Executive Management

Romeo Ngarambe is a seasoned finance and investment executive with more than 13 years of international experience spanning strategic finance, capital markets, corporate advisory, governance, and regulatory compliance.

He has built a strong record of leading financial strategy, strengthening control frameworks, improving performance management, and supporting executive decision-making in complex multinational environments. 

At Corning Inc., he held senior finance leadership roles across multiple operations, with responsibility for budgeting, forecasting, reporting, investment analysis, compliance, and operational performance.

His experience includes managing $60 million annual budgets, improving cost efficiency, supporting record sales performance, delivering clean and timely financial reporting, and leading finance teams in high-accountability settings. He also led enterprise-level transformation initiatives, including governance frameworks, financial closing systems, and data-driven monitoring tools that improved reporting accuracy and reduced spend. 

Earlier in his career at Deloitte & Touche LLP, he worked on major capital markets and advisory assignments, including due diligence, risk reviews, structured finance transactions, investor protection work, and regulatory engagements for leading institutions. This gave him strong exposure to financial risk, market integrity, and complex stakeholder environments. 

He holds a Master of Science in Accounting from Binghamton University, a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Toccoa Falls College, and is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP), and brings strong capability in systems and analytics, including SAP, Tableau, and Power BI.

Ms. Josephine Mbabazi joined the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) as the Head of Corporate Services. She is an accomplished Finance and Administration professional with over 17 years of leadership experience across Rwanda’s leading construction and manufacturing sectors.

A certified member of both ACCA and CPA (Rwanda), she is currently pursuing an MBA in Strategy from Heriot-Watt University. Ms. Mbabazi brings to CMA a proven track record in financial planning and analysis, corporate budgeting, compliance, ERP implementation, and strategic management.

In her most recent role as Finance Director at Real Contractors Ltd, Ms Mbabazi was responsible for the overall management of the company’s financial operations, including planning, reporting, risk mitigation, and compliance.

Prior to this, she served as Finance and Administration Manager at Ruliba Clays Ltd, where she led the development and implementation of the company’s mid-term strategic plan and played a pivotal role in structuring finance for a major expansion project. 

Her earlier tenure at Inyange Industries Ltd saw her advance through several leadership positions, including Acting Finance Director, where she was instrumental in the successful upgrade to SAP S/4HANA, and in delivering enhanced financial reporting to support executive decision-making.

Beyond her financial acumen, Ms. Mbabazi has overseen a range of corporate support functions, including procurement, human resources, and general administration. She has consistently championed process improvement, reinforced internal controls, and enhanced audit readiness across the organisations she has served.

Her professional development includes specialised training in leadership, customer service, and team performance. Fluent in English and Kinyarwanda, with working knowledge of French.

Ngabonziza KAREKEZI is a capital market professional with more than 20 years of experience across global banks, regional development programmes, and central bank advisory.

His expertise spans securities services and custody (hedge funds and funds of funds), market-infrastructure projects, innovative financing, and digital finance.

Before joining #CMARwanda, he served as Technical Advisor in the Office of the Deputy Governor at the National Bank of Rwanda, supporting strategy and delivery across digital and market development initiatives.

He worked as an independent consultant leading fintech and digital insurance engagements across Southern and Eastern Africa. His previous roles include Project Manager at UBS in Luxembourg; Senior Network Account Manager at BNP Paribas Securities Services; and hedge-fund custody roles at HSBC Securities Services Luxembourg and J.P. Morgan.

He began his career as a Financial Advisor with ING in Belgium and also managed a regional innovative-financing programme delivered with the European Commission across COMESA, EAC, IGAD, and IOC, based in Zambia.

Ngabonziza holds an Executive Master's in Management from the Solvay Brussels School of Economics & Management and a Master’s in Marketing & Management from Coventry University.

He has completed executive programmes in Open Banking & Finance for Regulators at the University of Cambridge Judge Business School and in FinTech: Innovation & Transformation in Financial Services at the National University of Singapore.

Yvon Gilbert Nishimwe is a seasoned digital transformation leader and IT strategist with more than 18 years of experience at the intersection of technology, financial services and public sector innovation in Rwanda and across East Africa. Holding a PMP® certification from the Project Management Institute, an MBA from St Mark & St John University in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the National University of Rwanda, he brings a rare combination of technical depth, business acumen and regional understanding to every role he takes on.

His career is built on a strong foundation in digital banking and payment systems. Over more than a decade, Yvon held senior leadership roles at Bank of Kigali, Ecobank Rwanda, Cogebanque and Exim Bank Djibouti, Centrika Ltd and Entrant DPS where he led the design and delivery of digital banking platforms, core banking systems, card scheme integrations and cross-border payment operations.

Combined with his extensive implementation of ISO 27001 and PCI DSS compliance frameworks, this gives him a clear-eyed understanding of what it takes to build secure, auditable and scalable regulatory digital environments.

Joining the Capital Market Authority as Head of IT and Digital Transformation, Yvon brings to CMA a capability set directly calibrated to Rwanda’s capital market ambitions. His mandate covers the modernization of CMA’s regulatory technology infrastructure, the design of supervisory technology solutions for market monitoring and compliance reporting, and the development of secure digital platforms that bring greater efficiency and transparency to Rwanda’s capital markets. In an era where RegTech and SupTech are reshaping how regulators operate worldwide, Yvon Nishimwe arrives not only with the credentials, but with the hands-on experience and strategic vision to drive that transformation forward.

Mr. Jerome NDAYAMBAJE is the Head of Market Infrastructure and Fintech Innovation at the Capital Market Authority of Rwanda (CMA). He brings more than 16 years of experience in the financial sector, including over 10 years of service at CMA. He has extensive experience in technology, financial markets, fintech innovation and project management. He joined the CMA as IT Manager and subsequently held the position of Digital Innovation Analyst, while concurrently serving as Coordinator of the Project Implementation Unit (PIU) for the AfDB-funded project. He began his professional career in 2010 as an ICT Officer at the Prime Minister's Office in the former Ministry of Information. He later joined the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, where he served as a Network Administration Expert from 2011 to 2016, before joining the CMA.

Mr. Jerome leads initiatives at the confluence of technology and capital markets. His expertise spans information technology, capital markets, financial market infrastructure, fintech and project management, with particular focus on fostering innovation while safeguarding investor protection, market integrity and operational resilience of market infrastructure. He led several strategic initiatives at the CMA including the establishment of the CMA Fintech Regulatory Sandbox and Innovation Office, the Leveraged Foreign Exchange Trading framework, reforms to the Central Securities Depository (CSD), and other technology related initiatives used by licensed market participants.

He works with sandbox participants and capital market licensed entities to oversee and facilitate the responsible adoption of fintech innovation, modernization of market infrastructure including the digital investment platforms, CSD, trading systems for primary, secondary and Over the Counter (OTC) markets. He also played a leading role in the development of Rwanda's Law Regulating Virtual Asset Business and continues to coordinate the development of the implementing regulations and the operationalization of the virtual asset sector.

Mr. Jerome holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Rwanda and a Master of Science in Information Technology from the University of Madras, India. He has CISI Level II certification, and has advanced credentials in Fintech and Regulatory Innovation, Open Finance, Blockchain, and Financial Market Infrastructure (FMI). He is a Project Management Professional (PMP®) and holds other professional certification in cybersecurity, ISO/IEC 27001 for Information Security Management and ITIL for IT Service Management.

Dr. Karugarama is a lawyer, policy adviser, private sector adviser and governance expert with more than 17 years of experience in the public and private sectors

His work covers legal and regulatory affairs, corporate governance, public policy, investment, trade, business advisory and institutional strategy.

He advised public institutions, private sector organisations and international organisations on legal, regulatory and policy matters.

Before joining CMA, he worked with the African Union and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) in Addis Ababa, where he provided legal and policy advice at continental level.

His professional experience also covers policy reform, private sector development, investment, the business environment, and legal and regulatory advisory work.

Dr. Karugarama holds a PhD in Law from the University of Glasgow. His doctoral research examined the international legal framework for foreign investment protection, with particular attention to African treaty practice.

His areas of expertise include international investment law, international trade law, regulatory policy, investment protection, corporate governance and business law.

He also served as a Senior Lecturer at the University of Rwanda School of Law, where he taught international trade and investment law and supervised postgraduate research in business law.