Education: MBA, INSEAD (July 2005) BCom (Hons) Actuarial Science, University of Pretoria, South Africa

I'm currently a Director in Standard Chartered's Project & Export Finance Group, having joined the bank in late 2005, after an MBA at INSEAD.

At the time, my motivations for joining were threefold. First, it struck me as a values-driven organisation - one that placed as great an emphasis on the bottom line as it did on doing the right thing in the communities in which it operates.

Second, it appealed to me as a land of opportunity that mirrored my desire to find a career, rather than just a short-term job. I aspired to a leadership position in the long-term, but I knew that I needed to develop skills in diverse and different aspects of business to prepare myself for such a challenge.

Standard Chartered seemed to be a place that would offer me the chance to grow and take on new roles, learn new skills and ultimately craft myself a set of diverse experiences to prepare myself for this challenge. Finally, the bank's strategy was focused and delivering incredible results. I wanted to be part of a successful and fast growing organisation.

I started as a Manager in the Group Treasury team, an area that enabled me to leverage my previous financial analysis skills as an Actuary in the UK. It also enabled me to build a great view of the bank's business and a more market-orientated focus. 

In this role, I was responsible for a number of areas related to capital management - issuance of capital to support the bank's organic and inorganic growth aspirations, hedging of FX and interest-related risks related to capital issuance or group exposures, modeling of capital requirements for the business or potential acquisitions, management of capital injections into and dividend receipts from group businesses and a range of other areas.

At all times, the role offered me the chance to develop new skills, keep learning and build great relationships with colleagues within the team and across the world. In 2008, I gained experience of launching a charity for climate change awareness. After that, I became progressively more interested in frontline ‘business-building' roles that would give me P&L exposure and client relationship experience.

So I switched to a role in the Project & Export Finance Group. Every day in this role, I have the opportunity to collaborate with teams on end-to-end transaction process, from identification of the opportunity, to preliminary screening and structuring the proposal, to due-diligence / credit approval and legal documentation. 

I have exposure to transactions across multiple sectors (Aviation, Telecom, Infrastructure, Renewable Energies, Industry) and a number of geographies. At the same time, I am building new and valuable relationships with clients, product partners and relationship managers. Standard Chartered continues to meet and exceed my career expectations, bringing me both the challenges I crave and the knowledge that with motivation, determination and effort, I will be able to achieve my long-term leadership aspirations.