Michelle Geraghty

I am a firm believer that life – personal and business – is a journey, not a destination. And that the best results are achieved from a collaborative effort.

Coming from a career in Financial Services spanning 42 years with 2 of the big 4 Financial Services companies in South Africa; I have benefitted significantly in knowledge and experience from working with the following Teams and its clients:

SBSA Priority Bank & RMB Private Bank – where the majority of clients are Entrepreneurs, provided a deep understanding of how the personal and business sectors of an Entrepreneur’s life are inter- dependant
RMB Coverage Team – where I ran a Team of Senior Relationship Managers focused on listed SA Retailers operating locally and in Africa. This included engagement with Suppliers and the supply chain to these Retailers for whom we solutioned iro funding and imports. These engagements afforded me insights into this challenging area of interdependency which many mid sized and Mid Corporate businesses face in our economy. During this 4 odd year tenure I was a permanent member of the RMB Coverage Exco FNB Commercial Banking where I focused on the following:

Regional Director for 1 of the 4 Gauteng Regions, which included the formation and Chairing of an Advisory Board of Mid Corporate clients on whose commercial knowledge I drew to formulate strategy and use as a sounding board to monitor Bank performance in the market place. During this time, the Team ranged from 60 to 80 headcount.

An FNB Commercial Exco member under the Chair of Mike Vacy Lyle who is now Commonwealth Bank’s Group Executive for Business Banking in Australia.

Headed the development and implementation of FNB Commercial’s Women in Business strategy following the granting of a funding line from the IFC of the World Bank
FNB Business Advisory / Investment Capital
Succession & Exit planning for Entrepreneurs
BEE structures for business
Using Private Equity via Fund Managers with whom the Bank holds a strategic alliance
Management and Employee Schemes
Providing guidance on how the business should strive to be “Investor Ready” to easy access to debt, Equity, Mezzanine debt or to sell the business
Assisting with sourcing businesses available for acquisition

The management experience gained in drawing on the collective knowledge and experience of those in a Team/Business Unit will stand me in good stead in the facilitation and Boards within the Alternative Board structure. I have seen the benefits of ”travelling together to get far” in business.

All the above is underpinned by a Commercial & Honours Degree in Management and Leadership from The University of the Free State achieved whilst working full time. I am also a proud Member of The Golden Key Honour Society.

My Husband is also an Entrepreneur and as a couple we have weathered storms in business which have provided valuable life and commercial lessons. We have also raised 4 children; 3 of which hold Masters degrees in diverse fields and are successful in their own right.

Successful Entrepreneurship is the ability to effectively combine the many aspects of business; whilst assessing dynamically the ever-changing priorities on a daily basis; supported by a sound foundation where structure supports strategy. I believe the experience I have accumulated should be shared for the collective benefit of the business community.