Botswana Stock Exchange appoints South African graduate as deputy head
An alumnus of the University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business (UCT GSB) has been appointed deputy CEO of The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE), the BSE has announced.
Thapelo Tsheole’s new role took effect this February and he will work closely with current CEO, Hiran Mendis. He plans to focus widely on local and international growth opportunities and provide input into other strategic initiatives.
“I will also continue to work in my past role of product development. I was in charge of contributing to Botswana’s Capital Market development policy initiatives,” he says.
Since joining the BSE in 2007 as Product Development Manager, Tsheole’s responsibilities included developing the bond market and introducing three bond indices, as well as listing the exchange trade fund (ETF) on the BSE. Tsheole completed his MBA at the UCT GSB in 2013.
“The GSB taught me several key values: to be passionate, and to have a spirit of innovation, entrepreneurship and personal growth,” he says.
Additional studies include a Bachelor of Social Sciences from the University of Botswana and a Master of Commerce in Financial Markets from Rhodes University.
Tsheole has also completed several financial market programmes, including the Registered Person Examination (RPE) conducted by the South African Institute of Financial Markets, of which he is a member.
Tsheole considers his appointment as an opportunity to contribute to the development of the BSE and to represent the current crop of younger corporate leaders. “I want to contribute to developing the BSE to be one of the leading stock exchanges in Africa and beyond. And I will work to prove my worth and to prove that young people can meaningfully contribute to the development of the economy,” he says.
Before joining the BSE, Tsheole worked as settlement supervisor and dealer in the Bank of Botswana’s Financial Market Department and researcher at the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC).
Walter Baets, director of UCT GSB says: “We are extremely happy about Tsheole’s appointment. It is always great when we hear of the achievements of our alumni. And this is a fantastic one.”
Baets says Tsheole’s new role will give him the opportunity to strengthen the economic development of Botswana. He adds that it is now up to Tsheole to use his new role in a meaningful way. “It’s up to him now to use his new role positively, to go out there and do something with it. He can make a difference”.
