University of Malawi-The Polytechnic's (now Mubas) Bachelor of Commerce Accountancy class of '99 classmates Lyton Chitambo and Maureen Mbeye are set to take over the reins at Malawi’s conglomerate Press Corporations Limited as acting Group Chief Executive (GCE) and Company Secretary, respectively.

This follows PCL’s restructuring exercise that has seen a review in job roles, realignment and cost effective positioning that led to the adoption of a modified corporate office structure, according to board chairperson Randson Mwadiwa.

“As a result of this change, the board advises its stakeholders that PCL’s three executives that held the positions of GCE [George Patridge], Group Financial Controller [Elizabeth Mafeni] and Group Administration Executive and Company Secretary [Bernard Ndau] will be leaving the Group effective 31st January, 2022,” Mwadiwa says.

Chithambo, 42, who was the General Manager-Operations, had previously served as Projects Manager for PCL and before that as Group Risk Manager and was responsible for coordinating various projects and establishing Enterprise Risk Management Structures within the Group. Prior to joining the Press Group in January 2015, Chithambo worked as Lecturer in Accounting & Finance at the Bournemouth University in the United Kingdom.

Prior to relocating to United Kingdom, he worked for almost a decade at the Reserve Bank of Malawi where he rose through the ranks from Examiner in Supervision to Principal Examiner responsible for Financial Institutions supervision. He holds a PhD in Finance and Risk, a Bachelor of Commerce in Accounting and is a fellow of ACCA.

Mbeye, 41, on the other hand, is an experienced professional accountant with over 18 years’ experience in financial management, auditing, reporting and management, 13 of which has been in the PCL Group, at both Subsidiary and Corporate Office levels. She is currently working as PCL’s Group Chief Accountant. She is a graduate of the University of Malawi, The Polytechnic with a Bachelor of Accountancy Degree and she is a Fellow of the Association of Certified Chartered Accountants (ACCA).

She is also a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Malawi (ICAM) and she is registered by the Malawi Accountants Board as a Certified Public Accountant in Malawi (CPA Malawi). Mbeye sits on the Boards of several PCL Group companies including Press Properties Ltd, The Foods Company Limited, Macsteel Malawi, Open Connect Limited and PCL House Limited. She is also a Trustee of the in-house Pension and Motor Fund Schemes.

The conglomerate announced implementation of a functional review exercise set to bring radical changes, including removal of some positions at its corporate office amid reports that the top three executives were carting home obscene salaries.