#Women'sMonth: Empowering South Africans through financial leadership at Nedbank

Source: Supplied. Vanesha Palani, the executive of financial management at Nedbank.

With a deep-rooted passion for education, food security, and inclusive economic growth, she has leveraged her extensive experience to champion initiatives that empower individuals and communities.

In this Q&A, Palani reflects on her journey, her vision for South Africa, and her unwavering commitment to making a meaningful difference through financial services:

Can you share what initially drew you to a career in banking and how your early experiences at Nedbank shaped your career path?

Growing up I watched my mother manage the money she earned to make a real difference to our lives and the broader community, supporting our education and giving us the best quality of life she possibly could.

I watched the incredible way my mother managed her money and I was inspired. It was clear that with the right knowledge, guidance, and financial acumen, achieving financial goals and dreams is within reach. I realised that financial services was a career path that would allow me to make a meaningful and positive difference in people’s lives at scale.

My journey with Nedbank, and financial services, has been highly intentional and I’ve deliberately spent time learning the ins and outs of the entire financial value chain. After 17 years with Nedbank, I guess you can say that the ethos of the bank really resonates with me. Like Nedbank, I truly believe that our main purpose is to leverage our expertise to do good for others, and that money well managed can make a real and lasting difference in people’s lives.

What were some of the key challenges you faced transitioning from the technology division to your current role in financial management?

I wouldn’t say there were challenges, but rather that my background in tech and digital provided me with valuable insights and lessons that have helped me be more impactful in my current role.

Exposure to the technology side of banking afforded me a great understanding of how we can solve financial problems in a practical and value-adding way. I also gained a good grounding in logic and analytical thinking as well as learning to be rigorous in my attention to correct processes and attention to detail.

All of these have formed part of a solid foundation on which I’ve built my solution design approach and now support me in delivering meaningful impact through my work.

How has your vision for South Africa influenced your approach to financial management and leadership within Nedbank?

South Africa is an amazing country with a rich diversity of culture and natural beauty, and I am truly proud to be South African. This country is my heart. I’ve had many opportunities to work globally but my love for this country, my belief in its potential, and my desire to be part of the solutions it requires have kept me here.

South Africa has huge potential but there is still so much to fix and as responsible citizens we should be part of this journey. My personal focus areas in terms of helping to drive this positive change are education, food security and inclusive economic growth - to make sure more people have a chance to lift themselves and their families out of poverty. I have a deep desire to use my knowledge, skills and opportunities to make a meaningful difference, and to do so at scale.

Financial services gives me the opportunity to help and empower millions of people through the solutions and services that I help design and deliver. And that is still my focus when I come to work every day.

What strategies or initiatives have you championed at Nedbank to address the critical issues you are passionate about in South Africa?

This is a difficult question to answer in a few sentences because I can honestly say that everything I do, every day, helps to address critical issues I am passionate about. I consider myself very privileged to be able to say that, because I know not a lot of people follow career paths that align so well with their values and passions.

My current portfolio of work includes everything from transactional banking solutions to saving and investment products and cross-border remittances. All of these share a common theme of providing people from all walks of life to easily access financial solutions that can help them change and improve their lives and uplift their families and communities.

Looking back, this really has been a theme throughout my career, as I was also previously highly involved in developing an innovative collective lending scheme to enable historically disenfranchised people access funding to start small businesses. Another particular passion has always been affordable housing, and the way in which this can anchor people, especially women, in a way that allows them to rise above their economic challenges.

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How do you see the role of financial institutions like Nedbank in driving positive change within the South African community?

As stewards of people’s money, financial institutions have a critical role to play in driving positive change. It’s not just a responsibility, it’s a unique opportunity to create change, deliver value and make a lasting positive difference. Personally, I believe that being effective in this responsibility requires that financial institutions go way beyond the funding component and deliver this impact in as many tangible ways as possible.

I’ve seen Nedbank do this across all areas of society. For example its Green Economy CSI strategy leveraged partnerships to protect the environment, build the economy and create jobs and economic opportunities. It’s staff volunteerism programmes allow thousands of passionate people to literally roll up their sleeves and help their fellow South Africans. I think the effectiveness of financial institutions in driving positive change ultimately comes down to being purpose led and values driven, with absolute buy-in and real involvement by leadership.

What advice would you give to young women aspiring to build a career in finance and banking?

The shift in focus that we’ve seen in financial services in recent years, from pure bottom-line motivation to recognising the imperative to positively impact society means that women are extremely well suited to this industry.

Apart from having excellent analytical skills, women are highly empathetic, naturally human-centred, and have an uncanny ability to make money go further and do more. With all that in mind, my advice to young women wanting to build a career in finance and banking would be to be 100% confident in yourself.

You have the natural abilities to succeed – you just need to get out of your own way and allow it to happen. Never lose your passion, always remain an individual and free-thinker, don’t lose yourself along the way, and make a conscious decision to take other women with you on your journey through encouragement, mentoring and coaching. Succeeding in financial services doesn’t just require a head for figures; it demands a heart for people too.

How do you balance your professional responsibilities with your commitment to social causes and community involvement?

I don’t find this difficult to be honest, because I’m fortunate to be in a career that allows me to extend my personal values and commitment seamlessly into my workplace.

Time is obviously always an issue, but my husband and I made the decision to not have children and to rather use our resources to help others. This has freed up time and money to invest into causes close to our hearts, particularly education. We’ve funded schooling for a number of children and have even put two young South Africans through university.

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We’re also actively involved in various other charities and causes, and I have a particular soft spot for animals and I am fiercely committed to a number of ‘big’ social causes, including contributing towards a more effective and impactful government wherever I can.

I think the key to balancing professional responsibilities and community commitment is to be deliberate. You can’t see one aspect as getting in the way of the other. You need to proactively and deliberately merge your professional and personal commitments in a way that allows you to achieve balance and enhance the effectiveness of both. Otherwise you’re bound to eventually feel overwhelmed.

In what ways do you believe the finance sector can further contribute to achieving sustainable development goals in South Africa?

I think the most valuable way in which participants in the finance sector can enhance their contributions to the achievement of the SDGs is to be genuine about their commitment to making them happen.

There is very little time until 2030 and still so much work to be done across all the SDGs – so there’s no place for lip service. For me, Nedbank’s approach is, once again, a prime example of what can, and should, be done. (You can see why I’ve been with this bank for over 17 years – the way it works really does resonate with me.)

When the SDGs were first developed, Nedbank looked closely at which of the 17 goals it could be most effective in supporting. These then formed the basis of Nedbank’s SDG framework, which is now at the heart of its business strategy. In this way, the SDGs are the lens through which the bank and its people view every decision, task and action.

For me, this kind of in-depth integration of the SDGs into business strategy is the only way to fully contribute to them, instead of allowing them to simply become a component of your annual reporting.

I also think that real effectiveness in SDG contribution requires having people that share your vision and commitment. If your passion and purpose as a financial services business are sustainable development, then you should only be recruiting people who share that passion, align with your values and fully buy in to your purpose.