You are your best advocate, and for Simone-Louise Hutchings, recognising the power of her own voice has given her the confidence to boldly accept the challenges that come with being a woman in a male-dominated industry.

She is a doting mother who fosters a culture of kindness in her family. In her spare time, she flexes her musical talents as a saxophone player, with enviable skills.

Her resilience and determination have seen her build a successful career, and she has been at Standard Bank for 15 years, starting as a bank credit analyst, then moving into an origination role in structured trade and commodity finance and thereafter into the Loan Syndication & Sales team.

One of her career highlights was a high-profile deal involving 8 countries, 8 currencies and 7 lenders, which her team closed in stages over a period of 4–6 months. The transaction involved months of planning and strategising in order to find a solution that worked for the client, taking into consideration their key objectives, different geographical nuances and timelines. She credits this transaction as one of the most challenging but rewarding as it involved finding a new, unique solution and approach to market from a loan syndication perspective.