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Always bringing his A-game

Wetumwene Shikage





Marvin Katire is the relationship manager of funding and deposit mobilisation at Letshego Namibia.

With over 12 years of banking experience in operations, treasury and sales, he started as a teller at Nedbank Namibia, moving on to foreign payments and later to treasury. After seven years he moved to Standard Bank Namibia as a transactional solutions manager for over four years.

Background

Katire was once a semi-professional footballer as he played football for 11 years for Black Africa Sports Club and three years at Civics Football Club. He was born in Windhoek but raised in the village of Okondjatu, 100 km south of Okakarara. His educational background and qualifications include a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Namibia University of Science and Technology, and an ACI Dealing Certificate and Fundamental Finance; Business Acumen and Strategic Client Sales from the University of Cape Town.

Some of his responsibilities include acquiring and managing the portfolio of corporate deposits, managing the top 50 corporate deposits in volume, identifying deposit or financing and transactional opportunities and actingh as the primary link to the client for all Letshego Namibia banking solutions.

Challenges and accomplishments

“My biggest accomplishment will always be to have completed my ACI Dealing Certificate and moving into the treasury department as a trainee treasury sales manager.

“My biggest challenge is always to initiate the first contact with a client I have never met or spoken to,” he says.

A typical day in the office for him is easy to adjust to as he is a man of habits. “My day starts at 06:45 at the office with a cup of coffee. I then compose my to-do list and work throughout the day to complete it all.

“On a weekly basis, I reserve Mondays for meetings and to do research on potential clients, and preparing my presentations to clients.”

After work, he goes for a seven-kilometre run.

Serving, talking and knowing what he has offered to clients keeps him inspired to continue. “Knowing that I have satisfied someone’s needs is what inspires me. Playing, watching or coaching football is my life, that’s my love,” he said.

He advises young people on the same career path to work extremely hard at anything they do while young. “Good things happen in the mix of chaos. Don’t wait to be inspired to do what is right, just do it. If there is one value one should live by is integrity,” he says.

Future plans

Katire says he has a personal project which he needs to complete at Letshego Bank by 2023 in order to reach a certain amount of their deposit book, and only then will he start thinking about his own future plans.

One of his greatest fears is that he might not have enough time for his family. “I am very good at what I do, I always bring my A game, hence I fear that one day when I become an executive or senior manager, I won’t have enough time for my family,” he says.