Five minutes with Phibion Gwatidzo

Tell us about yourself

My name is Phibion Pasipanodya Gwatidzo. I serve as CEO of Baker Tilly Central Africa, Chairman of Baker Tilly Africa Sub Region and Council Member of Baker Tilly's Europe Middle East and Africa Region.

I’m married to Mary, my wife of 30 years and friend of 35 years. We have two children and three grandchildren. I am a disciple of Christ and enjoy investing my life in the lives of others. In March 2001, I founded the Accounting firm Gwatidzo and Company, now known as Baker Tilly. The firm operates in Botswana, Malawi, Zambia, and Zimbabwe employing over 100 professionals working in six offices across the countries.

Outside of work, what keeps you busy?

My lifetime goal is to invest my life in the lives of others, so I serve people in various roles. I’m Zimbabwe National Director of The Navigators, an international discipleship ministry. My role is to help our staff advance the gospel of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom. My wife and I are marriage counsellors and invest time in pre and post marriage counselling. Together with my wife, we lead Bible studies on marriage. I serve as an elder and treasurer of my local church, am a keen golfer and enjoy watching Liverpool football club play.

What personality traits make a good leader?

• Accountability: A good leader builds structures that foster accountability. To be accountable for one’s actions and responsibilities. This is a sign of maturity
• Followership: Being willing to take instructions, to be a good leader one must be a good follower
• Humility: Learning to stoop. Arrogance is like the sin of idolatry. A leader must be humble and remember that everyone around them is a potential teacher. We learn continually from those around us
• Trustworthiness: It doesn’t matter how smart and talented one is, if they can’t be trusted, they are not worth having on the team

What has been the biggest challenge for you from the COVID-19 pandemic?

Changing how we are as people. We are relational, we shake hands, we attend funerals and sleepover at funerals, we attend big church gatherings, we meet in each other’s homes and break bread together. That is all gone. Now we meet virtually. But what is worse is that I can’t trust the man in the street or my neighbour. I don’t know who has the virus, this brings fear. Fear of catching the virus and not getting adequate medical facilities to treat it. It’s a bad place to be. Having to avoid people is bad.

What does 'now, for tomorrow' mean to you?

Now for tomorrow means I anticipate the challenges clients are likely to have and be proactive about addressing them.Now for tomorrow speaks to opportunities our strong brand has created. It speaks to what I should do today in preparing for tomorrow. It talks to winning strategies, relentless execution of strategy, building winning teams, investing in the next generation of leaders, embracing and utilising technology. Now for tomorrow means I anticipate the challenges clients are likely to have and be proactive about addressing them. It means building capacity for young team members to have challenging careers and giving them an attractive career path. It means investing for the wellbeing of our community.

What opportunities are there for your firm in the next few years?

I am bullish about my firm over the next few years. We have young, talented, capable, and ambitious leaders. The firm is in safe hands going into the future. We have an aggressive strategy to achieve growth in non-audit services. We’re investing in HR, Legal, Cybersecurity, Strategy consulting and Corporate finance. We also see growth in Tax and Accounting services as we enhance our brand, new offices in our region and other firms gravitating towards the Baker Tilly brand.

Great futures lie ahead.

 

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