No monkeying around with Mike

SUNCOAST’S CEO MIKE DOWSLEY, A VISIONARY WHO LED A TEAM OF ALMOST 2 000 PEOPLE FOR NEARLY TWO DECADES, IS ABOUT TO RETIRE, WRITES GREG ARDÉ

There’s a monkey – Curious George – on the couch in Mike Dowsley’s office deep in the bowels of Durban’s entertainment mecca. The soft toy and the office say a lot about Dowsley, a modest and engaging man at the forefront of hospitality in eThekwini. In October, Dowsley, 57, will retire, ending 17 years at the helm of the casino and a 32-year career in corporate.

Dowsley oversaw

the R1,6-billion upgrade to the casino, which is a place he takes pride in describing as one of the city’s most loved. Before Covid about 800 000 people visited Suncoast every month. The casino employs 1 400 people alone, and its restaurants, bars, shops, theatre and cinemas create work for hundreds more. It is also the biggest contributor to annual gambling taxes in KZN and in VAT and corporate taxes.

Describing Dowsley is useful in movie terms. He’s more like Hugh Jackman in The Greatest Showman than Robert de Niro in Casino. Dowsley didn’t work himself up from card dealer to pit boss, and though keenly attuned to the numbers of the lucrative business, realises the ecosystem of an entertainment destination must work in sync to be successful.

Movies hype the gangster element of a business that is so highly monitored, the offices of the regulator are inside the casino. The showbiz element is exciting, but Dowsley is energised by people. He talks with warmth and affection. He prizes personal development because he has worked for companies that invested in him.

He was raised in Johannesburg and has commerce and law degrees from Wits University, in part sponsored by the mining company Goldfields, a company that gave the ambitious youngster intensive management training and saw him appointed as human resource director at the age of 35. He left to become operations director of the fledgling Incredible Connection. Five years later he worked with a coach for over nine months to find his next career challenge at Tsogo Sun.

“This job was the perfect fit for me. I’m a firm believer in what you speak and believe manifesting.”

Dowsley relished getting the best out of people. In his business it has been integral: The casino brings in the majority of Suncoast’s revenue but only a fraction of visitors go there for gambling alone. Research puts addictive gamblers at 1%, but most people want a flutter – rolling dice, playing slots or the card tables – escapism and extravaganza. The experience has to be “transformational not transactional”. Dowsley’s joy has been in motivating people to provide that.

He tried to create a platform for success, and as he grew in the job he worried less about staff coming to him with problems. It wasn’t up to him to solve them. He had to empower them to solve problems themselves. The process taught him humility, interdependence and vulnerability.

“Those things invite knowledge, reliance and create trust. If they passed me the monkey I gave them Curious George. I was able to build a great team with complementary skills. People who make mistakes and disagree respectfully will grow and learn to take care of the monkey themselves.”

As a young man Dowsley set a goal to retire at 53 after his son and daughter got the best education he could give them. Four years after his goal date, he doesn’t know what he will do now. But as he doesn’t want to irritate his wife Gail, he probably won’t stop working or coaching.