Moving from elite sport to business ‘like dying a mini death’ - Bryan Habana

Former South African rugby great Bryan Habana was not long retired from the game with he first heard about the concept of “earned wage access”. And his first instinct was that it sounded “a little dodgy”.

But as the person who broached it with him was the former college roommate who, years earlier, had agreed to facilitate his introduction to Janine Viljoen – the woman he would go on to marry – he saw fit to hear him out.

“We’d been mates for 20 odd years and he was MC at my wedding,” Habana recalls, seated in the Marker Hotel in Dublin in advance of an address he was giving to the FintechNation conference, organised by the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland, about his transition from elite level rugby to running a business.

Habana, who has a World Cup winners medal and the record for the most tries scored in tier-one rugby on his CV, describes his business, Paymenow, as a “financial wellness platform”.

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In basic terms, its technology facilitates employers to allow their staff to get access to a percentage of already earned wages.

“In Africa there is a monthly salary cycle that creates a disconnect because so many people live on a day-to-day basis, needing cash-in-hand,” Habana says.

“Asking the most financially excluded people to budget monthly but live daily, needing cash-in-hand, is just not viable, and they end up going to money lenders to get to the end of the month.”

The platform also “financially upskills” its users who start on a certain tier but move up as they complete various training exercises to gain more access to cash. The business got off the ground in 2020, but already has 300,000 customers in four African territories, and is profitable.

Habana describes the move from sport into business as like “dying a mini death”, forced to give up everything he had ever known, searching for a balance in his life he says didn’t exist before.

“In rugby, I go into the sheds at half-time, look around me, and there are 14 other CEOs in my environment,” he explains.

“They are the best in their positions in the whole of South Africa. It’s very different from being a fintech environment now.

“In rugby, we used to remove emotion from decision-making processes. All of a sudden, you’re in a corporate environment where you need to be sympathetic, you need to be empathetic, be emotionally connected with your workforce.

“You go from earning the salary of the CEO to starting at the bottom of the food chain. You have become accustomed to a certain way of living, and all of a sudden your disposable income is very much reduced and you are dabbling into your savings, which is tough.”

Looking ahead to the remainder of the current Rugby World Cup, Habana believes France are the team to beat on home soil.

“France as the host nation have not only put together a phenomenal side but they play an incredible brand of rugby even though they were a little bit iffy against Uruguay,” he says.

“Ireland have shown an immense amount of consistency over the past 18 months, and South Africa had a phenomenal win against New Zealand at Twickenham and an emphatic win against Scotland, so I would probably spread my bets between those three.

“I honestly believe the Springboks team has everything in its capability to go out and win this World Cup and become the first team to win back-to-back World Cups. I do believe the game next week against Ireland is going to give us a much clearer indication.”

Of Ireland’s chances – the number one ranked team in the world as they were four years ago before falling to New Zealand in the quarterfinals – he “100 per cent believes” they are in a much better place now.

“Andy Farrell has created some great emotional connection with his players that play for more than just themselves at the moment, which is brilliant to see,” Habana says.

“What they’ve got right at the moment is this encompassing ability of backs and forwards to be ball players. They’re not just one-trick-ponies. The interaction between backs and forwards and the structures in which they play is really great.

“The one issue for Ireland is if you look at how Leinster have lost to La Rochelle in two Champions Cup finals in a row. If push comes to shove and they get tested, do they reflect on that? If Johnny Sexton gets injured, is the next in line good enough to carry Ireland?

“Ireland will have to go on five knockout games in a row to win the World Cup, and that’s pretty brutal.

“They have South Africa on the 23rd, then Scotland before a quarter final against New Zealand or France. A semi final against Australia or Argentina. Then South Africa or France or New Zealand in a final.

“It’s going to be absolutely brutal, especially knowing [that] Leinster have fallen at the final hurdle in the past two years.”