Frank Magwegwe

In 1992, Dr Frank Magwegwe, known as “Dr Mags” to friends and colleagues, was homeless, broke, and unemployed. In 1993, through selling fruit and vegetables in downtown Johannesburg, Dr Mags “beat the odds” and “escaped” homelessness. Dr Mags has travelled an incredible journey from being homeless in his twenties to a university lecturer at GIBS, proving the power of education and the human spirit to overcome obstacles and adversity in life. As Nelson Mandela says, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Given role education has played in his life and plays in shaping society, Dr Mags feels immensely grateful and privileged to teach and research at GIBS.

Prior to joining GIBS in 2021, Dr Mags held several leadership positions, including Head of Institutional Business at Investment Solutions, CEO of Momentum Administration Services, COO of Momentum Wealth, and CEO and Head of Financial Planning of Momentum’s middle market segment business. Earlier in his career, Dr Mags was a quants analyst, risk manager, derivatives trader, and client services and business development manager. Dr Mags has 25 years of impressive cumulative experience and knowledge across multiples areas in the financial services industry. This industry specific knowledge and expertise impacts the courses he teaches and the students he engages with.

At GIBS, Dr Mags teaches the following courses in various academic programmes: corporate finance, financial and management accounting, and research and statistics. In addition, Dr Mags provides research and statistics consultation for students, faculty, and organisations. Dr Mags also teaches the following courses on corporate education programmes: individual, team, and organisational resilience, employee happiness and well-being, managing stress and anxiety, and personal mastery. Dr Mags advises and speaks to organisations, large and small, on resilience, mental health, and well-being in the workplace, topics central to his current research and practice.

Dr Mags studies people’s resilience and well-being, viewing resilience not as a trait but as a teachable skill, and well-being not as a destination, but a never-ending process, incorporating changes over time and contexts. Dr Mags’s research focuses on how those facing adversity attain favourable long-term outcomes such as improved well-being through the influence of resilience, the process and outcome of positively adapting to adversity. In studying resilience, Dr Mags, informed by his own experience of overcoming homelessness, seeks to understand why some individuals can withstand adversity or even thrive despite experiencing adversity in their lives. Dr Mags’ work emphasizes how to use theories of resilience to increase both individual, team, and organisational functioning during difficult and challenging times in the course of their lives.

Dr Mags is also a trusted personal finance expert who is a regular contributor to newspapers and magazines and a frequent guest on radio and TV shows. In addition, Dr Magwegwe is a renowned professional speaker. He has delighted audiences from Belgium to Dubai, from Netherlands to USA, and around South Africa with his keynote titled Life at Johannesburg Park Station: A Story of Triumph Over Homelessness, based on his amazing story of "beating the odds" and "escaping" homelessness in his twenties.

Qualifications

• PhD Personal Financial Planning (Kansas State University)
• Advanced Diploma Financial Planning (UFS)
• Diploma Financial Planning (UFS)
• MSc Mathematics of Finance (cum laude) (UP)
• BSc Hons Advanced Mathematics of Finance (cum laude) (Wits)
• BSc Mathematical Statistics (Wits)
• Advanced Management Program (Harvard)
• Certified Financial Planner (CFP®)
• Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA®)
• Certified Financial Risk Manager (FRM®)

Core Discipline

• Finance

Work Experience

• Non- Executive Director (Mazi Holdings (Pty) Ltd)
• Executive: Corporate Wellness (Sanlam)
• Head of Key Account Management (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Faculty (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Founder & Managing Director (Thrive Financial Wellness)
• Founder & Managing Director (Frankly Speaking (Pty) Ltd)
• Chief Executive Officer (Momentum Middle Market Segment)
• Chief Operating Officer (Momentum Wealth)
• Chief Executive Officer (Momentum Administration Services)
• Head of Institutional Business (Investment Solutions)
• Fund Manager (Coronation Fund Managers)
• Derivatives Trader (Standard Bank)
• Derivatives Trader (Rand Merchant Bank)
• Managing Director (Foremost Futures)
• Derivatives Trader (Deutsche Bank Securities)
• Risk Manager (Investec (Pty) Ltd)
• Trainee Portfolio Manager (Liberty Asset Management)

Significant Achievements

• GIBS 2021 Corporate Education Award (GIBS (NPC))
• 2018 AFCPE Symposium Best Research Paper Award (AFCPE)
• Postgraduate Merit Award (University of Witswatersrand)

Teaching/Coaching Experience

• MPHIL (EBM): Principles of quantitative research-GIG803 (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• MBA:Decision Making - GIB860 (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• PGDip: Financial and Management Accounting - GIA788 (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• AdvDip: Strategic financial management - GAD301 (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Harvard Business School Senior Programme (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• PGDIP: Corporate Finance Techniques - GIE788 (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• PDBA: Corporate Finance Techniques - GIA716 (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Finance for Non-Finance Managers (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Personal Resilience (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Personal Mastery (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Employee Happiness & Well-being: A Strategy and a Responsibility (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Introduction to Individual, Team, and Organizational Resilience (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Global Executive Development Programme (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Management accounting (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• Personal Resilience and Emotional Intelligence (Gordon Institute of Business Science )
• MPHIL (CL): Developing self and others - GIG814 (Gordon Institute of Business Science )