This is Michael Jordaan. He is 42 years old and is a wine farmer, which is such an expensive hobby that it requires a day job in finance.

Becoming Chief Executive of First National Bank before the age of 40, Michael first started his banking career in the early 90’s with Deutsche Bank. Michael’s other passion however is his wine farm, Bartinney, which overlooks the Banghoek Valley in Stellenbosch.

1990 Commissioned Officer SA Navy, Gordon’s Bay
Awarded SAS Simonsberg trophy for Best Officer on course in the Gordon’s Bay Naval Academy.

1991 - 1993 Management Trainee and Corporate Banker with Deutsche Bank, Hamburg/Frankfurt
On-the-job training in all aspects of universal banking ranging from teller duties and counter enquiries through personal / corporate lending and investments to international finance.

1994 – 1995 Class-of programme with Rand Merchant Bank, Johannesburg
Project-based programme with experience gathered in the Credit and Corporate Finance divisions of Rand Merchant Bank, ending as personal assistant to the then Managing Director, Paul Harris.

1996 – 1999 CEO: Origin Bank
Involved in convening, establishing and then heading up Origin, the Merchant Bank for Individuals. Origin has subsequently been re-branded as RMB Private Bank.

1999 – 2000 CEO: FNB HomeLoans
Instrumental in strategic repositioning and R400m profit turnaround of FNB HomeLoans.

2000 – 2002 CEO: eBucks.com
Established FNB’s Internet banking and rewards business. In two years the business grew from zero to 500 000 customers and achieved profitability against a backdrop of local and international dot com failures.

2002 – 2004 CEO: FNB Customer Solutions Division
Responsibility for all retail and business products and segments within FNB and eBucks.com. The unit contributed more than R2 billion in pre-tax profits to FirstRand.

2004 – Present CEO: First National Bank
Business comprises 30 000 staff in six African countries and profit before tax amounts to R8 billion (US$1 billion).

Michael is married to Rosemary and they have 3 daughters – Lauren (age 6), Juliette (age 3) and Jeanne (age 2). He enjoys sparkling and red wine; as well as supporting competitive SA sports teams.

A few personal thoughts on innovation and creativity

Innovation is nothing without creativity but it is only when that creativity is brought into action that innovation is born. Innovation isn’t simply the art of introducing something new to the world. More often, it’s the art of introducing something better and smarter. Something that works.
Innovation is implementation. Innovation is a measurable, quantifiable outcome. Innovation is an abstract thought transformed into a concrete service or product. The very essence of innovation is work!

Q: Tell us something that not many others know about you. 
A: At work some people listen to me some of the time. At home, where I have a wife and three daughters, no one listens to me ever. It’s one reason why I love my job!

Q: What do you enjoy doing when you want to get away from it all?
A: We have a fisherman’s cottage on the West Coast in an idyllic village called Churchhaven. Our cottage only has solar power and rain water. When we are there, we read, debate, walk, fish and consume a lot of red wine.

 Q: Congratulations on a flawless PayPal launch here in South Africa. How will the average South African benefit from having a PayPal account and can you tell us what was the greatest hurdle FNB had to overcome in bringing the service to South Africa?
A: PayPal allows South Africans to shop across the border without disclosing their personal or financial details. However I do not think that this is the major benefit that our association with PayPal brings. Far rather I think the major benefits will flow to entrepreneurs that will now be able to sell their products and services to 190 countries and leverage off 81 million active consumers. Up until now international payments have seriously held back what is otherwise a very innovative culture of ecommerce in South Africa.

Q: First National Bank is known for being a leader in banking innovation here in South Africa. Which recent innovations are you most proud of and what is the bank doing to encourage and nurture innovation from within?
A: We recently launched a product called, Send Someone Money, which allows anyone with an FNB bank account to send money to a cellphone number. The recipient doesn’t need a bank account, they can go and withdraw the money from an ATM or on-send the money to someone else with a cellphone number. We take innovation very seriously in FNB. None of these innovations simply happen by chance.
As an incentive, we offer a million rand every year to any person who comes up with a great idea and then implements it. In the last year, there were so many good implementations, that we eventually awarded four prizes of one million rand each. This goes a long way towards creating the right type of culture within a large corporate which could otherwise be very bureaucratic.