Onkabetse describes himself as a person who is a great consumer of knowledge and ensures that whenever he engages on something he goes the extra mile.
Onkabetse is a confident, determined and focused chap with a knack for success. He is competent in both leadership and problem solving, and is an experienced Finance Manager with finance and business experience spanning over 14 years.
Prior to Cellulant, he worked in the following industries: Construction, Business Advisory, Medical Supplies, Financial Services, Educational & Culture and Trucking. His work ethic is creditable, and this is augmented by his profound ability of self-expression; be it by writing or speaking.
Fun fact, From time to time he writes for a local Newspaper (Botswana Gazette)!
What do you do at Cellulant?
I am the Cluster Finance Manager for Southern Markets. My role revolves around financial management in the respective markets covering a wide spectrum that includes Reporting, Treasury, Tax, Business Support, Regulatory support in-country and Audit. My Stakeholders internally include Financial Controller, People, Compliance Team and Commercial Team, whilst externally they include Auditors, Company Secretaries, Customers, Vendors, Banks among others.
What drives you?
My family (wife, son and two daughters) fuels my ambition. My ambition is to grow as a Finance Manager and furthermore progress through the ranks of the Cellulant Finance team.
What attracted you to Cellulant?
A friend working at the Central Bank of Botswana who knew my desire to work in the FinTech space alerted me that Cellulant was looking for a Finance Manager (I didn’t know Cellulant at the time). We had an interview with the set panel. The line of questioning set the tone for me. I then decided to explore this route, BootCamp 2.0 became the icing on the cake on my full attraction to Cellulant.
Describe Cellulant in one sentence
A great place to be a Student, Teacher, Advisor (or all of these), where hard work works, and being smart is appreciated.
What is the problem you are great at fixing for your market?
Cash Flow/Cash Burn – Our market has been able to sustain itself without capital injection and we have been able to unlock receivables in a challenging environment.
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Which have been the most rewarding moments?
Being promoted from Country Finance Manager to Cluster Finance Manager where I started overseeing 5 markets, then 7 markets – and currently 6 markets. I was also selected to do a Management Accelerator Program which shows the effort on Personal Development by Cellulant. The last but not least of the three was being part of the team that successfully applied for the Electronic Payments Services (EPS) license with the Bank of Botswana.
Who has been the biggest influence in your career?
I don’t think I can attribute this to one person. I have been fortunate enough to have Line Managers that can listen to my Personal Development plans and help nurture the direction.
What do you love most about working at Cellulant?
I have been accorded respect by colleagues whenever I wanted to share my views (many views), and most of the time these colleagues being Senior and some being Line Managers. I have also been allowed to design the way I propose to work, especially when I became the Cluster Lead, this confidence in me by my Line Managers has demonstrated that Cellulant gives opportunities to its staff to grow. I love working in an Environment where there is a deliberate respect between colleagues.
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How do you want to be remembered?
I would like for my colleagues to remember that Onkabetse had a great deal of problem solving skills and was an amazing Leader.
In your own words, what does Cellulant want to do in Africa and why is that inspirational for you?
Cellulant develops African Solutions to African Problems, and I am happy to be part of the team that is fierce, disruptive and confident to take these problems head on. I am inspired by the work that Cellulant does which is progressive and disruptive.
