Michael Jordaan
Cape Town based Michael Jordaan, venture capitalist and wine enthusiast, is well known within the South African context as being at the forefront of leadership, innovation and technology.
From 2004-2014 he was CEO at First National Bank, Africa’s most profitable bank based on ROE, with a customer base of 9 million and operating in 10 countries (including India and the Channel Islands). In a decade at the helm of the bank, Michael oversaw the move away from traditional banking toward rewarding, ecosystem-centric solutions for customers. He led FNB to be named the “World’s Most Innovative Bank” in the 2012BAI-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. Michael was voted “Business Leader of the Year” in 2013 by the Chief Executives of the Top 100 Companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
As his reason for leaving, Michael cites that he always said and believed that a CEO should not stay longer than 10 years and he also wanted to become venture capitalist, using his own funds.
In 2014 he founded Montegray Capital where he remains the CEO. This private investment company invests in disruptive business models enabled by technology. Michael invests in and lends a strategic hand to various businesses such as the 5G data network rain, he chairs the mobile challenger Bank Zero and is chairman of the SA SME Fund Investment Committee, the largest Venture Capital Fund in South Africa. He is also a co-founder of AI Capital, a private equity partnership that invests in high-performing entrepreneurial teams across the globe.
