FNB Easy CEO, Philani Potwana, was always a man ahead of his time. He completed his matric at Mariazel High School, in the Eastern Cape just shy of his 16th birthday.
Upon attaining his Bachelor of Commerce degree in information systems, from the University of Kwazulu-Natal, he applied and got his first stint at corporate South Africa. Here he was a trainee systems analyst at FNB, at the tender age of 20, back in 2009.
Today, at 31 years old, he is one of the youngest – if not the youngest executive at a major bank.
The Kwamnyana (near Mount Free) born Potwana’s talents were soon noticed by the powers that be at the bank when he innovated the cardless withdrawal concept.
“A lot of people, who I pitched the idea to, would tell me ‘we have been using bank cards all these years, why must we now use cellphones all of a sudden?” he remembers.
“I quickly learned to structure my ideas and articulate them to be able to convince people to buy into my ideas and get them over the line.”
Amongst other responsibilities entrusted on his young shoulders was being appointed as Business Analyst, eWallet Solutions from June 2010 to September 2012.
He was then responsible for transactional credit products from October 2012 to July 2015.
From there he was promoted to the position of Product Manager for cash investments from July 2015 to June 2015
He was then appointed as Head of Product FNB loans from August 2016.
In September, last year his meteoric rise at FNB took another major leap when he took over the reins at FNB Easy, replacing Peter Woodhatch, making him the youngest chief executive within the FNB stable.
Despite his success in the banking world, Potwana describes himself as an “accidental banker.”
He says the success of his cardless withdrawal innovation made him realise that he did not want to stay in the IT department but wanted to expand his horizons within FNB, a bank he fondly refers to as having “the best culture”.
The father of two, says his appointment as head of product for personal loans was a litmus test for his abilities to lead.
“I was 28 years old at the time and sitting in the loans executive committee for the first time with people who have been around for a while and understand the business quite well. In the first three months, I found myself a mentor because for me it was about how I bring myself to being comfortable with who I am and bring that in the exco discussions.”
He says the first thing he learned from his mentor was that he had to change his dress code and “dress how you want to be addressed.”
He credits his rural background and tough upbringing for keeping him humble despite the dizzy heights he has reached at his young age.
“Humility is king, because when people notice that you’re genuinely humble, they are more inclined to give you opportunities.”
