Tito Mboweni leaves behind a Reserve Bank that is far transformed from the one he walked into just more than a decade ago.
Renosi Mokate, the deputy governor in charge of human resources, acknowledges that the bank does have an acute need to attract and retain technical skills. She says a significant proportion of the 2 000 people in its core business require technical skills.
Renosi Mokate
These are people in areas of research, financial markets, bank supervision, exchange control and financial stability divisions. There are also those in legal and information technology departments who bring in a mix of technical skills."We are lucky in that people value working for the central bank," Mokate says, describing an almost emotional attachment that people develop to their contribution to this august institution. One of the ways in which the bank tries to create a pool of skills is through a highly successful graduate training programme. These students undergo training on central banking as well as experiential learning within the bank's various departments.
Last year, the programme took on board 20 graduates, significantly up from its usual intake, across a range of fields in the bank's needs. The training lasts for about a year. Mokate estimates that the programme retains about 70% of its graduates within the bank. The Reserve Bank also works with Letsema programme of the Bank Sector Education & Training (Bank Seta), which helps beneficiaries to work in various parts of the financial services industry.
Apart from these programmes, the bank also sponsors graduates selected by various institutions without restricting their choice of study field. Some pursue areas of study outside of mainstream commerce.
For specialist areas such as information technology, the bank has a dedicated programme with institutions such as the Tshwane University of Technology. The bank also benefits from the retention of senior officials, who predate even the current leadership.
"In any organisation, institutional memory is important," says Mokate, who has been at the helm for five years. She says though the media has access to long-serving senior staff in technical presentations, there is a "rich mix of young blood coming through the pipeline".
She says one way to ensure people remain interested and engaged is to keep offering them varying challenges by being moved to various areas of the bank. "Given that we have limited senior positions," Mokate says, "you have to offer new experiences."
All these efforts have combined to produce a steadily changing face of the bank. The proportion of black employees for instance has risen from 44% in 2000 to 58% in 2008. The proportion of female staff members has grown from 42% to 47% over the same period.
And of course any staff members coming through would have no shortage of senior people to inspire by example, starting with Mboweni and Mokate.
She is a specialist in development economics, urban economics and policy analysis. She obtained her degrees in the US starting with her undergraduate studies from Lincoln University, Pennsylvania and a master's and doctorate in Delaware, Newark.
Prior to joining the bank, she held various executive posts at diverse organisations such as the Central Energy Fund and the Human Science Research Council. She has also chaired the Finance & Fiscal Commission and has been a director for the Centre for Reconstruction & Development at the University of Pretoria.
Under Mboweni's leadership she has brought her own rich and varied experience to help the Bank retain its position as employer of choice among highly sought-after professionals.
