After I had spent two years at First National Bank, a period I thought was a crowning achievement of my career, Dr Sam Motsuenyane, the Chairman of the African Bank asked me if I would be interested in taking up the position of Chief Executive at their bank. I had communicated with Dr Sam since the time I was at Citibank in New York. During his many visits to the USA Dr Motsuenyane used to say to me, ‘When you finish your studying, you must come home and join us. We’ve started a new bank in South Africa.’

Just before my joining them, the African Bank had run into a major difficulty, which had resulted in what was then the largest foreign exchange scandal in South Africa's financial history. All but one of the senior managers had been arrested for contravening the country's exchange control regulations. That is when I was recruited from First National Bank. The request came suddenly and caught me by surprise. I felt it was a great honour to be called by Dr Motsuenyane who is an inveterate and esteemed business leader in South Africa. He had pioneered and brought the bank into being by going on a campaign to raise the requisite capital. This he did with the assistance of his colleagues and one of them was none other than my old friend, Baker Mogale. Baker had risen to the position of National Organiser for the National African Federated Chamber of Commerce (NAFCOC).

Black business people at the time were traders and conducted business under the restrictions of the apartheid laws. Under the leadership of Dr Motsuenyane, NAFCOC was the sole organised voice of black business. Baker, along with Dr Sam, had walked the length and breadth of South Africa raising money for the establishment of the African Bank in the 1970s. So the call from Chairman Motsuenyane to me was quite an esteemed privilege and I gladly accepted the position of CEO in mid-1987. This, once again, was something unheard of during those years. The sprinkling of Africans who worked in banks were, for the most part, backroom clerks and at best, tellers. My appointment as Chief Executive of the bank was highly welcomed by customers of the bank and other stakeholders in the country and placed additional leadership responsibilities on me.