US versus US and Zimbabwe

When Zimbabwe’s largest bank CBZ, announced its new board of directors, the first question I asked was: Why were there three Americans in the seven-member board of a government owned bank?

I also asked myself, why were the country’s two largest financial institutions, CBZ, and the largest mobile money operator, Econet through Ecocash, chaired by Americans?

These were not just ordinary Americans, especially Marc Holtzman who was appointed board chair of CBZ.

His biography posted on CBZ said:  Marc is the current Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Bank of Kigali. Previously, Marc was Chairman of Meridian Capital HK, a private equity firm with investments in natural resources, real estate, food, agriculture and transportation. Prior to joining Meridian, Marc served as Vice Chairman of Barclays Capital and as Vice Chairman of ABN Amro Bank.

Previously, as co-founder and President of MeesPierson EurAmerica (a firm which was acquired by ABN Amro) and as a Senior Advisor to Salomon Brothers. Marc also currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of TeleTech, the world’s leading provider of analytics-driven technology-enabled services and FAT Brands (NASDAQ:FAT), a global franchisor of leading restaurant brands. He has served on the Board of Directors of FTI Consulting, Inc. a global financial and strategic consulting firm, and Sistema, Russia’s largest private company listed on the London Stock Exchange.

In addition, Marc served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the United States Space Foundation from 2004 to 2010. Previously, Marc served in the Cabinet of Governor Bill Owens as Colorado’s first Secretary of Technology. In addition, he was Chairman of Colorado’s Information Management Commission and Co-Chairman of the Governor’s Commission on Science and Technology. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Economics from Lehigh University.

Marc was appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors on 1 September 2019.

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