{"id":845432,"date":"2026-01-04T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=845432"},"modified":"2026-01-02T23:40:42","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T21:40:42","slug":"south-africas-new-banking-ceo-who-started-working-in-food-delivery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/banking\/845432\/south-africas-new-banking-ceo-who-started-working-in-food-delivery\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa\u2019s new banking CEO who started working in food delivery"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cheslyn Jacobs is the new CEO of TymeBank, but he comes from a modest upbringing in the Cape Flats of Cape Town. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacobs<\/a> grew up in the Cape Flats and said he didn\u2019t start with a roadmap to the boardroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn’t see many boardrooms that seemed to have space for me. But that’s the thing, you don’t always need permission, but you must be persistent,\u201d said Jacobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacobs\u2019 first job<\/a> was in food delivery, with his first pay cheque working out to R2,500. He gave half to his grandparents, saved 25%, and spent the remaining 25%. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new CEO holds a Bachelor of Commerce (BCom) degree in Industrial Psychology from the University of the Western Cape. He worked as a Computer Lab Assistant at the university. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After briefly working at Safmarine, he joined Standard Bank. During his first years at Standard Bank, he progressed from a graduate role to a Business Support Manager.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then started working as a consultant for Deloitte in 2012 before joining Tyme as the Head of Distribution and Training.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TYME (Take Your Money Everywhere) was originally a Deloitte consulting project funded by MTN. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TYME partnered with MTN, Pick n Pay and Boxer to bring banking services to millions of underbanked South Africans. The company now also works with The Foschini Group (TFG).\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jacobs held several other roles before becoming the Head of Sales and Services in 2019, when TymeBank launched. He was then promoted to TymeBank’s Chief Commercial Officer in 2022.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the Chief Commercial Officer, he was accountable for driving revenue generation and business growth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tyme Group promoted Jacobs to CEO of TymeBank, effective January 1, 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank said that 40-year-old Jacobs will lead the next generation, which will have an accelerated focus on innovation, customer experience, and sustainable growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy story is a reflection of what’s possible when opportunity meets intent,\u201d said Jacobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd if sharing it reminds even one young South African that their dreams are not defined by where they start, then I’ll continue telling it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Expansion plans for the bank <\/h2>\n\n\n
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Jacobs will lead a bank that has already seen remarkable growth, with TymeBank having R7 billion in deposits, 1,000 kiosks and 15,000 retail points across the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The company\u2019s 12 million customers also make it the nation\u2019s third-largest bank by customer base.\u00a0It was also the first digital bank in South Africa to achieve profitability, reaching this milestone in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bank is now poised for a new era, with plans to change its name to GoTyme in the first half of 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This aligns the South African operations with those of GoTymeBank, which is also owned by the TymeGroup, based in the Philippines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TymeBank said that the name change reflects its evolving brand and aims to reflect its growth, maturity and focus on customers across a broader ecosystem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For local customers, TymeBank is also collaborating with Sanlam to offer unsecured personal loans that are bundled with credit life cover. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sanlam indirectly owns a portion of TymeBank through its stake in African Rainbow Capital Holdings, which in turn owns African Rainbow Capital Financial Services. The deal will see TymeBank take on Capitec\u2019s position. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The broader Tyme Group has also announced a partnership with Visa, with the card giant helping expand TymeBank\u2019s services in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This will be through enhanced card issuance programmes and value-added services. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Visa will also provide tailored support for the banking group across its marketing, product development, and infrastructure enhancement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TymeBank are also working with the Department of Home Affairs to bring Smart ID and passport services to its clients in South Africa. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TymeBank’s new CEO Cheslyn Jacobs leads one of South Africa’s largest banks, but comes from humble beginnings. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":841752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[2880,499,13455],"class_list":["post-845432","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-banking","tag-sanlam","tag-standard-bank","tag-tymebank"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845432","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=845432"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845432\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":846968,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/845432\/revisions\/846968"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/841752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=845432"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=845432"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=845432"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}