Meet the Boks of the business world
● If you were looking for the business equivalent of the Boks, who keep fighting for the ball no matter what, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better cohort than the 240 folks gathered on the fourth floor of a building in Parktown, Johannesburg, on Thursday evening.
Now marking its fifth year partnering with BCX, the Sunday Times Top 100 Companies awards has become more than simply an event nodding to excellence in business and leadership. It’s a coming together of the like-minded who, despite load-shedding, government curveballs and other challenges, are not giving up on steering Mzansi onto the right path.
Or, as Sunday Times editor S’thembiso Msomi said during his opening remarks: “Tonight we gather not just to celebrate success but to recognise resilience, innovation and commitment that has propelled your businesses forward in the face of formidable economic and social challenges.”
Folk such as Mary Vilakazi, who last month became the first woman CEO of FirstRand, and Bonang Mohale, who earlier this year was recognised by a global reputation firm as one of the 100 “most reputable Africans”.
The Bidvest chair, university of Free State chancellor and author, who attended with his wife Suzan, pretty in an African print dress, comes up to say hello as I take in some fresh air on the balcony overlooking the city.
It is there that I meet Nobuntu Mpendulo, director of the city’s library and information services, and Jeff Nyoka, the entity’s e-learning manager. The subject of Johannesburg’s main library still being shuttered comes up (no books to read for thousands who frequent the John Perry-designed landmark because they’ve failed to sort out its fire-safety non-compliance). Nobuntu assures me that there’s progress, promising that the library will open again in about 18 months.
Let’s see ...
Heading back inside, as guests nibble on canapés including veg dim sims with ginger soy glaze, mini prawn skewers with lemon crema and chicken and celery tartlets, I meet another leading business light, Mpumi Madisa, who four years ago at the age of 39 was named the youngest CEO of a JSE Top 40 listed company — Bidvest.
The move has proven to be fortuitous for the services, trading and distribution group founded by Brian Joffe. Under Mpumi’s helm, the Bidvest group recorded double-digit profit across seven divisions over the past financial year.
On to meeting Iran-born Raya Bidshahri, 28, once named by the BBC as one of the world’s 100 most influential and inspiring women along with green activist Greta Thunberg and US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Sporting white sneakers with her svelte velvet dress, she says: “I loved learning, but I hated school,” when I ask how she came to found the School of Humanity, an award-winning online high school that boasts students from 16 countries across five continents. Elsewhere, I spot Bulelani Ngcuka in conversation with a group of blokes including former finance minister — now Old Mutual chair — Trevor Manuel, and meet Deloitte Africa CEO Ruwayda Redfearn. Enough mingling, the time comes for us to head into the main hall for dinner and the official bits. Guests, including Prof Michael Katz, the chair of law firm ENSafrica, newly installed Cell C CEO Jorge Mendes, BP Southern Africa’s Taelo Mojapelo and business titan Reuel Khoza and his wife Mumsy, sit at glamorously decorated tables that feature clever macramé paper vases festooned with leaves fashioned from gold-painted card.
We are served starters of roasted tomato tarts with fresh fennel.
I find myself seated next to chrome-mining investor Kenny Setzin and his wife Berlina, while across are Penny Law and Marko Saravanja of Regenesys Business School. When our mains — melt-inyour-mouth teriyaki salmon fillet with toasted sesame with wasabi mash and stir-fried veg — arrive, I overhear the man seated on my left ask if he could have a steak instead.
Turns out that fish doesn’t agree with Quinton Schenk, the marketing manager for that eating-out home for meatlovers, Spur.
Proceedings are in the capable hands of Kaya 95.9’s Gugulethu Mfuphi, who is one of the best in the biz and encourages us all to “whistle, ululate and celebrate” when the night’s winners are announced.
BCX kicks off things with the announcement of its digital innovation award winners, with Jeff and the Johannesburg Library picking up a nod for their mobile e-learning platform while a company called Medsol, which has developed an AI-powered detection tool for breast cancer,
draws energetic applause. We grudgingly clap when the South African Revenue Service is recognised for its improved auto-assessment service.
Next we hear from our Sunday Times ed and BCX’s Jonas Bogoshi while Raya enraptures us with her outlook on problemsolving and education in the night’s keynote address.
No doubt you can read about the night’s big winners elsewhere in this paper, but to sum up: Shoprite’s Whitey Basson is honoured as this year’s recipient of the prestigious Sunday Times Lifetime Achiever award while Mpumi accepts the 2023 Business Leadership title, thanking a long list including her husband David, and Brian and Lindsay Ralphs whom she succeeded.
Mining again comes up tops in the top 100 JSE-listed companies with a market cap of at least R5bn that provided the highest returns for their shareholders over a five-year period to the end of August this year.
The top two dig the same glistening resource, with Gold Fields pipping DRDGold for the honours.
As Gugu summed things up at the end of the evening: “All that glitters is gold.”