News Upfront: Madam Leah Malla Rackovsky, thank you for answering to questions from News Upfront. You are a Chartered Certified Accountant with over two decades of experience in the banking sector, on a general note, what’s the issue at stake to have prompted the organization of such an event?
LMR: I should say that I am more than a Chartered Certified Accountant; I did Chattered Accounting, Cooperate banking, in short I had further studies after that. I will say that the financial sector, when we look at the world today, things are evolving very quickly, and our leaders have finally come to understand that with everything happening around the world, Cameroon and the CEMAC region cannot stay behind forever, and the finance sector has to be opened up in an innovative and inclusive way. So I will say that it’s that realization that the world is moving, everybody is talking about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and block chain technologies and with that, people have come to realize that we cannot be afraid of it forever.
News Upfront: So bringing people together in open days like these, how will it fix the situation you just presented?
LMR: Again, you cannot take anything in isolation, we came together with experts from different fields, I came in from New York to contribute my banking experience to the workshops, we have leaders, Ministers of Finance, Ministers of Post and Telecommunications, different contributors, US Embassy in Cameroon, and USAID, coming together to join forces and make things work. So everything starts with education, with the will to do things differently. I believe this is the first step and then what we discussed here over the past two days, we will need time to see how much of that has worked.
News Upfront: You moderated a panel on “risk and opportunities presented by AI in the financial sector: considerations for Cameroon”, do you think Cameroon as we speak is ready to welcome AI?
LMR: Let’s be honest about it, AI is everywhere, including in your WhatsApp. When you are sending WhatsApp messages, you are already a user or consumer of AI. Whether we are ready or not, it doesn’t wait for anybody, it is building enough infrastructures to be able to leverage those infrastructures to implement the innovative technologies. What we have heard here today from the Central Bank is that they are ready and open to create the right regulation that will enable innovation to prosper. Again I can’t make comments about the next steps, there have been a lot of commitments here so we just have to wait and see.
News Upfront: In your presentation, you gave the impression that some workers may lose their jobs with the coming of AI, how can that be mitigated?
LMR: I believe with every revolution the traditional ways of doing things change, people have to learn and adapt, so people have to really recess the sector that they are in and how they can leverage all these new technologies or even re-skill if their jobs are at risk. So to not do anything and hope that technology will not come and take away certain jobs is not being realistic. Education, education, and education is the way forward, really understanding those technologies, people who will be able to use AI to produce better results,will be more in demand tomorrow.
News Upfront: You are coming from the US, what is it you bring particular for this event and for Cameroonians?
LMR: First of all I am back in my hometown Yaounde, I grew up in Yaounde before leaving for the UK, France and then the US. I think we have to understand that people who have accumulated a number of experiences in their field should come back and contribute to the development of the country. One of the Ministers mentioned at the event that the challenged is with human capital, that is people who have enough knowledge and expertise in their fields in order to guide the national agenda on emerging technologies, so the opportunities are there, and I think some of us who have acquired the knowledge in the diaspora, we are not really motivated by money, we want to contribute our own quota in building a legacy back home for the growth of the nation.
News Upfront: Now let’s talk a little about your biography, you are presently at the Saïd School of Business – Oxford University, but you didn’t jump from the sky to land there I guess?
LMR: (laughing) OK, this is a good question. I always say and I told you guys how I ended up in finance, Dr. Paul Fokam Kammogne was an inspiration, he was a mentor growing up here in Cameroon, and he was really a driving force for me pursuing a carrier in finance when I was studying in London. Yes, going to Oxford for further graduate studies was a big deal and I had a Post Graduate Diploma in Financial Strategy. During COVID-19 as things were shaking up the world, I asked myself what was the way forward? How can I make a better contribution to the world? and going back to Saïd Business School was a natural choice because I loved the Oxford way of Teaching, you are like you are never quite finished with learning. It was a lot of hard work to get to Oxford, it is an honor and a privilege to be an alumni of the Saïd Business School, it changed a lot of my thinking, and it was through determination and hard work, you don’t just get up and get there, you have to build a rich experience and then when you are there, it’s transformative.
News Upront: We see a lot of women into Banking and Finance, how can you push them to stay focus and continue to excel?
LMR: Oh gosh, people are where they are, given the skills they have and given the experience they have. Now there is a banker that I particularly love in Cameroon, Gwendoline Abunaw, who is the MD of Ecobank, I believe she is an inspiration to a lot of young Cameroonians. It really depends on the will, if somebody wants to further their career, the opportunities are there, and people just have to be determined. But you know not everyone dreams to be at the higher level, maybe they are very happy where they are doing what they are, and we have to appreciate absolutely everything that people are doing at their respective levels. However, we have to be mindful of the challenges that are coming because actually things are changing.
News Upfront: One last question, what could be the take home message from these scientific days?
LMR: They have made it clear that we are going to continue the discussions and I’m really grateful for everything that they have done to ask me to come all the way from New York to contribute to the scientific days. Maybe it should be a “leave home message” and not “take home message” (laughing) or maybe both. The leave home message is that, we are here, and the take home message to us Cameroonians who have left the country for a while is that things have changed, but Yaounde still remains Yaounde and the country is still the country. I think we have to come back each person in their own respective field to contribute our own experience to further develop the country, because we could be the leaders tomorrow in practically every sector whether it’s in sports, medicine, finance, legal issues, we have the potential and we have to work together with the Cameroonian brothers and sisters who stayed back home. Really it’s a leave home message and a take home message and we have to create that bridge, come together to create a better Cameroon.
News Upfront: I will like you to help define one of the financial concepts discussed during your workshop for us. I am talking about Open Banking.
LMR: I am rather going to talk about financial inclusion right, we have to remember one thing about all of these technologies, and the main purpose should always be to serve the consumers better. That should be the key message, it’s about the customer journey, and it’s about having the right regulations that can help really serve the customer better. In term of financial inclusion, we have some of the lowest level of financial inclusion in sub-Saharan Africa simply because in Francophone Africa, not many people pursue careers in high finance and that limits their potentials and if we really want to drive financial inclusion, yes, we need innovation, we need the right regulation, but we also need to encourage people to pursue those careers because I must say that finance is the most elegant job in the world, especially for a woman.
News Upfront: Leah Malla Rackovsky, thank you very much for talking to News Upfront.
LMR: Thank you and I am grateful.
