After I had completed the training at the Bank's college in Long Island City, I successfully sat for the exam and was made an officer of the bank and accorded the title of assistant manager in the International Corporate Banking Division (ICB), early 1980. At the time, the chairman of Citibank was Walter Wriston, a well respected figure in international banking circles. This was, for me, a period of great knowledge acquisition. I got to meet many colleagues from other banks like Chase Manhattan and Chemical Bank, and this led to enduring friendships.

At the bank, I was placed under the tutelage of one of the Vice Presidents, John Riardon. John worked me very hard. He asked for nothing but perfection from my work and said he had to drive me because he knew that if I returned to South Africa to work in the bank I would not get the training that was available from Head Office in Citibank and yet I would have to compete with the bankers at Citibank South Africa, who were mainly white, and had had the privilege of a good education and unlimited opportunities. In fact, there was a tacit understanding between the bank and me that, at some stage, I would be assigned to one of several of our African offices. Those of us who were earmarked for these international assignments were fast-tracked for intensive training. This often created tensions between us, particularly with some of our African-American colleagues, who were not only few in number at officer level, but regularly complained of neglect and marginalisation. This, perhaps, was an example of the subtle racial prejudice the Professor in Chicago had alluded to.

There was a marked scarcity of black senior bankers and role models at large US banks. One of my friends, Frank Rush, who was a rising star at Citibank at the time, constantly reminded me of their exclusion from top ranks not because of inability but rather because of other considerations. Frank, who lived in the Bronx, was a great pillar of support for me in the early days and helped to integrate me into the inner circles of high life in New York City. Like a guardian angel, he had great affinity for Africa and what he called her children in the diaspora.