Sizwe Nxasana

Sizwe Errol Nxasana graduated from Unisa in 1983 with a BA Honours in Accounting Science.

Renowned among reporters for his modesty, Sizwe Nxasana has, for two decades, ranked among South Africa’s outstanding business people. He was born in Lamontville, Durban, and was educated at Mariannhill and the University of Fort Hare (which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2004). After founding two of South Africa’s earliest black-owned accounting firms, Nxasana became Chief Executive Officer of Telkom SA and went on to oversee Telkom’s 2003 listing on both the Johannesburg and New York stock exchanges. The innovative public share-offering created a broad base of black shareholders; moreover, the initial share price trebled during Nxasana’s tenure. Nxasana left Telkom in 2005 to take up a position as CEO of FirstRand. Under his leadership, FirstRand’s market capitalisation between 2010 and 2014 more than doubled to beyond R230 billion. Perhaps not coincidentally, Nxasana’s ancestry includes Solomon “Soli” Nxasana, born in 1865, a mission-educated entrepreneur who founded a prosperous transport and construction business.

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