ACROSS THE BOARD
In this column, Daily Maverick seeks to shine a spotlight on board appointments, at director and C-suite level, across corporate South Africa. It’s not enough to point it out once or twice a year. Companies need to be held accountable and constantly reminded that there is a need for more diversity within executive management. We have come far but we have further to go.
PwC’s latest non-executive directors report shows clearly that boards, in particular, do not reflect the country as a whole, or the organisation’s shifting stakeholder profile. Salutary statistics indicate that non-executives remain largely white (48%) and male (71%).
Chief executive of the Institute of Directors SA Parmi Natesan says transformation is more than a compliance issue. A board must be seen to be “walking the talk”.
“Boards should set themselves and their companies hard targets relating to diversity, including stretch targets. Pious intentions usually remain just that. Nominations committees should expand their horizons. Those in charge of new appointments should make a concerted and conscious effort to look beyond their usual circles to tap into a growing pool of diverse directorial talent,” she says.
What is the best investment you ever made?
Largely self-funded education after initially working and saving up. That investment culminated in two tertiary qualifications and various business courses. We cannot undervalue the importance of education in our society.
How would you “fix” healthcare in South Africa?
Any national problem, such as access to healthcare, is not something one individual or company or organisation can solve. The Covid-19 pandemic clearly demonstrated that it is going to take relationships, commitment from every role player and some deep digging before our nation can receive. Mediclinic is actively working on these types of relationships with provincial health to expand access. We are investing in local township primary care clinics (Unjani clinics) as well as any other opportunities that we believe offer a long-term solution to the challenges we face. Nothing can be solved with a quick fix. Relationships are the biggest thing.
What would you prioritise if you were president of South Africa?
Families and education. Families are the building block of our country. Families that are safe and healthy produce new generations of families that are healthy, educated, employed and contributing to the economy.
In terms of education, we need to expand access to skills that will serve our country going forward.
I am so proud of the education Mediclinic offers to nurses – free of charge – to ensure there is a future in healthcare as current nurses retire or leave the industry. This needs to be intensified as a high percentage of our nursing population is over 50 and the developmental pipeline is inadequate.
What is the best business book you have read?
The best business book I’ve ever read –perhaps not a book that most would think of as a business book – is Can’t Hurt Me by David Goggins. A learning from him is not to put limits on yourself. One quote is: “When you think you are done, you’re only 40% into what your body’s capable of doing. That’s just the limits that we put on ourselves.”
What are your three B-Hags (big, hairy, ambitious goals) at Capitec?
To create an environment that allows each person working at Capitec, to unlock their full potential, to keep building on the entrepreneurial mindset within Capitec and to make sure we fully understand our clients and their needs.
How much was your first pay cheque and what did you do with it?
Before I could become a waiter at Spur (technically my first job), I did a few shifts in the kitchen to understand how the business operated. I earned R20 for my first night’s work in the kitchen but can’t remember what I spent it on. I do remember being amazed at all that went on behind the scenes that you do not see as a customer sitting in the restaurant. After studying, I started my articles and my first monthly salary was R3,900, most of which was spent on petrol, rent and new work clothes.