{"id":822721,"date":"2025-05-01T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=822721"},"modified":"2025-05-01T00:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T22:04:11","slug":"the-exceptional-south-african-who-went-from-university-rector-to-top-ceo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/822721\/the-exceptional-south-african-who-went-from-university-rector-to-top-ceo\/","title":{"rendered":"The exceptional South African who went from university rector to top CEO"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Johan van Zyl is an exceptional South African who has gone from being a world-class academic to running some of the country\u2019s largest financial institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Zyl was a talented student and completed B.Sc, B.Sc (Hons), M.Sc, and D.Sc in Agricultural and Economics degrees at the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also completed a PhD in Economics at VISTA University, joining an exclusive club of people who have two doctorate degrees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He started his career as an economist for the South African government and the National Maize Producers Organisation (NAMPO).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Zyl joined the academic world in 1983, where he taught agricultural economics at the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He progressed quickly and served as dean of the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, where he had a big impact.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was one of the masterminds behind the faculty’s Postgraduate School of Agricultural and Rural Development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also central a significant role in establishing the Forestry and Agricultural Biotechnology Institute (FABI) at the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1994, he left the University of Pretoria to serve as the World Bank\u2019s coordinator of Rural Development.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years later, at only 39, he became the youngest-ever Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He established himself as one of South Africa\u2019s top academics and agricultural scientists, with more than 300 scientific publications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Zyl won numerous industry awards and accolades, including the University of Pretoria\u2019s Agriculturalist of the Century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his academic years, he was heavily involved in business, serving on numerous boards, including Absa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was also entrepreneurial and did business with the University while serving as an academic before he became vice-chancellor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBusiness has always been a major part of my career,\u201d he told Daily Investor\u2019s Smart Money with Alishia Seckam<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving to the business world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Van Zyl joined the business world in 2001 when he became the chief executive officer of the short-term insurance company Santam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is highly unusual for an academic to jump straight into the top leadership position at a top company. However, investors trusted Van Zyl due to his exceptional skills and track record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was respected in business circles for his strong knowledge of insurance, financial markets, investments, general business, and strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Van Zyl performed so well at Santam that he was appointed Sanlam’s group chief executive officer in 2003. He held this position until 2015, when he turned 60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Billionaire Patrice Motsepe approached him after he left Sanlam with an opportunity to build a new company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He joined forces with Motsepe to become CEO of Ubuntu-Botho Investments and co-CEO of African Rainbow Capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They raised R10 billion for African Rainbow Capital through R5 billion in borrowings and a R5 billion capital raise by listing on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through African Rainbow Capital, Van Zyl and Motsepe took a forward-looking approach and invested in companies poised for future growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Apart from building a sustainable business, they also wanted to effect positive change by giving all people access to the financial system and other services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They used this R10 billion war chest to take active stakes in companies, including mobile network Rain, TymeBank, Kropz Group, Afrimat, AlexForbes, A2X, and Val de Vie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through Rain, they offer affordable broadband across South Africa, and TymeBank had a positive impact on providing all South Africans with financial services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we do at African Rainbow Capital makes a difference to millions of people in South Africa,\u201d Van Zyl said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving from the academic world to business<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Val Zyl told Smart Money that transitioning from academia to business was not as challenging as expected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said academics talk about business but don\u2019t do it. Therefore, they have theoretical knowledge about the business world but seldom enter it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Zan Zyl, it was different. \u201cEventually, you get tired of talking about business, and I wanted to start doing it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For him, it was a natural progression to join the business world. \u201cMost people don\u2019t do it, but I had the opportunity to have this interesting career.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the academic world helped him develop excellent administrative skills, which helped him become successful in the business world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He highlighted a big difference between the two worlds. \u201cThe academic world is repetitive, and by nature, you have great momentum,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, you must make your own way in the business world. When you stop paddling, you stop.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Johan van Zyl is an exceptional South African who has gone from being a world-class academic to running some of the country\u2019s largest financial institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":817457,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[11329,22423,22424,4136,2880,341,8393],"class_list":["post-822721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-african-rainbow-capital","tag-johan-van-zyl","tag-national-maize-producers-organisation-nampo","tag-patrice-motsepe","tag-sanlam","tag-santam","tag-university-of-pretoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822721"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":822822,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822721\/revisions\/822822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/817457"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}