Ahmed Bangura

Catholic aid agency supporting humanitarian and development programmes in 30+ countries.

A key member of the Executive Team reporting to the Executive Director, providing strategic and operational leadership for the Finance, IT, and Infrastructure functions, with responsibilities such as:

• Executive Leadership - Serve on the CAFOD Executive Team, collectively accountable for strategic decision-making, mission delivery, resource stewardship, and staff wellbeing.
• Financial Stewardship -Hold executive oversight for all expenditure budgets, diverse income streams, financial reserves, and capital assets. Ensure robust financial planning and treasury systems meet statutory standards across multiple countries.
• Governance & Compliance -Primary executive link to the Board of Trustees; serves the Finance, Legal, Audit and Risk Committee (FLAR). Ensure full governance oversight of finances, legal, risk, and audit matters.
• Strategic Initiatives -Chair the Income Oversight Cluster, overseeing fundraising strategy and performance. Sponsor major IT development projects, ensuring IT and Infrastructure strategies effectively support global mission delivery.
• Risk & Legal Management -Hold overall responsibility for the Corporate Risk Register. Ensure organisational compliance with all relevant regulations and lead on corporate legal affairs, including contested legacies.

Key Achievements:

• Strengthened CAFOD's financial governance, ensuring robust reserves and risk management frameworks.
• Implemented strategic financial modelling to support mission delivery and long-term sustainability.
• Enhanced Board and Committee engagement, enabling Trustees to exercise strong governance.
• Improved alignment between financial planning, fundraising, and operational delivery.
• Championed inclusive, high-performance culture across finance, IT, and infrastructure teams.

Overview: Saferworld is a £25m International Non-Governmental Organisation (INGO) working to prevent violent conflict and build safer lives. Saferworld operates in 10 countries across Africa and the Middle East with affiliate offices in Brussels, Washington DC and Beijing, working with people affected by conflict to improve their safety and security and conduct wider research and analysis to improve local, national and international policies and practices that can help build lasting peace.

Responsibilities :

• Oversaw financial operations, including budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and compliance.
• Developed and implemented financial policies to ensure transparency and accountability.
• Led annual budget process with programme managers to align with organisational goals.
• Monitored financial performance against budget, providing reports to board and senior management.
• Managed cash flow and investment strategies to optimise resources and mitigate risks.
• Provided strategic financial guidance to support decision-making and enhance efficiency.
• Collaborated with fundraising team to identify funding opportunities and ensure grant stewardship.
• Supervised global finance team, encouraging a culture of continuous learning and professional development.

Key Achievements

• Built and led a high-performing finance team, with a culture of collaboration and continuous learning, resulting in increased staff morale and improved efficiency. Recruited 3 finance business partners within 2 months of joining the organisation.
• Implemented financial practices that ensured long-term financial health, including the recalculation of the required reserves and diversify revenue stream. Helped the Conflict Advisory Unit (CAU) make the most out of commercial contracts, increasing unrestricted income and reserve.
• Organised a global finance meeting/training in Nairobi for all finance staff across the organisation to encourage collaboration across teams.
• Created an informal money policy and emergency procurement in light of conflicts in Sudan, updated the cost recovery policy and internal budget template for the grant proposal.
• Enhanced the financial reporting system and process, providing timely and accurate financial information to the board of trustees, senior management team and programme managers.
• Led Saferworld through a successful annual audit with clean opinion, demonstrating strong financial stewardship, adherence to accounting standards, and effective internal control.

Overview: Nazareth Care Charitable Trust (NCCT) is a £30m management company responsible for the operation and regulation of 12 Nazareth Houses (care homes), 1 Nursery, and 3 retirement villages within the United Kingdom.

Responsibilities :

• Led development and implementation of strategies, reporting progress to Board of Trustees.
• Prepared draft accounts for audit and filed annual accounts with the Charities Commission.
• Compiled monthly management accounts and quarterly packs for Finance and Audit committee.
• Coordinated annual budget-setting process and directed quarterly forecasting efforts.
• Ensured effective treasury management across company and subsidiaries.
• Oversaw compliance with taxation issues within NCCT Group.
• Supported negotiations and monitoring of contracts with local authorities and NHS.
• Reviewed insurance policies regularly to ensure adequate coverage and value for money.

Key Achievements:

• Completed the annual audit and prepared the consolidated accounts (with 8 subs) for the year ended 31/03/22 within 4 months of joining the organisation.
• Compiled and finalised the 2022/23 annual budget 2 months ahead of the normal schedule.
• Completed the implementation of the new accounting system ensuring that the Income Processing (IP) and Purchase Order Process (POP) modules are correctly integrated with the core financial module.
• Revamped the credit control process which led to debt recovery of about £1m in 6 months
• Presented the finance and audit sub-committee with a cash flow forecast, income and expenditure forecast, and cost analysis for all homes. This led to a change in pricing strategy and a 20% reduction in agency usage.
• Drafted a new pricing strategy that led to a 15% increase in fees to help transform loss-making homes by ensuring all costs are fully covered.
• Restructured the finance team to create clarity on all the roles resulting in a 50% reduction in queries internally and externally.
• Visited all homes in the UK to train managers and Business Support Administrators on the new systems and processes. This resulted in a 90% reduction in errors from data input at the home level.

Responsibilities:

• Led internal working group on finance to enforce conformity and accountability.
• Trained regional staff on internal control procedures, establishing robust financial management systems.
• Collaborated with regional teams to implement partner controls and enhance reporting processes.
• Monitored financial performance and provided updates to Senior Management Team.
• Prepared cash flow forecasts and identified fundraising targets.
• Coordinated relations with auditors, banks, HMRC, payroll provider, pension, and insurance company.
• Oversaw financial transaction processing and ensured accounts reconciliation accuracy.
• Developed fraud and anti-corruption policy; conducted organisation-wide training.

Key Achievements:

• Led accounting system change from QuickBooks to Access Dimensions
• Developed a new partner assessment policy to help manage the risk of downstream funding and conducted partner training as part of capacity building.
• Developed fraud and anti-corruption policy and conducted training across the organisation.
• Supported the development of key policies such as cost recovery, procurement, etc., and strengthened the month-end process
• Completed 7 annual audits and numerous grant audits for Hivos, EC, GAC, Sida, and USAID.
• Presented financial statements to the board and quarterly management pack (management accounts, budget and cash flow forecast, balance sheet, and financial review summary) to the Finance Committee
• Managed a team of three, a financial accountant, a grant finance officer, and a finance assistant.
• Improved donor reporting and timekeeping system which helped to reduce ineligible costs.
• Led fraud investigation in the Eastern Africa office.

• Seconded to Global Fund HIV/AIDS Project

• Seconded to Ministry of Education