Time to reboot
Outgoing CEO wants to focus on developing his ‘underserved’ Eastern Cape community
Having created a multibillion-rand development group and listed the first broad-based black property fund in SA, Sisa Ngebulana is going back to his roots.
The property entrepreneur plans to develop hotels and schools with a focus on providing a better life to the people of Mthatha — he grew up in Corana, just outside the town — and to the Eastern Cape in general.
“In my village, people look for guidance from many adult figures and not just parents. I’ve had many people come to me for help and advice. I’ve also helped put people through university,” he says. “Now that I won’t be CEO at Rebosis, I can focus more attention on my foundation and this kind of work.”
Ngebulana (51) says he has achieved his goals in the seven years he has been CEO of Rebosis Property Fund, and is now stepping aside. He will become deputy chairman and spend more time on his development company, the Billion Group, and with his family and community.
“I want to be part of providing a better quality of life to people who’ve not had it. Naturally this includes focusing on where I come from, a place which has been underserved,” Ngebulana says.
Rebosis was established in 2010 and listed the following year, with R3.6bn worth of assets. It has not missed a distribution growth forecast in its six years as a listed company.
The company came to the JSE with a market capitalisation of R2.2bn, which today has grown to R7.3bn.
“My role at Rebosis will become very much nonexecutive. I’m still a large shareholder in the group and I want the best for Rebosis. But I want to be able to put energy into other aspects of my life,” the self-professed workaholic says.
The fund’s portfolio consists primarily of early-stage, regionally dominant shopping centres and large, single-tenant commercial offices in nodes that appeal to government, providing a sovereign underpin.
It owns property worth about R14bn directly, as well as a R1.2bn stake in SA group Ascension Properties, which owns smaller, largely statetenanted buildings, and a R2.3bn stake in
New Frontier, which owns shopping centres in the UK.
Ngebulana, who will vacate his position as CEO at the end of September, will be succeeded by current Rebosis COO Andile Mazwai. Ngebulana says Mazwai, a former CEO of stockbroker Barnard Jacobs Mellet Securities, stood out against various in-house Rebosis candidates.
The Billion Group, which was established in 1998, has effectively been a supplier for a number of assets for Rebosis.
The group opened the four-star, 96-room Mayfair Hotel in Mthatha in June. The hotel is worth R130m and has been designed to have a bias towards conferencing. It is next to BT Ngebs City, one of the Billion Group’s Eastern Cape malls.
“The quality of business hotels is low in the Eastern Cape and we have recognised an opportunity. The hotel is about 65% occupied right now. It has a five-star feel and service at three-star prices,” Ngebulana says.
He wants to build casinos to complement his hotel developments.
Rebosis concluded what it considered to be its most important transaction last year when it acquired two malls and management companies from Billion, thereby internalising all Rebosis management. These are the Baywest Mall, the largest shopping centre in the Eastern Cape, and Forest Hill City, a mall in Centurion, Pretoria.
BT Ngebs was initially proposed to be a part of the transaction, but some shareholders felt it diminished the overall quality of the deal.
Billion also has a number of schools in the pipeline.
“We want to supply 16 affordable schools in SA over two years. These schools will be private but affordable, with a cap of R25,000 in annual school fees,” Ngebulana says.
He also wants to invest in training facilities for artisans.
“I believe SA needs a system similar to that in Germany where children are able to learn good trades properly. They take trades seriously. We need to develop the educational infrastructure to do this in SA,” says Ngebulana, who worked in his own family’s small shop from a young age.
Ngebulana has tried to remain family oriented while being an entrepreneur. He believes that, at least in the past 10 to 15 years, he has managed to spend “quality time” with his children, as opposed to just “time” with them. As part of this, he thoroughly enjoys a project he helped create for his son, Sisa Ngebulana Jnr, who is training to become a professional racing car driver.