21 minute read
International Witsies
Shein on you Ozzie unicorn
The "dumbest guy at the table" founded Australia’s first unicorn. This is the incredible journey of David Shein (BCom 1983, BAcc 1985).
Sitting in his office in Double Bay, Sydney, close to the CBD, David Shein points to the book he published last year, "The Dumbest Guy at the Table" (ECHO, 2021), and says, “Don’t expect to find rocket science there. I always say that if you put me at any table, I can guarantee that I will have the lowest IQ of anyone sitting there.” Self-deprecating? False modesty? “Neither,” he smiles.
“What I have going for me is that while I’m definitely not the smartest person in the room, I’m very confident when it comes to bringing the smartest people together; people who are much smarter than me; and I’m not threatened by them. You simply cannot build a great company on your own. You have to surround yourself with an amazing team that has the ability and attitude to differentiate your company from the competition.”
And that’s how he founded Com Tech Communications in 1987 at the age of 26. In 2000 it achieved an enterprise value of over A$1billion, making it Australia’s first “unicorn”. In business, a unicorn is a privately held startup with a $1billion valuation or more before being listed on the stock market. “This is clearly the lucky country,” he says.
When David turned 60 in 2020, which was 20 years after he sold Com Tech, he decided to write a book about his incredible journey. “I often work with companies that are developing groundbreaking technology, but they just don’t get the basics right – and that is to look after your customers, staff and business partners. How you treat these three constituents will be the difference between building a good company, a great company, an irrelevant company or one that simply disappears.”
David left South Africa for Australia in 1986 with his wife, Colleen, and eight-monthold baby Jarred. “I arrived in Australia on Saturday 8 November and started work on Monday 10 November. Having left Price Waterhouse (which wasn’t yet PwC) in South Africa as a junior clerk, when I got a job in a new country as national sales manager of a distribution company selling business software, I thought I had hit the jackpot.”
He adds that having a Wits degree helped in getting a job, and so quickly. “Wits has always been recognised for the quality of its education and South Africans are recognised for their outstanding work ethic.”
As it transpired, David learnt how not to do things at that company – he was paid badly, had no job satisfaction and was not allowed any input into how the company could be better run. It led him to start his own company nine months later. “That bad experience turned out to be the luckiest break of my life and I established Com Tech Communications in June 1987. PCs were already becoming pervasive in the work environment and I was fortunate to get into local area networking just as it was about to take off. Com Tech was all about taking customers from an old computer environment to a new computer environment, as painlessly as possible.”
He put together a small team and seized the opportunity. “I always say that to succeed you need to be as focused as a one-eyed dog in a meat factory.” They became the distributor for the industry standard, global software and services company Novell. “Once that happened, the whole world wanted us to represent their products in Australia. By delivering exceptional customer service, we quickly secured 70% of the networking market in Australia, which was growing at 40% a year.”
In 2000 Com Tech was sold to Dimension Data, shortly before the dot-com crash. “I could write a book on the lucky breaks I’ve had,” David quips. He says he would not have been able to achieve anything near what he did without his wife’s support. “We have three sons, and the amount of time and effort that Colleen put into raising our boys was huge.”
In his book David explains how he never dreamed he would achieve such financial success. “I was 41 when we sold Com Tech, and, with hindsight, I have definitely had some regret about throwing in the towel so early. At 62 you realise how young 41 really is – I definitely had another start-up left in me.
“At the same time, it was a great outcome for me, my family and business partners. And it gave me more time for myself. I do triathlon and keep fit, which I didn’t do when I was running Com Tech and which is why I was pretty burnt out at 41.”
He now swims, cycles and runs several times a week. “I live in a great area called Point Piper and after exercising I often stop off at my favourite coffee shop called Indigo in Double Bay. It’s in a quaint little street called Transvaal Avenue, with lots of heritage houses. My standard order is poached eggs with avocado and salmon.”
But when he feels like peri-peri chicken, it’s straight to Nando’s, which opened in Australia in 1990. “It’s the best chicken in the world,” he says. Nando’s founder Witsie Robbie Brozin (BCom 1984) has been his best friend since school. They met in 1975 at King David Linksfield.
“What I love about Robbie is if you meet him today, despite his phenomenal success he’s still the same guy who started out with one chicken shop in Rosettenville.” The same has often been said of David, who says he resonates with people who are humble. “If you’re full of yourself just because you have money, something is wrong. At the end of the day, we all put our pants on one leg at a time.”
David and Robbie both went to the army after matric for compulsory national service. “It knocked the crap out of me,” he says. “I certainly wasn’t mature enough to go to university straight after school. I’m not proud of what national service stood for and I would never want my sons to go to war, but what I got from the army is learning that you have to be able to speak everybody’s cultural language.”
After the army, David and Robbie went to Wits to do a BCom. They both loved selling and as students they would get “reject” suits with small defects from David’s father’s clothing factory and sell them to the part-time accounting students who needed suits for work.
“My late Dad, Martin, was an accountant by profession. At three years old, while most kids were going to become firemen or policemen, I was instructed by my Dad to say that I was going to be an accountant. It was the highlight of my Dad’s life when I became the third son to become an accountant. I’m the youngest of the three brothers; the other two are Jon (BCom 1980, BAcc 1983) and Steven (BCom 1975,CU 1977).”
Their Mom, Betty, was a piano teacher and he says one of the biggest mistakes of his life was not learning to play the piano.
At Wits, apart from selling suits and socialising between lectures in what was then Senate House, he put his head into his books “and worked my butt off ”. “When I started at Wits one of the lecturers said ‘look to the left and look to the right and only one of you will pass the board exam’. I decided that person was going to be me and I passed my board exam on the first attempt in 1985.”
Wits at the time was politically very hot. “Standing against the government like several of my friends did, including Justice Norman Manoim (BA 1980, LLB 1983) and Dr Lloyd Vogelman (BA 1981, BA Hons 1982, MA 1987), came at great personal risk. Norman had his house fire bombed and students were getting incarcerated in solitary confinement. I have huge respect for the courage of people who stood up for what they believed in, despite the risk.”
After graduating and starting work, he decided he did not want to live in South Africa as it was, and made the journey to Australia with his young family.
Both of his brothers also emigrated and became partners in Com Tech. “When we eventually brought in Macquarie Bank as a private equity partner, the Mac Bank board representative, Michael Traill, affectionately referred to us as Doom, Gloom and Boom,” he smiles.
“Steve was Doom. He predicted the global financial crash 25 years before it happened. He was a real CFO, and truly safeguarded the assets of the company.
“Jon was Boom. He only ever saw a positive outcome. I was Gloom – even when things were going brilliantly, I was always worrying about something.”
Today, David runs a venture capital fund called OIF Ventures that invests in start-ups. “We have about 20 opportunities presented to us every week and we invest in five a year. I’m proud to say we’ve helped empower quite a few founders to realise their dreams.”
It’s mid-afternoon in Sydney by the time the interview comes to a close. David gets up from his desk and says he thinks he’ll go for a run because it’s a beautiful day. He is trying hard not to tie himself to OIF 24/7, as is his nature. “Time passes quickly and I would also like to do more travelling while I can,” he says.
David swims, cycles and runs several times a week.
Canberra supersleuth
As the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security in the Australian government from 2010 to 2015, Dr Vivienne Thom (BSc 1979, BSc Hons 1980, PhD 1985) unearthed a litany of wrongdoing.
“I’d love to do a job where people are pleased to see me,” is the line that sums up Vivienne’s years as chief inquisitor in Canberra, where she has lived since 1985. She has a nose for corruption and misconduct, and has investigated everything from financial fraud to sexual harassment by high profile public figures. She also leads the panel that will oversee responses by the Australian Defence Force to the findings of an inquiry into alleged misconduct by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
“The cases are diverse, and some have found their way into the media, but most don’t and I’m not at liberty to talk about them,” she says. “The crux of it is that when people commit acts of wrongdoing, the public needs to have faith in the mechanisms for investigating and dealing with them.”
Vivienne was appointed as the Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security in 2010 with oversight of six agencies in the Australian Intelligence Community.
She and her husband Dr Norman Blom (BSc Hons 1978, PhD 1985) met at Wits and married in 1982. They moved to Canberra in 1985 after completing their chemistry PhDs at Wits. Both were awarded Council for Scientific and Industrial Research bursaries to do postdoctoral research overseas and were offered positions at the Australian National University in Canberra.
It may seem surprising that a scientist would be appointed as head of intelligence agencies. It shouldn’t, says Vivienne: “The skills developed in postgraduate research are very similar to those used in investigations and reviews. Experience in scientific reasoning is an excellent basis for being able to decide whether evidence is relevant and sufficient to establish proof of conduct. You also need to be able to quickly grasp quite complex subject matter and assess voluminous documentary evidence. At the end of the process you have to synthesise the information to produce a clear and credible report – not unlike a PhD thesis or scientific publication.”
One characteristic she has in abundance is curiosity. “I keep asking questions until I’m satisfied I know and understand the whole story,” she explains. “One skill that I had to learn was to listen! My natural tendency is to speak quickly, interrupt others and fill any silences. Perhaps the most important skill when interviewing is to be able to wait patiently through sometimes uncomfortable pauses for more disclosures.”
Vivienne says a major governance issue in all organisations is that record-keeping has generally declined. “Everything used to be recorded on paper and filed, but these days people often forget to file records from their emails, and when you ask for the email record, you get their entire email accounts.”
The failure of ethics, integrity and transparency is another widespread issue, and it’s worldwide, she adds. “If you look at Boris Johnson, it’s the failure of ethics, integrity and transparency rather than policy failures that bring down governments, and it’s so much more public these days with Facebook and Twitter. Things get around and it has a cascade effect. People follow what their leaders do and if you don’t have ethical leadership, other people think they will get away with things too.” But not under her watch. She has occupied a range of senior posts in her brilliant public service career in Canberra, which provided a sound legal background and a good understanding of government accountability and oversight.
After the Australian National University, Vivienne and Norman took up posts in Canberra as patent examiners in the public service where Vivienne qualified as a patent attorney. She subsequently became Commissioner of Patents at IP Australia (1999 to 2002) during what she describes as a time of great change.
“Biotechnology and gene patents, such as those for the technology used to screen for breast cancer, or terminator genes in seeds were just taking off and were very controversial. Suddenly intellectual property policy had ethical and human rights dimensions, which made the work extremely interesting. Patents for business methods and software were also being filed including, for example, Amazon’s one-click ordering system in 1999. The internet was taking off and no one really understood how the existing patent system should be applied in this new paradigm.”
Prior to her appointment as Inspector-General of Intelligence and Security, Vivienne did a stint as CEO of the RoyalAustralian Mint. “My strategy was to grab every opportunity to try something different and learn new skills. It was a fun, interesting and varied job. I learnt a lot about Australian culture and history and the staff were wonderful, but the position did not satisfy me intellectually.”
Vivienne officially retired from her Inspector-General post in 2015 but continues to consult on high profile intelligence and security cases. Recent cases include investigating allegations of misconduct by a former high court judge and a government cabinet minister.
“It’s good to be able to choose which cases I take on now as it gives me a bit more time to see our daughters and grandchild, do trail running, and travel with my husband.”
Trail running is something she took up at age 49, and she is a member of a running club in Canberra. “At school I was told I was no good at sport and from then on I never did any exercise whatsoever at school or at Wits,” Vivienne says.
Vivienne and her husband Norman next to Loch Lomond.
“49 a friend encouraged me to see what the running club was all about, and I thought ‘now or never’. I joined the club, obviously totally unfit at first, but I built up to 10km and now I frequently run 21km half marathons and have completed two 41km Canberra marathons. I’ve run in Canada, New Zealand and all over Australia.”
Vivienne does 15km trail runs with the club most Saturdays. There are plenty of green spaces and hills in Canberra and Lake Burley Griffin is in the middle of the city. At the end of it they gather at coffee shops. “I’m not a fast runner but it’s really enjoyable and we can run all year round here. A lot of people run and cycle in Canberra and there is a ski field two hours away in the Snowy Mountains, and Bateman’s Bay beach two hours away.”
Vivienne and Norman live in the southern part of Canberra, in a suburb called Yarralumla. They can see Parliament House from their home, which is appropriate for the supersleuth. “Canberra is Australia’s federal capital but it is pretty much a large country town – I know 300 000 of the 400 000 people here,” she laughs, adding that a lot of the city’s residents work for government and its support services. “It’s a pleasant, easy city to live in. Everything is a ten-minute drive away, and there is quite a bit of wildlife around. We often see large, noisy, colourful parrots and possums in our garden and snakes and kangaroos while trail running.”
Norman, now retired, is a keen photographer, and the two travel extensively. Their last trip to South Africa was pre-COVID when they explored wildlife areas in South Africa, Namibia and Botswana.
Vivienne visited Wits a few years back and fondly recalls her time as a student here. She describes “the wonderful camaraderie” in the chemistry department, which was a refuge from the general tension and protests on campus. “I started at Wits in 1976, that watershed year when everything changed. It was a momentous thing for a young girl as it awakened in me an awareness of what was happening in our country.”
Braamfontein was home for her during the early 1980s in her postgraduate years. Several chemistry postgrads lived in flats here, conveniently close to campus where they spent a good deal of time together in the labs doing chemistry. “Braamfontein was nothing like it is today. It was a bit shabby, with old blocks of flats, a couple of restaurants, Pop’s Cafe and the Dev Hotel, but most of our socialising took place in the postgraduate club on campus where they had a bar on Friday nights and a movie on Sunday nights.”
A major influence on her life was Professor Rob Hancock (DSc 1991). “I was his first PhD and he was keen on publications, so we did good work together and it was really interesting research in inorganic chemistry.” She says she has Prof Hancock to thank for the head start this gave her in her career. A career for which in 2016 Vivienne was made a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to public administration and mentoring women in executive positions.
Anna Zanghi
In search of European roots
Anna first learnt to speak English at primary school. “Coming from such a strong Italian and French immigrant background, I always felt different until I got to Wits in 1982. Suddenly, this interesting mix of people opened up to me. It was an incredible sense of freedom and discovery,” she says.
“I loved campus, I loved so much about being at Wits, including the freedom of expression and the simple pleasures, like hanging out on the lawns and eating slap chips from the canteen.”
After graduating with her BCom she joined Standard Bank, where she established the first organisational development consulting unit, focused on teambuilding, leadership development and change management.
Her next career move was to Europe. “A position came up with Mastercard in Paris and I felt the urge to seek out my European roots. I was based in Paris for three-and-a-half years before being transferred to Brussels. Belgium is the European headquarters for Mastercard.”
In Paris she lived in the 6th arrondissement, not far from the Eiffel Tower. “It was the first time I had lived alone and it was wonderful. I was in awe of Paris; I was fascinated by the architecture and the beauty of the buildings; it was like living in an open-air museum. I loved wandering the streets and being able to walk everywhere safely. Once again, I felt an incredible sense of freedom.”
The irony of her Mastercard job was that it took her away from her goal of being in Europe. It required travelling to the Middle East, Africa and the US, and it was only when she moved to Brussels that she started settling in Europe.
She initially stayed in an apartment in central Brussels, but when she met and married her Anglo-Belgian husband, a project manager, this all changed. “After we had our two children, the South African part of me felt we needed a garden,” she says. Homes in Brussels with a garden were too pricey, so they looked further afield.
Mastercard’s offices are in the town of Waterloo, south of Brussels, the site of the final defeat of Emperor Napoleon I in 1815. “This meant we could look in the country areas nearby, and we found our home in a little village called Lasne. We live in a 300-year-old farmhouse with thick, thick walls. Most of the houses are painted white with little blue or green shutters, and many of the streets have cobbled stones.”
Negotiating deep snow, digging out their cars and changing tyres every season was initially challenging for Anna, but for the past couple of winters they have had only a bit of powder snow, and they haven’t worn their snow boots in years. “There has been a dramatic shift in the weather and we associate it with climate change. The summers are a lot warmer; some of the farmers in our region have started farming grapes whereas previously this would have been unheard of,” says Anna. She does Nordic walking to explore the farming areas, forests and nature trails.
This part of her life is a far cry from the fintech disruption she has been part of over the past decade, requiring a fleet of new solutions. “At Mastercard it was amazing to be part of the huge shift that occurred from about 2013 with fintech and the digital disruption transforming banking from a slow, traditional sector to one of the fastest-paced industries to be in.”
Anna was asked to set up Mastercard’s first global team to focus on youth product development: “There was this sudden awareness that millennials were all digital natives, born with technology, and this required co-creating products and solutions with them to make sure it spoke to the experience they needed and wanted,” she explains.
“Banks were not structured for this at the time and we needed to work with lawyers and digital product developers and a whole range of stakeholders. We came up with products for youth, such as prepaid cards for school kids to pay for their lunch, and cards for teenagers’ pocket money.”
Anna stayed with Mastercard until 2019, when she felt a life change was necessary. “I loved my time there but the pace at which we were working was frenetic. The final straw was when my daughter chose burnout for one of her high school projects and I asked why she chose this topic. Her reply was that I ticked the boxes of many of the symptoms, and it was true!”
It was a big “aha” moment for her and she decided it was time to start her own business focusing on wellbeing programmes for the work environment and personal mental health. She now practises as an individual coach and works a lot with women at the crossroads – aged 45 years and up who, for a variety of reasons, are rethinking what comes next.
She is also a partner in a business called Futur-o, “where our whole focus is on fitness to lead. The whole idea is that today’s leaders must have the mental fitness and adaptive capacity to deal with the increasing complexity and pace of change, while also looking after their teams’ wellbeing. We look at all sorts of factors, including lifestyle and sleep. Leaders need to be acutely aware of their own wellness and work on their inner development, as you are no good to anyone if you burn out.”
The mix of working remotely and face to face has been part of Anna’s world for years, long before COVID. “We started using Skype for business years ago, to talk to Mastercard teams worldwide.”
Working for herself has given her more free time, and since the pandemicd she has been spending time in France. “We love going to Omaha beach in Normandy – the landing beach for troops in World War II, with its fascinating history,” she says. The Allied invasion of Normandy on 6 June 1944, known as D-Day, was the largest seaborne invasion in history.
“We’ll be exploring more of France, Italy and other parts of Europe. We are shifting into a different phase of life now as our children are out of school and pursuing university studies and careers. It’s an exciting time because 27 years since I moved to Paris I finally have the opportunity to properly explore my roots.”
Anna's 300-year-old farmhouse in Lasne.
