Business leadership masterclass: FirstRand founders share personal strategies for success

The founders of FirstRand, one of South Africa's largest financial services groups, were lauded for paving the path for young leaders in a recent BizNews Noontime Thursday webinar. Back in 1993, says Paul Harris (now chairman of Rain), fellow founders Laurie Dippenaar and GT Ferreira battled to find youngsters who could close a deal. So they ran a controversial ad campaign saying that RMB (the corporate and investment banking franchise of the FirstRand Group) "does not employ CAs". They attracted a host of diverse young talent, from doctors and lawyers to CEOs in a programme called 'Class Of' which is still around today. The three men were hands-on in turning smart entrepreneurs from non-financial backgrounds into industry players. One of those individuals was Michael Jordaan, former FNB CEO and junior partner to Harris at Rain. Here, Jordaan as well as Adrian Gore, founder and group chief executive of Discovery Limited, share their thoughts about the leadership of Ferreira, Dippenaar and Harris. This is part of a four-part series based on the full webinar, below. – Nadim Nyker

Business leadership: Advice from the best

Alec Hogg: I had a chat with Michael Jordaan this morning, and this is what he had to say about you guys.

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