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She has been described as a "gem" in the South African financial circles and is a highly respected financial guru. So it comes as no surprise that Maria Ramos should be featured on Fortune magazine’s list of most powerful women in international business, and to boot, for four consecutive years from 2004 to 2007. Today Ramos, the CEO of ABSA bank, one of the biggest financial services firms in South Africa, is seen as one of the architects who crafted the new and improved South African economy.
Though Maria Ramos was born in Lisbon, Portugal, it was probably destiny that prompted her parents to move to South Africa when she was a child. The daughter of a poor bricklayer and the eldest of four sisters, Ramos battled the pain of an underprivileged childhood, growing up as an outsider who didn’t have the money for a proper school uniform. But she was determined to “make things happen.” Ramos proved herself to be a brilliant student and later worked as a bank clerk with Barclays Bank to finance her higher education. While there, she learned of a scholarship that was exclusively offered to male students. Her gritty personality was exposed in 1983, when she petitioned for the scholarship, undeterred by either a lack of funds or an antiquated rule discriminating her gender. Ramos ended up winning the Barclays Bank Graduate Scholarship, and went on to study economics at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg. Ramos later recalled that winning the scholarship made all the difference in her life.
Ramos went on to continue her studies at the University of London, securing her Master’s degree in economics. But it was her student days at the University of the Witwatersrand, a hotbed of anti-apartheid activism, that led to her political awakening. A firm supporter of majority rule, Ramos returned to campus to teach full-time, while simultaneously working covertly for the then-banned African National Congress (ANC). With this, Ramos became part of the youth brigade that ushered in the post-apartheid era in South Africa.
Once the ANC became unbanned, Ramos began to work for the organization’s economics department, drafting new policies pertaining to autonomy of the Central bank. In 1996, she joined Nelson Mandela’s post-apartheid government as South Africa’s Director General of Finance. And this was a watershed moment in her career. Working with the great man left an indelible mark on Ramos, and even today, she reflects how this experience taught her how to stay grounded while holding a position of power.
“Working with Nelson Mandela, you learn very quickly that power is not something
you use – it’s something you are a custodian of.”
- Maria Ramos
As Director General of Finance, Ramos worked hard to restore South Africa’s fiscal sustainability, while fighting opposition from powerful groups with vested interests. During this time she also worked closely with another long time ANC activist and then Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, who is currently Minister in charge of the National Planning Commission. As Finance Minister, Manuel was trying to bolster the beleaguered South African economy, and at the same time, help uplift a neglected black community. He received the support he needed from Ramos. And the partnership was destined to be solid. Much later, Trevor Manuel married the brilliant but self-effacing Ramos. The couple has been credited with steering the South African economy towards a free-market model, and fortifying the economy through debt reduction and expansion of the country’s export sector.
In 2004, Maria Ramos made an unexpected move to become CEO of Transnet, South Africa’s largest transport company, which has control over the country’s shipping, airways, rail, bus and other passenger transit systems. This job profile was outside of her comfort zone considering her finance background, and it would be a challenge to run a state-controlled near-monopoly with 75,000 employees. But Ramos understood balance sheets. Transnet was loss-making and debt-ridden at that point of time and Maria Ramos decided to prune the giant organization back to efficiency. She sold off all the fringe operations and retained just the core businesses. There was huge resistance from employee unions who wanted to prevent layoffs, and strikes by employees created a road block to her initiatives. Though Ramos had to rollback part of her plans, she was still able to overcome several hurdles and transform Transnet into a profitable firm in a short period of time. And people started to sit up and notice.
As Director General of Finance and then CEO of Transnet, Ramos had the unique opportunity to work for the government from within, first in civil service and then in the public sector. In 2009, she returned to her career roots, albeit in a much elevated capacity. Ramos became CEO of ABSA bank, a subsidiary of Barclays PLC. Coming back to Barclays, life seems to have come full circle for Maria Ramos, but she is still moving full steam ahead. The fact that the ABSA group saw an increase in the bank’s profits by 19%, speaks volumes about her work. So does the recognition she has achieved. In 2009, Fortune once again bestowed accolades on Ramos, this time naming her one of its top ten female global leaders.
Along with the laurels, though, Ramos is aware that being chosen as one of the most powerful women in the world is as much of a responsibility as an achievement. As South Africa joins Brazil, Russia, India, and China – the BRIC nations, the fastest developing economies of the world, the acronym will be changed to BRICS to include the new entrant. This is an exciting time to be part of the golden circle in the South African finance world. But for the daughter of a poor bricklayer, it was the actual journey to “make things happen” that has proved the most fulfilling.
Image Credit: World Economic Forum on Flickr under a Creative Commons license
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