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Biography

ABSA Bank

I am a very easy and caring person and don’t care much about myself. Other people are always very important for me in such way that I often do things in favour of other people rather than myself. This is not really the best characteristic for self improvement but things slowly started to change.

As husband and father I was no longer only responsible for myself, but also for my wife and children. Responsibility forces you to self-examination. It force you to try and give the best you have for those for who you are responsible. It creates a desire to succeed, to bring the best out of you for the benefit of your loved ones.

Despite all the good work in the past 5 years I was at this stage only recently promoted as controller while there was people with less than two years on the same level. However, during this time I learnt to believe in myself, to utilise the power of one’s mind to solve problems and at least, the determination required to reach your goal.

During this period at Sandton it happened several times that I discovered a serious problem but had to fight days and weeks with nearly the whole management team before they agreed that I am correct.

The specific work is cash management of big corporations such as Tiger Oats, Momentum Life, SA Breweries etc. A head office negotiation team would had meetings with them to negotiate the conditions etc and then drawn documentation for the branch on how to handle such accounts.

Despite the fact that it’s very specific, a step by step guide to take that account’s balance and write it in A, that account balance and write it in B, add A, B and S together and calculate 17% etc, I noticed that the results just don’t make common sense when I take over this job for a day.

It nearly always happens that I asked the specific controller the next day about that, but after got negative answer go to her assistant-accountant to explain why I think it’s wrong.

The end of the story is that I moved from senior to senior and the whole chain up to branch manager stands a few days later around my table in a heavy argument about that.

Time after time I loose the battle until I manage somehow to get an head office official involved and only then, it always appears that I am correct and that there is indeed a big problem. “Frank, can you please fix this for us”

Three years later, same position, same low salary, I am transferred to ABSA Branch Administration Centre in Johannesburg.


I still hadn’t learnt enough about what it takes to succeed.

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