Letshego Appoints Michael Viljoen and Rubin Japhta to Board

Letshego Africa has appointed two new non-executive directors to its board as the Botswana-listed pan-African lender strengthens governance and oversight across its operations in sub-Saharan Africa.

The company announced the appointment of Michael Viljoen as a non-executive director, effective April 30, 2026.

Viljoen brings three decades of experience in financial services and has been with Sanlam Group in South Africa since 2003. His current responsibilities include credit risk and portfolio management oversight for entities within the SanlamAllianz Group across Africa, as well as non-bank credit businesses in India in which Sanlam has interests.

Separately, Letshego also appointed Rubin Japhta as an independent non-executive director effective May 6, 2026.

Japhta has more than 30 years of experience in financial services, including over two decades at the International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank Group, where he focused on due diligence and advisory work for banks and non-bank financial institutions across sub-Saharan Africa and East Asia Pacific.

He previously served as head of operations at a wholesale financial institution that provided loans to non-bank financial institutions. Japhta holds a development economics honours degree from the University of Cape Town and an MBA from Stellenbosch University.

Founded in 1998 and listed on the Botswana Stock Exchange since 2002, Letshego operates across 11 African markets, offering microfinance and consumer lending products.