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For a woman who grew up and was educated in Masvingo, Marjorie Mayida, the current Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer at Old Mutual Investment Group Zimbabwe has come a long way.

With 20 years of experience in the financial services sector under her belt, the Goromonzi High School and University of Zimbabwe alumni (where she did her first degree) has shown that she is a force to reckon with in a sector dominated by males.

The married mother of three has been breaking glass ceilings throughout her career and continues to do so, inspiring many women who have for years been hindered in either achieving their goals or climbing the corporate ladder to the very top.

“When I became MD for the Old Mutual Investment Group in July 2015, I wasn’t sure if I was ready for the challenge. With the challenges that were in the business and being the first female MD within Old Mutual Zimbabwe, I realised I had to pull up my sleeves as I had my personal brand, that of my boss as well as the business’s brand to protect. Since then, I have relished the challenges in this role rather than fear them, and this had helped build my confidence,” she says.

Highlights in her career, culminating in her current position, include building an extensive economic research database of market statistics across all asset classes for the then Old Mutual Asset Management Zimbabwe (OMAM) in 2000.

“I also designed and implemented operational processes and procedures in OMAM Kenya in 2008 and in 2012, I championed and negotiated closure of two post dollarisation big ticket private equity deals.” Marjorie says.

As a dedicated and driven woman, her portfolio is a testament to how she thrived, between years 2016 and 2019, when she successfully concluded the legacy challenges for Old Mutual Unit Trusts, marshalled the turnaround strategy for Old Mutual Property and championed the opening of the ground-breaking Eastgate Mall in Harare. Recently, she successfully managed the seamless merger of OMIG and Old Mutual Property, resulting in significant annual savings for the business.

For her most recent tenure as the Managing Director, Marjorie Mayida has shown she is a force to reckon with and has nourished her insatiable passion for success. She is deeply passionate about helping people grow and reach their goals in life, whether at work or socially.

“I make sure that where possible I provide the support to individuals, be it socially, emotionally, spiritually or financially,” she says.

Her Christian values have helped guide her mission and goals in life. She centres her career mission on developing her financial skills to expert status on a global level while pursuing any challenging position in the financial services industry.

This, she says, will provide her with the opportunity to use her financial skills, knowledge, and analytical abilities while providing a meaningful contribution to the daily operations of the organisation.

It has not all been plain sailing for the affable Marjorie. She has encountered occupational and personal obstacles in her career. Her challenges included how to achieve a work/life balance given the demanding nature of her role.

“It requires discipline to ensure that neither of the two suffers. Fortunately, I have had a lot of support from family and work colleagues, and this has helped a lot. On the flipside, there have been opportunities, within Old Mutual, to work in or with businesses in other jurisdictions, and this has been a great opportunity for career growth and exposure, which I have gladly taken,” says Mayida.

For her, serving as a leader is about dealing with various challenges in a business and its networks, being always alert to exhibit the best character and behaviour for the right situation, and sensitive to the surrounding people all the time. She said the quote that best describes her style of leadership is by Jim Rohn, where he says, “the challenge of leadership is to be strong, but not rude; be kind, but not weak; be bold, but not a bully; be thoughtful, but not lazy; be humble, but not timid; be proud, but not arrogant; have humour but without folly’’.

Her parting advice for career women is for one to take up the challenge, target achievement of milestones in one’s career and remain focused on individual goals, despite obstacles that one may meet. A person should carry on with the task at hand and things will happen at the right time.

Marjorie holds a degree in Business Studies and Computer Science from the University of Zimbabwe and an MBA from the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). She also holds a certificate in Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management from UNISA and a Certificate in Management Advancement Programme from Wits University.