From turning down a government scholarship to choosing tech over tradition, Emmanuella Nzahabonimana has chartered her own path to the top. As head of technology at BPR Bank Rwanda – and the only female head of technology at KCB Group – she shares how staying calm, pushing boundaries, and lifting others has shaped her leadership journey.
Despite describing her work environment as a “thriller” which is fast-paced, high-stakes and constantly on edge, Emmanuella Nzahabonimana, head of technology at BPR Bank Rwanda, has managed to rise through the chaos with a quiet steadiness that sets her apart.
“If I wasn’t calm, I would have lost it,” she says.
In a world of 24/7 audits, cybersecurity threats, and system downtime, Emmanuella has learnt that composure isn’t just a leadership trait; it’s survival.
“You need calmness in technology so that you can allow your people to resolve issues,” she explains. “You have to shield them from the noise, so that they can focus, innovate and deliver.”
Her ability to stay grounded under pressure is rooted in a deeply competitive spirit; one shaped in childhood as the only girl among three brothers. “My mum would always tell me, ‘Whatever your brothers can do, you can do even more’,” she recalls.
That mindset led her to push her way into tech, determined to make a bigger impact. “I told them I’m doing IT, no matter what,” she says. “I want to provide solutions that change my country.” It’s this blend of drive and inner stillness that has powered her journey to becoming one of the few female CIOs in East Africa.
Fast-paced and unpredictable
Today, Emmanuella is the only female head of technology within KCB Group, which spans six countries. But she’s not content being the unicorn. “My target was always to bring more women into tech,” she says. At BPR Bank Rwanda, her department now includes 14 women out of 53, with four of them in managerial roles. “We’re still few, but it’s a good start,” she adds. “You can’t be the only one forever, that’s lonely!”
Her tech journey started with a bold and slightly rebellious move. She turned down a free government scholarship to study food science. “I told them no, I want to do IT,” she says. “I even went to the university director’s office and said, ‘Either change this or I’ll figure it out’.” They didn’t change it. So her mother, fully convinced by her daughter’s determination, paid for her IT degree out of pocket. “It was a big sacrifice, but she believed in me and I couldn’t let her down,” Emmanuella shares.
After graduating, Emmanuella started in support roles, later landing a managerial position at KCB Rwanda. “I was the only woman in the department,” she remembers. That didn’t faze her. Five years later, she rose to head of technology, then led the tech side of a major bank merger. “It’s been nine years and I’m still here, now as CIO,” she says with a grin. “Clearly, something is working.”
So what’s a day in her tech world like? “Honestly, it’s a thriller,” she laughs. “There’s always something. An urgent system change, pressure to deliver a critical project, an ongoing audit, a system glitch, a new customer demand, or a regulator on the line. It’s fast-paced and unpredictable , but that’s what makes it exciting.”
She runs both technology and cybersecurity, a pairing she jokes is “too much to handle, and yet here I am”. Emmanuella believes her superpower is staying calm while everyone else is losing it. “My boss always asks, ‘Ella, how are you so calm’? And I tell him, because if I’m not, everyone else will panic.”
Finding peace
That calm was put to the ultimate test during the merger of two banks’ systems, an intense eight-month operation. “One major solution didn’t work at go-live,” she says. “There was chaos, noise from every direction, customers, regulators, my bosses. And I hadn’t slept for eight months… plus the two days after that.” Her key lesson? “Never do a big bang go-live,” she says. “Phase it. Push back on impossible timelines. And if you must go home for speaking the truth, go home. But don’t let the business suffer.”
Emmanuella holds a master’s in cybersecurity and treats it as central to innovation. “You don’t bolt security on at the end, you embed it from the start,” she insists. “Otherwise, what are you even protecting?” As BPR Bank ramps up its AI journey, she’s helping build a framework for safe and responsible adoption. “We’re developing the AI strategy now. Everyone’s shouting ‘AI! AI’, but not every vendor offering it knows what they’re doing,” she says. “We’re taking our time to get it right.”
For her, it’s about more than just tools and tech. It’s about ethics, accountability and clean data. “You can’t feed bad data to AI and expect magic,” she warns. “Garbage in, garbage out. Even AI can’t fix that.”
When she’s not holding the digital fort, Emmanuella finds peace in morning workouts, family time and hanging out with friends, preferably laughing at nothing in particular. “Sometimes my friends are like, ‘Put your phone down, you’re off duty’! But I always have my earphones on, just in case something breaks,” she says with a shrug.
And in quieter moments, she’s digging into books and articles about AI, or reading The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins. “It’s about letting go, accepting people and situations as they are. Very useful when you’re a parent and a leader,” she says.
Final word? “You don’t have to look like the stereotype to lead in tech,” she says. “Just show up, be competent, and let the results speak for themselves.” Spoken like someone who’s turned chaos into a career and still found time to smile through it.
