Batsile's Rise From Humble Beginnings To Greatness
Pini Bothoko | Monday June 18, 2018 13:33
Batsile, the head of consumer operations under Barclays Bank Botswana, was born and raised in Maun’s Riverside ward. Growing up in the dusty streets of her village, it did not cross her mind that one day she would be working for one of the biggest banks in the world, Barclays Bank Botswana.
After completing her Form 5 back in 1976 at Molefi Senior Secondary School at a tender age of 17, Batsile did not look back and started her career path where she secured a job as a waste clerk at Maun’s Barclays branch.
Currently serving her 41st year as an employee of Barclays Bank, the vibrant Batsile who will be retiring at the end of this month, secured a post back then when working for a bank like Barclays was everyone’s dream.
Batsile rose through the ranks of savings clerk, current accounts, teller, foreign exchange, advances and securities and was later promoted to play the role of supervisor for call over and general ledger.
Since then, she has held senior positions across the country in places like Tonota, Tutume, Kasane agencies, the positions that kept her excelling in the banking industry.
Through her on job training, Batsile acquired a certificate in management development programme from the University of Stellenbosch, a certificate in business administration, and other certificates in banking, business continuity management, customer service, sales and numerous trainings.
Over the decades the quinquagenarian (a person who is between 50 and 59 years old), Batsile was motivated by her career objective to take a senior or leadership responsibility in a world-class financial institution, particularly in areas of operations and payments and to positively contribute to enhancing the financial institution’s reputation.
Above everything else Batsile said growing up, she always wanted to make her parents proud
The mother of four, three men and a lady, her leadership role become aggressive when she was given the role of being the centre manager for payments and international services back in 2007. That same year, the relentless Batsile was allocated another managerial role for voucher processing centre.
In 2008, she was appointed the branch operations and servicing regional manager for the southern region covering nine branches.
She continued to go sky-high and was seconded to Barclays Bank Ghana under the rapid response team in 2009 where she covered key banking operational areas for the period of a year, something that was her historic milestone.
Her eyes sparkle and she gets animated when she speaks of her journey from humble beginnings to a self-assured and assertive woman she has become.
In 2010, she came back to Botswana where she resumed her branch operations and four years later she was pointed head of wholesale operations the role she held for two years and later appointed for head of consumer operations back in 2017.
Currently the go-getter holds the position of fin crime business banking, the responsibility she was assigned to last year December. Batsile has had a remarkable rise as she was once nominated under Southern African Development Community (SADC) payments project committee, bankers’ association technical committee to mention but a few, proving her banking expertise beyond reasonable doubt.
Over the years, the energetic banker’s accelerated promotion made contributions to the bank as she was once seconded to Barclays Bank Zambia and Uganda to share best practice on the reconciliations processes and procedures.
She was also once nominated project manager for SADC sires representing Barclays Bank Botswana.
Back in 2011, the long-service Batsile was nominated and awarded the managing director’s award, making her the first recipient all because of her commitment and outstanding performance.
Proud Batsile believes she is who she is today because of Barclays Bank Botswana and through the bank, she managed to give her children the best education and standard of living.
“Come June 30th I will be retiring and would like to encourage the youth, especially young women to be assertive and have self confidence in whatever they do to be able to achieve their dreams.
“I did not have degrees when I joined Barclays Bank, but my determination kept me going to this day as I retire a happy employee. Even today whenever I go, either to church or any community forum, I always make sure that I grab the front seat motivated by the self confidence in me,” she said.
Now owning her family home in Tlokweng, she advised the youth that before everything else, they must have passion and determination in what they do in order to enjoy their work.
Batsile is concerned that nowadays most people venture into careers for the love of money and falling to follow their passion, hence tend to fail to progress in their positions.
“Despite the arrival on new banks I did not chase money as some people would have done, I remained focused and delivered the best in my roles.
“As an employee it is important to learn to adapt to change, management will also change, hence you should be always prepared to be assertive enough to be able to fit in as quickly as possible and avoid being resistant to change,” Batsile said. The focused ambitious grandmother aspires to join the entrepreneurship industry, especially landscaping business and interior design and decorating.
“I have found a new passion in landscaping and would like to keep myself busy with as I retire to look for my family. My father is aged now, currently 93 years and needs my care.”