Chief Economist: FNB

Sizwe Nxedlana refers to himself as a former jock. Today, the only field the 31-year-old plays on is the economics field. The youngest chief economist ever to grace the halls of FNB, he conducts and co-ordinates economic research for the bank and for clients. After completing his master’s degree in Economics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal he was selected for the economist internship programme of Stellenbosch University’s Bureau for Economic Research, sponsored by Kagiso Trust Investments, which identified the need to support the development of black economists. This gave him the opportunity to network with some of the top names in economics in the country. He then moved to Kagiso’s stockbroking business in Johannesburg and from there to FNB. He is humble about his current position, attributing his success to the great economists who showed him the ropes, and to having been in the right place at the right time.

— Ilham Rawoot

Twitter: @sizwenxedlana