Rufaro Mapanda
Head of Equity Trading | Absa
Rufaro Mapanda is a seasoned financial markets professional with over 18 years of experience across equities, commodities and private markets. He currently serves as the Head of Equity Trading at ABSA Group (https://cib.absa.africa/), one of the largest banks in Africa. He drives strategic initiatives and leads a growing team across multiple asset classes and jurisdictions on the continent and beyond. At ABSA, he drives knowledge-sharing and spearheads a thematic platform that connects teams across asset desks, regions and businesses to foster collaboration. Rufaro is deeply committed to leadership development, mentorship, and cross-border financial integration in Africa.
He is a co-founder of cGrate International (https://cgrate.com/), a micro-conglomerate of technology building and payment platforms in the heart of Africa, where challenges often inspire innovation. Established in 2008, the start-up stands as a beacon of transformative progress having become the biggest distributor of electricity vouchers, tokens and other value-added services in Zambia with a network of over 10,000 agents. The group has done work throughout the SADC area, Western and Eastern Africa. Rufaro and his fellow co-founder Kelvin Chikomo have embraced a bold ambition – to create cashless societies across the continent. Driven by a shared commitment to financial inclusion, they are united and rooted in the belief that unlocking Africa’s potential begins with empowering African communities with access to the digital economy to foster greater economic participation and opportunity.
Rufaro is very passionate about youth and skills development. In 2013, he together with other individuals in financial services, decided to get involved in the nurturing of their underprivileged communities. This was informed by the absence of talent from a previously disadvantaged background in the financial services sector. The group identified lack of good education and resources in township schools, and lack of mentorship as some of the issues impacting communities. To close this gap, the group was driven to organise themselves, formalise their activities and register The Grind Foundation (https://www.thegrindfoundation.co.za/). They have since helped transform the lives of thousands of children and encourage others to take on the mantle and pursue change.
His efforts and contributions have earned him notable accolades including winning the Rising Star South Africa 2023 award and recognition as a finalist in the 2023 Forty under 40 Awards. He holds an MPhil in International Business (summa cum laude) from GIBS and is a Chartered Banking Professional.
As a Visiting Fellow at Harvard University’s Centre for African Studies and as a participant of the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School, Rufaro will explore how African capital markets can be optimized to better support inclusive growth, and how leadership pipelines in finance can be organically strengthened to meet the continent’s emerging needs. He looks forward to representing Harvard, South Africa and indeed the whole of Africa favourably as a Fellow through his endeavours going forward.