Doreen turns passion into thriving career

Dar es Salaam. Her interest in numbers began as a child, and she is now a seasoned finance expert with over 14 years of experience in accounting, finance, human resources reporting, taxation and strategy implementation.

This is Doreen Mangesho, director of Finance and Administration at the Private Agricultural Sector Support (PASS) Trust, an innovative agri-finance development organisation that improves the quality of life for small-scale agribusiness owners..

She was recently honoured for her outstanding contributions in her field, receiving two awards: the Director of Finance of the Year at the Top 100 Executive Awards and the Top 25 Women in Management Africa 2024 award in March 2024.

The first award was intended to recognise the top-performing CEO who had shown excellence and deserved credit for their efforts. The second prize, sponsored by WIMA, strives to improve women’s leadership in the workplace by honouring and promoting women’s achievements. She was ranked among the top five of 25 recipients chosen from 73 candidates.

“The awards are very important to me in terms of visibility and building my brand, but they also motivate me to work even harder and achieve greater success in my position as Director of Finance, which oversees the PASS Trust’s critical financial strategy. I urge impact funders and donors to collaborate with PASS Trust on initiatives like Green Growth and Credit Co Guarantee because they can be confident that their money will be well managed and provide value,” said Doreen.

Doreen holds a Master of Business Administration-Finance from the University of Dar es Salaam, a Post Graduate Diploma in Tax, a Diploma in International Public Sector Accounting Standard (IPSAS), and a Certified Public Accountant (CPA-T).

She started her career as an auditor at the KPGM, then went to NMB and later to Comprehensive Community Based Rehabilitation in Tanzania (CCBRT), where she progressed from chief accountant to head of finance.

According to Doreen, working in the tax area for over 14 years has strengthened her resilience because many tax decisions, particularly those involving disputes, call for extreme focus and a commitment to correctness.

“Taxes require appropriate tax planning as well as adherence to tax laws and regulations, and the 14-year journey has given me leadership experience. My ability to effectively lead meetings and formulate persuasive arguments has improved as a result of my interactions with Tax Authority staff and discussions about tax-related issues,” said Doreen.

As the Director of Finance and Administration at PASS Trust, she oversees the organisation’s long-term financial performance and growth and the operation effectiveness of the ICT, procurement, general administration and human resources departments in my capacity as director of finance and administration.

With all the responsibilities above, Doreen is happy to lead an organisation that has a specific policy that champions gender equality through human resource policy. The policy includes recruitment, which considers equal opportunity for all, and women are always encouraged to apply. The policy goes beyond championing equal pay through salary scales, diversity and inclusion, and zero discrimination and harassment.

She said, from a business perspective, PASS promotes gender diversity and climate change adaptation for agribusiness entrepreneurs to access credit facilities from financial institutions.

“Projects owned by women and those supporting climate change adaptation can get a special cover up to 80 percent of the loan amount. This is preferential cover in comparison to other segments with a lower guarantee cover of 20 percent to 60 percent,” said Doreen.

She said deliberate policies should be implemented at the workplace to support more women in the top positions of leadership. Lack of confidence in the ability to take the initiative and lead, perceptions of inferiority, or the idea that my decisions won’t matter are potential additional barriers for many women.

Being a top leader in an organisation requires more soft skills than just your professional abilities, so another one could be a lack of exposure to strategic leadership, emotional intelligence, etc., she added.

Commenting on why women’s representation in the same field as hers is crucial, she said that women are good at analysing situations and coming to the right decisions. We need more of them in the finance industry. Women tend to be more focused on strategies. When a company or organisation deviates from its strategic objectives, they become concerned.

“To make the best decisions, women are more concerned with ethics and integrity, which require accurate financial data. Conflicts of interest and corruption are things they tolerate less of. Risks, both financial and nonfinancial, are more sensitive for women. Understanding finances is necessary for all of these attributes that women possess,” said Doreen.

Doreen’s leadership style is a combination of transformational, democratic, and strategic leadership approaches. She always leaves the door open and enjoys making decisions based on the team’s input. She motivates her team members to keep putting in the effort and learning new skills so they can accomplish things they never would have imagined possible. “I am pleased that I could transform the administrative secretary into an interim acting procurement officer. She is now making great progress in the procurement field under my supervision, and I am supporting her academic pursuits in the field,” she said.

When asked about the challenges she faces in her work and how she overcomes them, she mentioned that the biggest challenges are adopting changes in the organization’s operations and ensuring that finance, procurement, and HR policies and procedures are followed by best practices. As a leader, she believes that it’s essential to embrace change and strive for transparency in leadership practices, even though it often leads to making more enemies.  To overcome this, she uses her emotional intelligence skills to ensure that every employee understands any changes before they are implemented and to be open and honest about every decision made by executive management.

Looking ahead to the next five years of her career, Doreen sees herself serving as both the executive director of an organization and the non-executive director of some organizations or institutions. Her goal is to obtain a PhD in the field of business administration in the upcoming years.