More than R7-million of net prize money was awarded on the night. The top prize money of R1-million net was won by the innovation team that developed the Real Time CIPC Registration – which allows FNB to register a start-up business on a customer’s behalf with CIPC (when the customer applies for a business account with FNB).

The big surprise of the evening was the announcement of R2-million net prize money, shared equally amongst the top 50 ‘Minivation’ teams from across FNB. Minivations are defined as innovations that generate verified incremental business benefit within FNB. “By their very nature, Minivations help us do everyday tasks better,” says Paul Steenkamp, head: Employer Branding and FNB Innovators.

“All 33 500 employees are capable of implementing a Minivation, and the cumulative impact of Minivations is an increasingly solid platform upon which game changing innovations can succeed within FNB. What’s more, they are hard for our competitors to copy and therefore represent a significant source of competitive advantage,” continues Steenkamp.

2571 innovations were implemented during the last 12 months. This is a dramatic increase over 1416 in the preceding 12 months. “For ten years, participation by employees in the FNB Innovators programme has driven new thinking and ways of working at FNB, alongside massive business results,” says FNB CEO designate, Jacques Celliers.

“Innovation remains absolutely core to our business. We continually refresh our Innovators programme, to ensure that it continues to energise and engage our staff around the delivery of our strategy,” concludes Celliers.