Michael Jordaan, Venture Capitalist and wine enthusiast stepped down as CEO of First National Bank, one of SA’s largest banks with a customer base of nearly nine million, in August 2013 to pursue his passion for entrepreneurship.
With more than 20 years’ experience in the financial services sector and nearly a decade at the helm of the bank, Michael oversaw the move away from traditional banking toward rewarding ecosystem-centric solutions for customers, and led FNB to be named the “World’s Most Innovative Bank” in the 2012 BAI-Finacle Global Banking Innovation Awards, held in Washington DC.
He is also the recipient of the CNBC Africa Business Leader of the Year for Southern Africa award.
The former Banker now heads up a private investment company, Montegray Capital, investing in disruptive business models enabled by technology.
Michael lends a strategic-hand to various businesses, including Mxit and Wines of South Africa (WoSA), and is a non-executive Director on the JSE Limited. He’s also part of a team that have started up a coding academy, codeX, focused on growing Africas coders.
Michael Jordaan Definition Of Success | It has become far less materialistic; one of the problems in society today is that people look at money as a yardstick for success. It is far more important that you achieve things that are more meaningful, like have you made peoples lives better and are you leaving the world a better place.
I Am Driven By | The fact that There are just so many better ways of doing things.
My Highlights | When my kids were born because it really puts you in touch with how your parents must have felt and you have a better sense of the future – you want to create a better world for them and you understand the reason you’re doing it all, for them and the next generation. It’s easy to explain but something you will never fully understand until it happens to you.
The Difference Between Good And Great | This is the answer you don’t want to hear, it has a lot more to do with hard work than talent, it’s perseverance and hard work that makes something difficult look very easy.
A Key Talent | Surrounding myself with people than are better than me. How you do that, have the confidence to know when you don’t have the right answer and that the people around you could come up with a better solution, give them credit and that way you get to harness the wisdom of the system.
Principles I Live By | Authenticity, integrity, execution-orientated, innovation, curiosity, passion, humility and accountability.
Resources I Use To Stay Inspired | Books and people, some recent books include ‘Quiet. The value of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking’, Exponential Organisations by Salim Ismail, Zero to One by Peter Thiel.
My Future Dreams And Ambitions | After many years in the corporate world, to have a happy family life spending more time with my kids as they grow up and to build up a successful Venture Capital business and overall better environment for start-ups in South Africa. I also hope to play a role in helping the Cape Winelands achieve their rightful position in the world as one of the most dramatically beautiful regions in the world with a quality product.
I Am Inspired By | Young entrepreneurs and start-ups disrupting markets, changing the way we do things and taking on the big players.
Andrew is the co-founder and Managing Director of Yuppiechef, and heads up their strategy and technology. After developing websites and intranets for clients since 1999, he founded Yuppiechef in 2006 with Shane Dryden as a part-time venture while they continued to run a small web agency. Yuppiechef has since grown in to one of South […]
Lloyd Blankfein has been the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. since June 2006, and a Director since April 2003. He serves as a member of the Goldman Sachs Management Committee and Board of Directors. Previously, he had been the firm’s President and Chief Operating Officer and prior to that, […]
Carina Schmid Legacy Project is the co-founder and CEO of The Global Experience, a non-profit organization and international youth media network dedicated to increase the intercultural dialogue. Since being in high school Carina enjoyed exploring different fields of work, including media production, marketing and journalism. A trip to Namibia eventually changed her life and made […]
Our dream when we started CA Connect was to be the first private SAICA[1]-accredited CTA[2] in South Africa that offered contact education to students who were not able to study on a full-time basis. We wanted to run a programme that was founded on inclusion, support and genuine care taking a fresh look at education, […]
Beth founded her first company at age 22 and launched exclusive European fashion brands across the United States. It seemed like a dream job at first but Beth soon saw the human rights violations, environmental pollution and child labor prevalent in the industry. Determined to show that fashion could make a difference, Beth created her […]
Chetan Bhagat is an Indian author, columnist, screenwriter, and speaker. All of his books have remained bestsellers since their release and four have inspired Bollywood films. In 2008, The New York Times called Bhagat “the biggest selling English language novelist in India’s history. Time magazine has named him one of the “100 Most Influential People […]
Matthew Waldman is a New York based artist and designer most prominently known for creating NOOKA Inc. a lab dedicated to exploring universal communication via form, language and fashion. My Definition Of Success | I have a fairly traditional view of success, one based on esteem and stature in one’s field or based on one’s work being […]
Lance Brown author of “The Driver of Change” is a living testament to his “Creating Opportunities” philosophy and presentations. Growing up in Mitchells Plain, a Cape Town suburb where dreams rarely stretch beyond one’s street corner, Lance dared to reach for the stars. From a small seed of a basic job as a delivery driver […]
These remain the property of its owner and are not affiliated with or endorsed by WeSpeak Global.
Our Mission
© All rights reserved 2025. Created using VOXEL THEME
