Letshego CEO Marks First 100 Days with Stabilisation and Southern Africa Focus

Letshego CEO Marks First 100 Days with Stabilisation and Southern Africa Focus. Reinette van der Merwe, Group Chief Executive Officer of Letshego Africa Holdings, has completed her first 100 days in office, signalling a period defined by stabilisation, disciplined execution, and a sharpened focus on Southern Africa.

Appointed on 1 October 2025, van der Merwe stepped into leadership during tightening liquidity conditions across several African markets. Her immediate priority was stability rather than expansion. Over the past three months, she has engaged extensively across Letshego’s footprint, visiting Eswatini, Lesotho, Namibia, and Mozambique, while reinforcing leadership alignment and shareholder confidence at home in Botswana.

Botswana remains the anchor market, where Letshego continues to lead in microfinance despite rising competition. The GCEO has met with significant shareholders and institutional partners, including BPOPF, BIHL, Sanlam, and asset managers, reaffirming the Group’s strategic direction. “Confidence from shareholders, regulators and funders underpins our ability to serve customers sustainably,” she noted.

Liquidity stabilisation has been central to her early tenure. Rather than pursuing aggressive loan book expansion, Letshego has focused on strengthening its capital base. Bond programmes in Botswana, Namibia, and Ghana remain steady, while customer deposit growth has improved, supported by new deposit-taking licences in Eswatini and Lesotho.

Strategically, the Group is advancing the sale of its East and West Africa subsidiaries to concentrate resources in Southern Africa, particularly the SADC region. Management describes this as refocusing rather than contraction, aiming to deepen relevance in markets where Letshego holds leading positions.

Digital transformation has also been prioritised, with a review of infrastructure, cybersecurity, and adoption metrics. Operational restructuring is underway to improve efficiency, cost control, and execution discipline.Looking ahead, Letshego plans to finalise its geographic refocus, strengthen its balance sheet, diversify income streams, and embed its new operating model. After 100 days, van der Merwe’s message is clear: resilience first, sustainable growth next.