Former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene appointed as chairman of Arise

African investment company Arise today announced the appointment of former South African finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, to its supervisory board. Nene will assume the position of chairman as from Thursday (1 June).

“We are excited to have someone of Mr Nene’s calibre on our board, and are grateful that he chose to accept the appointment”, said Arise CEO Deepak Malik in a media release posted on the company’s website today.

Arise was launched in February and focuses on the banking sector.

Read more: Investment company Arise launches to accelerate banking

“Mr Nene’s extensive financial experience and background in the public and private investment sector will be invaluable in helping Arise to successfully deliver on its mandate of building strong and stable financial institutions on the continent”, said Malik.

‘His experience in public, private investment sector will be invaluable’

Nene served as South Africa’s minister of finance from 2014 to December 2015, when he was controversially removed as finance minister by President Jacob Zuma.

He is also a non-executive director on the board of Allan Gray and is currently the resident advisor for the Thebe Investment Corporation. He holds a BCom (Hons) from the University of the Western Cape and other certificates in economics and public finance.

“It gives me great pleasure to serve on the Arise board and be part of their business journey. With the support of its shareholders, Norfund, Rabobank and FMO, Arise is uniquely placed to advance the financial services sector on the African continent and I look forward to contributing to their success”, said Nene.

“We are looking forward to Mr Nene’s strategic contribution to the board and we trust that this role will enable him to make the contribution that we believe he is capable of making, whilst at the same time advancing his own professional aspirations”, concluded Malik.

Featured image: GovernmentZA via Flickr (CC 2.0, resize)