By Modupe Gbadeyanka
Dr Mateus Magala has been named by the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group as the new Vice President for Corporate Services and Human Resources, effective from September 1, 2018.
Dr Magala, a citizen of Mozambique, is currently the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Electricity of Mozambique (EDM).
He holds a Masters in Economics and Econometrics (2000), a Masters in Transport Economics and Management (1998) and a Master’s in Business Administration, all from the University of Sydney, Australia. He also holds a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the Academy of Brno, Czech Republic, (1990). Dr. Magala obtained his PhD in Economics from Victoria University, Australia (2004).
He worked earlier at the African Development Bank from 2008-2015 in various roles, including as Principal Planning Economist and Strategist, Strategy Advisor, and Resident Representative of the Bank in Zimbabwe, prior to being requested to return to his country of Mozambique, to help revamp the nation’s utility company, the EDM. While at the Bank, he helped to lead the development of the Bank’s Ten Year Strategy.
Prior to joining the Bank, he had worked as Research Fellow at the University of Sydney, Australia (2001-2003), Senior Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer, at the University of Melbourne, Australia (2003-2005), Associate Director for Strategic Designs and Development in Australia (2006-2007), Team Leader for the Strategy Advisory Services, Parsons Brinckerhoff in Australia, Economic and Strategy Advisor for Rio Pinto (2008-2009).
Dr. Magala brings a strong transformation and reform mindset and experience. At the EDM, where he heads several thousand staff, he embarked on reforms to put in place performance based systems, cut back on layers of bureaucracy, implemented global talent hunts and established performance-based contracts.
Within two years, the performance of the EDM saw a rapid turn around. With recruitment of better-qualified and rewarded staff, EDM saw its revenue rise from $150 million to $500 million and on track to reach $1 billion by 2020. He has won acclaim for his work at EDM, earning the 2017 Personality of the Year in Mozambique, by the Blue Bird Club, the 2016 African Leadership Business Excellence Award and the Outstanding Contribution for Power, 2017 / 2018, by the African Utility Week Industry Awards.
Commenting on his appointment, Dr. Mateus Magala said “It is such a great honor to be appointed as Vice President for Corporate Services and Human Resources for the African Development Bank. I look forward to helping to further promote a culture of high productivity, performance and accountability for results, through attracting, rewarding, and retaining best-in-class staff talents”.
“Already, the Bank is the fourth most attractive company among employers in Africa. I look forward to working with President Adesina on his bold reforms and to help fast-track institutional systems and processes to make the Bank more nimble for faster responsiveness to the needs of our stakeholders, while accelerating the delivery of the operations of the Bank”, said Dr. Magala.
Speaking on the appointment, the President of the African Development Bank, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina said “Dr. Magala has led institutional reforms successfully and brings innovative ideas, creativity, passion, drive and determination to implement reforms. He is results-oriented. I expect that he will be able to effectively align the human resources and corporate services to support the Bank on its lending and non-lending operations to achieve greater impacts”.
“Dr. Magala, who is from a Lusophone or Portuguese speaking African country, also becomes the first-ever Vice President of the Bank from a Lusophone country in the Bank’s 54 year history. This reaffirms my strong personal commitment, and that of the Bank, to greater diversity, inclusiveness and broad-based representation within the Bank Group”, said Dr. Adesina
