Imagine starting with a bold mission in 2012: to achieve financial inclusion through a multi-country bank. Within a decade, this vision becomes one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the world...

Now, picture starting this business in South Africa, a country the IMF ranked as the hardest place to do business out of 49 countries surveyed. Imagine having the foresight to partner with a family-owned food retailer to establish a lowcost, physical banking footprint. Such success didn’t go unnoticed and one of the world’s largest banks acquired the company. A clash of cultures followed and, just four years later, the divestment.

Despite the risks, one of South Africa’s wealthiest entrepreneurs stepped in to take control. Then came Covid-19. The business nearly hit the wall and shareholders demanded a successor of their choosing be trained. A frantic 217 pitches for fresh capital yielded no success. And then, at the eleventh hour, there was a reprieve as one investor and then another stepped up.

Now, imagine launching in the Philippines, replicating and improving what works while designing an entirely new cloud-based banking stack with over 500 Vietnamese developers. Imagine assembling a team from Italy, the US, the UK, South Africa, Vietnam, the Philippines, Australia, India and Zimbabwe. Picture shaping a culture where failure is part of growth, and audacity is the norm, not the exception.

Imagine becoming the global poster child for AI in banking and receiving an email in June 2025, informing you that your company is one of Time magazine’s Top 100 Most Influential Companies in the world. This incredible story unfolds within the pages of It’s About Tyme. 

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

ADRIAN SAVILLE is a professor of Economics, Finance and Strategy at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). He founded Boundless World, a strategic advisory firm specialising in capital markets, growth models and business transformation.

BRUCE WHITFIELD is an award-winning financial journalist, sought-after keynote speaker, corporate trainer and facilitator of complex conversations.

'It's About Tyme: Banking Beyond Borders' is published by Pan Macmillan South Africa