A pioneer of change in the business world
Post-democracy in SA, the company embarked on huge change to refocus on its core expertise of mining
Imagine, for a moment, downtown Johannesburg in June 1986.
The Carlton Centre and the neighbouring Carlton Hotel are abuzz with well-heeled shoppers and visitors, business conversations are dominated by talk of heightened sanctions against the apartheid government.
Around the country, the United Democratic Front campaigns for “people’s power”. On June 12, government declares another national state of emergency.
A few blocks down the road from the Anglo American-owned Carlton Centre sits 44 Main Street, the head office of Anglo American, which was founded in 1917 by Ernest Oppenheimer, to invest in the country’s gold minerals.
Restricted by sanctions and exchange controls, Anglo American has used its financial muscle over the years to expand its operations inside SA, and by 1986, it is by far the biggest and most influential company in the country with more than 600 companies under its control. Its influence stretches beyond mining to touch nearly every part of South Africans’ lives, from their shopping at OK supermarkets, Edgars or CNA, to the fertilisers used by farmers or their pension investments, with Anglo American companies’ shares accounting for half the dealings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.
Writing in South Africa Inc. The Oppenheimer Empire, David Pallister, Sarah Stewart and Ian Lepper try to explain the scale of Anglo American by using employees as a benchmark.
According to its 1986 estimates:
● Anglo American employed about 305,000 people in the gold mines;
● 25,000 in diamond mines;
● 100,000 in other mines — notably platinum and coal;
● 150,000 in manufacturing;
● 140,000 in the food, beverage and retail industry; and
● 50,000 in other businesses.
Fast-forward to 2017, the streamlined Anglo American, though employing 87,000 people today, is still a leader in SA’S business sector.
Years of change followed the fall
What it means: A century of innovation and pioneering trends that continue to sustain and grow the industry