The sky is the limit for Lesetedi

Standing at 1.8 metres tall Lesedi Lesetedi, is not just a towering lady, but has brains to match. These qualities have enabled her to conquer the world and become a true ambassador of both this country and the women fraternity.

The passionate veteran and ambassador of the Internal Auditing profession, Lesetedi finished 2015 on a high note by making this country proud as she was appointed Chairperson of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) Audit Committee at its headquarters in Rome, Italy when she attended the meeting in December, 2015.

Her enormous responsibility comes at a time when Botswana and other countries are facing severe drought which is likely to result in food shortages She first joined the Committee in April 2013 as an ordinary member. She is also a member of the UNICEF Audit Committee, which she joined in February 2013.

Who is Lesetedi?
Lesetedi is a professional internal auditor; she attained her qualification in Internal Audit Leadership (QIAL) in 2014 and her CIA (Certified Internal Auditor) qualification in 2004. She completed her Masters’ degree in Internal Audit and Management at London, United Kingdom in 2001.

She finished her bachelor of commerce (B.com) degree in 1993 at the University of Botswana. She has attended numerous trainings through seminars, workshops and conferences in Strategic Management, Internal Auditing, Fraud, Risk Management, Corporate Governance and others.

She has been a columnist in one of the local newspapers on Corporate Governance.She is one person whose graph has been rising since she completed her studies. She has been working as an Internal Audit practitioner for both the public sector and corporate entities.

She is currently working for Botswana International University of Science and Technology (BIUST) as the founding Director of Internal Audit and previously worked as Chief Audit Executive (CAE) at the Botswana National Productivity Centre (BNPC) and Botswana Unified Revenue Service (BURS).

In the public sector she worked for the Ministries of Finance, Health, Transport and Communication, Lands and Housing (CAE) and State President Ministry (CAE) based at the Office of the President.

Other commitments
Lesetedi has a couple of other international commitments as she was appointed the Director-at its headquarters in Orlando, Florida, USA.This came in with other appointments like being a member of the IIA Standards Board, a member of the IIA Global Advocacy Committee.

The highest position she held with the IIA was when she was a member of the IIA Global Executive Committee as the International Secretary for 2013-14. Before then she was a member of the IIA Global Institutes Relations Committee (IRC) for 2011-2012.

She has been involved in the various IIA structures on governance including participating in drawing the IIA Strategic Plan and Communication Strategy. At regional and continental level, Lesetedi was first appointed as chairperson of the African Federation of Institutes of Internal Auditors (AFIIA) Governing Council for 2011-13 and was re-elected for another term up to 2015. She is one of the co-founders of AFIIA where she served as the vice chairperson and representative of the Southern African countries from 2009-11.

A true veteran and ambassador of the Internal Auditing profession, Lesetedi visited, presented and, or chaired sessions at various national conferences in Africa, including her own country Botswana, Mozambique, Malawi, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Ghana, Tunisia, Nigeria and Angola.

She is scheduled to address the IIA 75th International Conference in July 2016 in New York.Locally, Lesetedi served as president and chairperson of IIA Botswana Board of Governors from 2004 and was re-elected a couple of times until the end of 2011.

She has been at the helm of growing the Internal Audit profession in Botswana and has hosted various international renowned professionals as well as locally high level Authorities like Legislators, Permanent Secretaries, CEOs, Board Members, and other professionals.

Lesetedi attributes her zeal and passion for the profession to her competencies like her love to work with diverse people, her good interpersonal relationships, eagerness to learn new things and the importance of making a difference and adding value wherever she participates. Her greatest weapon which has brought many people closer to her is her contagious laughter.