointed as the executive director of Capricorn Investment Holdings (CIH). Before joining Capricorn, Thinus worked at Absa in South Africa where he held various positions, including the head of integration. Prior to that, he worked as a business strategy consultant at IBM and PwC. Thinus qualified as a chartered accountant while working at PwC in South Africa and the corporate finance division in the UK. He completed a number of executive programmes at the Gordon Institute of Business Science ("GIBS”), the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business and, most recently, the Oxford Advanced Management and Leadership Programme at Saïd Business School. In 2021, he qualified as a Certified Director. In 2021, he chaired the National Business Rescue Task Force at the request of the then President of Namibia, Dr Hage Geingob. He remains a director of several Group subsidiaries and associates.

Appointed to the board in 2019

Erna Solomon is a seasoned financial services technology and information executive with experience as a chief operating officer, chief information officer and executive director. She was previously a global partner at a big four consulting firm where she advised South African and international banks. Erna has a deep understanding of wholesale and retail banking products and services and has been instrumental in advising on payments transformation and digital banking implementation including central bank registration. She has developed and implemented board training on King IV™ as well as technology and information strategy and governance at various large institutions. Erna is the managing director of Cyan EA, a financial services IT consulting company focusing on strategy, enterprise architecture and digital transformation.

Appointed to the board in 1999

After joining Coopers & Lybrand (now PwC) in 1980, Johan Swanepoel qualified as a chartered accountant in 1982. He was elected managing partner of the firm in Namibia in 1989. He was appointed as managing director of Bank Windhoek and a director of Capricorn Group on 1 July 1999. In 2005 he took up the position of group managing director of Capricorn Investment Holdings. Upon his retirement from this position in 2017, he accepted the role of chairperson of the board of Capricorn Group, from which he retired on 31 December 2021, as well as the role of chairperson of Bank Windhoek, which he continues to hold. Johan is a director of several companies in the Capricorn Group. He is also a director of Capricorn Investment Holdings Ltd, Namibia Strategic Investments (Pty) Ltd, Kuiseb Investments (Pty) Ltd and Infocare International Ltd.