This article was originally published in the Brand Finance South Africa 100 2025 report
African Bank has re-entered the Brand Finance South Africa brand ranking for the first time since 2014, with a brand value of R1.7 billion. This makes it the 57th most valuable South African brand.
Sbusiso Kumalo, Group CMO at African Bank, shares insights into the brand's evolution, partnerships and purpose-driven growth.
Interview with Sbusiso Kumalo
Group CMO,
African Bank
What defining moments or milestones have shaped and strengthened the African Bank brand?
For African Bank, the defining moment in our brand journey was the adoption of our Excelerate strategy in 2021. It is a business strategy that provided a bridge between our heritage and the bank we were determined to be, and essentially defined who we are. It allowed our people, both customers and the employees of African Bank, to rediscover the inspirational story of African Bank’s founding, and repositioned African Bank as a trusted financial partner that was created to back our people on their journey to prosperity. In reclaiming the original mandate of our founders, we have been able to fuel the accelerated growth of African Bank. Our heritage story and brand stance have informed the rapid diversification of African Bank’s businesses since 2021, and its landmark acquisitions of Grindrod Bank and some of the businesses of Sasfin bank.
In today’s interconnected world, collaboration and partnerships are crucial. How have you fostered strategic alliances, and how have these partnerships contributed to the growth of African Bank’s brand value?
The impetus behind our approach to alliances is a strategic pillar called Expanding the Core. Through this pillar, we prioritise the expansion of our core of products and services. Strategic alliances allow us to onboard the necessary expertise and systems more efficiently, reducing the time to market, minimising costs, and accelerating the growth of our suite of products and services. This allows us to more fully respond to the needs of our customers, in line with our vision of a bank for the people, by the people, serving the people, and our purpose of advancing lives. It means that customers can turn to African Bank for a full suite of services that will support them at every stage of their lives.
We also seek to collaborate and partner with our customers and our stakeholders to create a positive impact in the communities we serve. We are passionate about the role small businesses can play in re-energising our national economy, and our support for SMMEs has tangible benefits for the communities they operate in. We have invested in programmes that focus on education and youth development, and initiatives that bring South Africans together, such as the African Bank Soweto Marathon, and celebrate our unique cultural diversity and heritage.
What are your company’s biggest advantages in ensuring the success of your brand?
Ours is a story quite unlike any other financial institution. We were established to empower those relegated to the sidelines of the economic playing field. This unique reason for being lies at the heart of everything we do. Because of the history of South Africa, our brand story has resonance. It also has authenticity, because many of the problems that existed in the time of our establishment, 50 years ago, still remain. Our brand says that we back those people who were traditionally overlooked by more mainstream financial institutions, not because of trending issues or the need to cater to new customer segments, but because that is what we were built to do.
How does African Bank contribute to sustainability and address the challenges of climate change?
At African Bank, we firmly believe that our sustainability is inextricably linked to the sustainability of our communities.
Our sustainability strategy is built around creating value for all stakeholders by focusing on economic, social, and environmental objectives. The strategy emphasises responsible banking practices, inclusivity, environmental stewardship, and strong ethical governance.
By aligning our operations with these five sustainability levers, African Bank seeks to position itself not just as a financially successful entity, but as a transformative force in the communities we serve, ultimately leading to our goal of becoming a listable, sustainable bank. This sustainability strategy is holistic, addressing internal operations, stakeholder relationships, community impact, and environmental sustainability, all of which are crucial for long-term success in today’s business environment.
We seek to empower our people through financial education that speaks both to the consumer and entrepreneurs, particularly those in township and rural communities. We have hosted survivalist entrepreneurship bootcamps, and have curated an SMME Capacity Building course in partnership with 22 on Sloane to support small business growth.
We have also created a Whole School Development Programme in partnership with the Adopt-A-School Foundation, ensuring a greater quality of education for students in impoverished areas, while simultaneously creating employment opportunities in the communities our adopted schools are based in.
We are very conscious of our carbon footprint, particularly as our bank has grown significantly in the past few years. At our Midrand Support Centre, our Head Office, we have successfully installed an extensive solar power plant that has significantly reduced our electricity usage, while also exploring more energy saving measures throughout our national network of branches.
We are very conscious about our recycling of waste, and the increasingly digital nature of our operations has meant far less reliance on paper than in the past. We are continuously looking for ways to reduce our environmental impact, and are investigating environmentally-friendly technologies and infrastructure to support this initiative.
