8 minute read
#BusinessBelieves
After studying at Wits Medical School, Bonang Mohale spent 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry building his wealth of business and management knowledge. Since his beginnings as a sales representative, Bonang’s business acumen has taken him to the helm of some of South Africa’s biggest companies. Now, he’s the head of Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), an independent association that encourages business leaders and key players in South Africa to exchange ideas in the national interest.
“We believe that business and government must commit to creating the conditions necessary for South Africa to succeed, so the economy can grow. As a result, we promise that we will do all we can to ensure this happens.
“At BLSA, we love our country. We believe in South Africa’s future. We share the values set out in its Constitution. And we say humbly: we want to play our part in ensuring that South Africa works for everyone.
“That’s why, on 23 August 2017, we signed a contract with South Africa, to commit to playing our part in creating a South Africa of increasing prosperity for all by harnessing the resources and capabilities of business partnerships with government and civil society to deliver economic growth, transformation and inclusion.”
BIG 5
Bonang Mohale firmly believes that South Africa is open for business. However, to ensure we are not only open, but booming, five burning issues need to be addressed:
1. Governance 2. The defeat of state capture 3. Reduction of debt 4. Fixing state-owned enterprises and reducing the size of the civil service 5. The South African educational system
Why has BLSA chosen the clauses setout in its contract with South Africa?
Business really believes in South Africa and that, with very little effort, we can get the type of double-digit growth numbers we see in the rest of the continent. Business is heavily invested in this country and, as said in the contract, we are going to create jobs, grow the economy and, in particular, invest in small and medium enterprises. Because that is where jobs are created in large numbers.
Secondly, we will continue to invest in young people, black executives in particular, as well as the communities in which we have a presence. This is the notion of shared faith. It is business that must ensure that we pay our people decent wages so they can afford the goods and services we as South Africans make. We say all of these things with the intention to lift the lower end of the economy into the middle class, because if we did that all of us would sleep better at night.
How do we ensure the private and public sector work together to ensure inclusive socio-economic growth?
No economy, anywhere in the world, has ever attempted the type of social experiment we are attempting without the public and private sectors working hand in glove. From Roosevelt’s new deal in response to the Great Depression of the 1930s to the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Western European economies after the end of World War II, and our own ‘new dawn’.
We have to work with the private sector because the private sector has a disproportionate voice and disproportionate resources. For instance, of the 15 million people that are gainfully employed, 13.5 million of them are employed by the private sector while the state directly employs 1.3 million. If you expand it to provinces and local municipalities, it is still less than 2.3 million.
The 17 million people that are on social security will only come out of that self-perpetuating cycle of abject poverty when we create jobs and when the economy grows. And, indeed, when our people have gained self-worth and self-respect, and they are able to fend for themselves and their families.
What five tips do you have for aspiring business leaders?
First and foremost, if you are an aspiring businessperson, before you worry about finance and fulfilling an existing need, I would say develop a product or service that the world needs so that you can name your price.
Secondly, you need to have access to the value chain of big companies – like our members – because that’s where at least 40% of the economic value and utility is concentrated.
Thirdly, of course, you need a sellable and sustainable idea that the banks will be able to fund if you are thinking of scaling up. It doesn’t matter where you operate from – whether it’s from a garage, an old RDP house or the boot of your car.
Most small and medium enterprises do not scale, and some of the companies that are founder-run or managed do not necessarily scale because all of us get married to the things we’ve created; we don’t want to let go. So when you do grow, let go. Go and get yourself an absolute professional who’s passionate about what you do, allow them to innovate and watch your business fly.
BONANG MOHALE’S TIMELINE
1994–1996 Sandoz Products (now Novartis) – Member of Executive Committee, Head of Public Affairs and Communications Department
1996–2000 Otis (Pty) Ltd – Managing Director and member of management team for South Europe, the Middle East and West Africa Area
1997 Otis (Pty) Ltd wins Black Management Forum’s Progressive Company of the Year Award
2001 –2002 Sanlam – Chief Executive, Corporate Marketing; Member of the Executive Committee
2001 South African Airways – Executive Vice President, Strategic Alliances, Network Management and Global Sales
Presidential Award for Servanthood in South African Industry and the Economic Empowerment of Previously Disadvantaged Individuals
Your book, Lift as You Rise, has an interesting title considering you are businessman operating in a capitalist environment. Can you give us some insight as to what’s on the inside?
“Lift as you rise” is an African adage that says you don’t have to wait until you are king, queen, MD, CEO or president to be beneficent. As you take two steps forward, extend a hand. Lift as you rise because that’s what contributes to the well-being of the community, and the well-being of society.
We have to reinvest in the communities that made us who we are. Lift as you rise is a commitment, a call to action, that says we can make a huge difference if all of us made our own contribution. It reminds me of the parable of the loaves and fish: we have more than the world needs but are holding it and keeping it to ourselves. The world will be a better place if ubuntu is normalised into daily practice.
If you could choose six people to ask for dinner, past and present, who would they be and why?
I think the first person I would love to have dinner with is Ms Phuthi Mahanyele, the young lady who ran the Shanduka
enterprise and did a good job of it. The second would be Mrs Redientse ‘Redi’ Tlhabi. I just love the way her mind works. Third is Dr Reuel Khoza, who had temerity in the assessment of his facts to put an absolutely honest message on the annual report of Nedcor about the type of leadership we have and to look at the trouble that this leadership has plunged us into.
The next is Eusebius McKaiser, an Oxford graduate and talk show host who wears his heart on his sleeve, an articulate patriotic who raises issues sharply and forces South Africans to look at themselves in the mirror.
Lastly, being a wannabe writer, I would like to spend some time with the young Rekgotsofetse Chikane, the leader of the #EverythingMustFall movement (not just the fees must fall). There is intersectionality between race, class, gender and Fees Must Fall, and even though all of us are worried about the continuance and the success of our student class, our perception is a negative one.
What would you have for dessert?
For dessert (because I’m trying to be healthy), I would have a fruit salad with a little bit of homemade custard.
2002–2017 Sanlam Chief Executive: Shared Services & Associated Companies
2004–2008 Drake & Scull FM SA – CEO and member of the Executive Committee
2006 Hollard Insurance– Company Director
2007 South African Facilities Management Association Personality of the Year
2009–2014 Shell – Chairman and Vice President: Sales and Operations Downstream
2007–2017Marketing Association of South Africa– Chairman
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP SOUTH AFRICA’S CONTRACT WITH SOUTH AFRICA
CREATE JOBS BY GROWING THE ECONOMY
Between 1993 and 2015, South Africa’s private sector created 2.65 million jobs. Our aim is to create even more jobs.
ENCOURAGE AND EMPOWER SENIOR BLACK LEADERSHIP
Ultimately, the best way to close the opportunity gap is to invest in more businesses owned by, run by and employing black South Africans. We pledge to grow a new generation of black business leaders and entrepreneurs.
INVEST IN SOUTH AFRICANS
South Africa can only meet the challenges of the future with a highly skilled workforce. We will train South African managers and workers for the challenges ahead.
INVEST IN COMMUNITIES
Business owes it to South Africans to do more to ensure the communities in which they operate thrive and prosper.
SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES
They should be the lifeblood of our economy, but too often they struggle. It is our duty to help them succeed by financing new businesses and training and mentoring entrepreneurs for success.
CONDEMN AND ROOT OUT CORRUPTION
Corruption and state capture are the cancers that are eating away at our society. They must be rooted out, crushed and punished where we find them in the public or private sector.
2012 Institute of People Management CEO of the Year Conferred Honourary Professorship in Marketing Management by the University of Pretoria
2013–2017 South African Travel Centre – Chairman Black Management Forum – Non-executive Director
2014 South African and Southern African Development Community Titans: Building the Nation Award
2014–2017 Shell – Vice President Upstream
2015 Momentum Friendship Blazer: Republic of South Africa Nation Building Champion
2017 – PRESENT Business Leadership South Africa – CEO
