Gideon Gono - Earlier Career and Education

Earlier Career and Education

Gideon Gono started his career as a tea boy at National Breweries in KweKwe in 1977. He put himself through various correspondence courses from O-Level through A-Level and moved on to the Zimbabwe Fertiliser Company as a Bookkeeper. After working at Van Leer as an accountant he was appointed Finance Manager at the Zimbabwe Development Bank (ZDB) in 1987. When he left the Zimbabwe Development Bank in 1995, he had risen to the post of General Manager. He went on to become Managing Director of the then defunct Bank of Credit and Commerce of ZImbabwe (BCCZ). Gono is credited with rebuilding and rebranding the once failed BCCZ which, under his direction became The Commercial Bank of Zimbabwe, or 'Jewel Bank'. It gained the reputation of being the one of the leading banks in the country. It was this turnaround that led him to be appointed as Governor of the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe. He obtained a Masters in Business Administration at the University of Zimbabwe and went on to lecture there, and was also appointed to head the University of Zimbabwe Council. He was awarded an honorary degree at the same institution. He also claims to hold a PhD in Strategic Management from Atlantic International University. According to The Nigerian Tribune, Atlantic International University of Nigeria has been blacklisted as a fraudulent diploma mill. The name Atlantic International University was being used illegally without knowledge or approval by the US based university. Nigerian authorities were previously notified by the US based university to take immediate action against the individual(s) utilizing its name illegally in Nigeria.