Mary Maina nominated for the 2026 CFO Awards

Speaking at the CFO Leadership Summit in Dar es Salaam on 12 June, Sekou Tidiane, CFO of Africa Global Logistics (AGL) Tanzania, reflected on the human side of finance leadership, explaining why managing numbers is only a fraction of the executive role.

The Reliance Insurance CFO adds a board directorship to her executive responsibilities, bringing over 17 years of banking and insurance experience to the Tanzanian lender.

Dr Mark Nasila, chief data and analytics officer at First National Bank (FNB) South Africa, says CFOs must define the business value of artificial intelligence before committing capital, then measure whether the promised gains materialise.

Before an audience of more than 100 CFOs, CFO East Africa’s trusted partners had just four minutes to make their pitches before the buzzer sounded at the community’s first-ever Pitch Parade.

The modern CFO is no longer the executive who simply checks the numbers and sends them up the chain. As acting group CFO of Old Mutual East Africa, Isaiah Gakonyo sits at the intersection of technology, data, customer behaviour, capital discipline and long-term value creation. His approach is shaped by a persistent appetite for learning and asking better questions.

Tanzania’s oldest serving bank has joined CFO East Africa as a corporate member, extending the benefits of the finance leadership community to members of its senior team.