Mary Vilakazi, who financed her education through scholarships and a bursary, rose from a township to lead one of Africa’s largest financial institutions by market cap, FirstRand Group.
Vilakazi first joined the group in 2018, where she served as Chief Operating Officer (COO) until her appointment as CEO in 2024.
Before FirstRand, she was the deputy CEO of MMI Holdings, an insurance-based financial services firm, where she worked for nearly four years.
At 27, she started working for PwC, where she became one of the firm’s youngest partners worldwide.
In 2016, Vilakazi was named a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and previously served on the board of African Women Chartered Accountants.
Having started her journey from humble beginnings, she credits her success to the opportunities she was given.
“I think my success is proof that you cannot underestimate the power of being given opportunities. There were children who were much smarter than me, and when I drive into the township today, I still see them there as adults,” she told CFO South Africa.
Vilakazi was raised in Alexandra, a township in Gauteng near Sandton. When she was a child, she participated in a Saturday programme through the Gifted Child Programme at Redhill School in Morningside.
Her journey continued at St Edna’s Community College, where she received a Rotary Fund scholarship.
Vilakazi furthered her education with a PwC bursary and completed her Bachelor’s and Honours degrees in commerce at Wits University, eventually qualifying as a chartered accountant.
From a young age, Vilakazi instinctively seized opportunities around her, often going beyond instructions, a skill that likely helped her assume executive roles.
“Instead of pocket money, my mother gave me lollypops and amaskopas (coloured popcorn popular in townships) to sell on the street during my holidays. The profit was my pocket money, but I soon realised I could buy more packets with my income and sell those too,” she said.
“At the time, I thought it was unfair that other kids got pocket money and I didn’t, but I liked selling, and it was exciting to turn R100 into R300.”
FirstRand’s best-performing bank
The JSE-listed FirstRand Group, which was established in 1998, comprises a collection of integrated financial services companies.
It offers insurance, investment, and lending products and services across South Africa, other parts of sub-Saharan Africa, the UK, and India.
The group, with a portfolio that includes FNB, RMB, and WesBank, recently announced its financial results for the six months ending 31 December 2025, emphasising FNB’s strong performance.
FNB recorded double-digit profit growth in South Africa after generating over R15 billion in profit during the same period last year.
“This was a result of capital optimisation initiatives, an improving retail credit performance, and non-interest revenue (NIR) growth,” FirstRand said.
Non-interest revenue (NIR) refers to income that banks earn from fee-based activities rather than from interest-earning assets such as loans. This encompasses service charges, card fees, commissions, and trading gains.
“FNB benefited from strong NIR growth from value-added services offered to its core transactional client base, including FNB Connect, Send Money, eBucks and Nav,” FirstRand said.
Approximately three million customers used these services, leading to a 14% increase in total revenue to over R1.6 billion within the retail segment.
FNB’s solid performance in South Africa was partly offset by weaker results in other parts of Africa, where profit before tax dropped 12%.
This decline was mainly due to reduced client activity, higher funding costs, and increased credit provisions in Botswana, as well as elevated operating expenses in Ghana following the implementation of a new banking platform. –businesstech.co.za
