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About Clara Mlambo
Leadership advisory built from the inside out.
Nearly three decades of executive responsibility across financial services, telecommunications, FMCG, and industrial manufacturing shape Rufasa's counsel: clear, practical thinking for leaders whose decisions carry consequence.
Founder narrative
Rufasa starts where leadership gets real: pressure, incomplete information, and people looking for direction.
Founder-led advisory, consequence shaped
Rufasa Leadership Advisory draws its credibility from Clara's nearly three decades of executive experience across financial services, telecommunications, FMCG, and industrial manufacturing.
The difference is the posture of the work. Rufasa advises from the same seat its clients know: real boardrooms, real transitions, real pressure, and decisions that do not wait for perfect information.
The name Rufasa is personal, born from Clara's children and carrying the values of legacy, continuity, purpose, and building something that lasts.
01
Inside the chair
Guidance shaped by lived executive responsibility, not abstract observation from the outside.
02
Through pressure
The advisory posture is shaped for executives, boards, and organisations navigating consequential decisions, transition, growth, and noise.
03
Into movement
The work stays practical by design: clearer thinking, honest guidance, and purposeful progress.
Portrait interlude
Career milestones
The path below is the operating context behind Rufasa: commercial leadership, MD mandates, board responsibility, industrial leadership, and national industry representation.
2024
Jul 2024-Present
Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries
Vice President
Industry leadership
The CZI vice-presidency places Clara in a senior industry role connected to Zimbabwean enterprise and productive-sector leadership.
2021
2021-Present
BOC Gases Zimbabwe
Managing Director
Industrial leadership
As Managing Director of BOC Gases Zimbabwe, Clara's leadership moved into industrial operations and business accountability.
2019
Dec 2019-Present
ABC Holdings Limited / Bank ABC
Chairman of the Board
Financial-services board
Bank ABC added a financial-services board mandate to Clara's portfolio of institutional leadership responsibilities.
2019
2019-2024
ZimTrade
Chairman of the Board
Trade board leadership
At ZimTrade, Clara's board chairmanship connected export development, enterprise growth, and institutional judgement.
2019
Jul 2019-Apr 2021
Liquid Intelligent Technologies
Regional Chief Operating Officer
Technology operations
After BAT, Clara entered Liquid Intelligent Technologies as Regional Chief Operating Officer, bringing executive operating discipline into a new sector.
2016
2016-2019
British American Tobacco Zimbabwe
Managing Director
Home-market MD
Zimbabwe became Clara's next managing-director mandate, pairing market leadership with high-stakes visibility at home.
2014
2014-2016
British American Tobacco Zambia
Managing Director
Managing Director
Clara stepped into the MD seat in Zambia, taking on full-market accountability after a decade of senior commercial progression.
2011
2011-2014
British American Tobacco
Head of Marketing, Southern African Markets
Southern African markets
The Southern African markets role moved Clara from area brand leadership into a wider marketing leadership mandate.
2009
2009-2011
British American Tobacco East and Central Africa Area
Area Head of Brands
Regional brand mandate
Clara's remit expanded into East and Central Africa, turning brand leadership into a broader regional assignment.
2008
2008-2009
British American Tobacco South Africa
Marketing Planning Manager
Planning discipline
The next South Africa milestone added planning depth to the marketing path before Clara moved into a regional brands mandate.
2006
2006-2007
British American Tobacco South Africa
Key Account Manager
South Africa market
The South Africa move put Clara in a larger operating environment with direct account responsibility and sharper commercial exposure.
2005
2005-2006
British American Tobacco Zimbabwe
Head of Marketing, BAT Zimbabwe
Market marketing lead
This role placed Clara at the front of BAT Zimbabwe's marketing agenda before her move into the South African business.
2004
2004-2005
British American Tobacco Zimbabwe
Head of Trade Marketing and Distribution
Trade and distribution
The work expanded from brand stewardship into trade channels, distribution, and the commercial systems that carry market execution.
2002
2002-2004
British American Tobacco Zimbabwe
Head of Brands
Brand leadership
Clara's early BAT leadership moved from brand responsibility into a progression of larger commercial mandates.
The origin story
The timeline shows the public leadership arc. The memoir opens the more personal side of the same leap: what it takes to let go, move, and keep leading when certainty is gone.
Enter The Book page for the full memoir experience.
Memoir route
A quiet handoff from public career arc into personal story.
