SA’s top MBAs

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Before Johan Eksteen studied for his MBA, his pelleting business was a hobby — a means for him and his brother to earn some extra income. Eksteen’s master’s degree in sustainable agriculture was a nice-to-have but it hadn’t transformed his career. So when he found himself posted to Uganda by an employer, he decided it was time for change.

He enrolled for a distance MBA at the University of the Free State Business School and almost immediately began to see his hobby in another light.

Agricon today is a world leader in agricultural pelleting – the production and distribution of pellets for animal feeds, fertilisers and biomass products. It has been responsible for developing new technologies and its machines are exported to 27 countries in Africa, Europe and Asia.

When Eksteen began his MBA, however, Agricon, founded in 1993, was still "something I kept on the backburner". He and his brother produced a couple of machines each year. "One sale funded the next. The business was something to fall back on in an emergency."

He adds: "I doubted myself and my ability to take it to another level." That changed with the MBA. "It opened up the world. It dragged me out of my comfort zone. What I learnt on the programme helped me see the business as an international one, not a local one."

Change happened rapidly after Eksteen, 46, graduated in 2003. Instead of putting machines together at home, he outsourced production to specialist manufacturers. Marketing was ramped up, new territories were explored. Everything was self-financed.

"By the time a bank finally offered me an overdraft, the company was already up and running," he says.

Agricon’s success has earned him a slew of awards, including SA small business and overall entrepreneur of the year, as well as a national innovation prize.

Eksteen has no doubt that, without his MBA, none of this would have been possible. "It helped me believe in myself and my judgment," he says. "It was the making of me."

Plenty more graduates make the same boast. But not all. Many of those who go through the MBA mill come out the other side thousands of rands poorer but with no enrichment of their working lives.

Not long ago, a major retailer announced it would no longer pay for managers’ MBA studies because previous beneficiaries had added no value to the company.

"They come back thinking they know everything but actually offer nothing new," observed the HR director.

Graduates say they gain courage, confidence and a sense of realism

—  What it means

Market research for this cover story shows other employers are not convinced their staff, sponsored or not, return as game-changers. The problem in many cases is that they don’t know how to use their new knowledge in the business environment.

The situation may improve. The 2016 decision to change the MBA from an academic degree to a professional one means it is more focused on applied learning. The research component of MBA programmes is no longer limited to academic pursuits but may also include industry case studies and even in-house projects for employers.

Wits Business School MBA director Conrad Viedge thinks there is a case for schools to teach employers how to get the best from MBA graduates. "Students want to go back and make a difference but companies haven’t always thought how they will use them," he says. "To sponsor someone on an MBA, or even to let them go off and study, and not have a plan for that person to create value, is extremely wasteful."

However, he says graduates are ultimately responsible for making things happen. "Don’t go back and wait for your managers to do everything. You are the one who must push and volunteer." Regenesys Business School director Penny Law agrees: "We tell our students that they bear the responsibility for reintegrating into the company."

Kosheek Sewchurran, acting director of Cape Town University’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), says the fact that MBA students are generally expected to have previous business or management experience means they should be building on knowledge they already possess.

"As a post-experience school, we’re interested in developing our students along three dimensions – their knowing, their doing and their being," he says. "By making sure that we are rigorous in our development of all three, the students are prepared to be competent in practice. We don’t feel it’s unreasonable for businesses to expect MBA graduates to deliver on the job from day one."

Henley Business School dean Jon Foster-Pedley says it’s important for MBAs to have a realistic sense of their worth. There’s no longer room for what he calls "Sambas" (smart-arse MBAs) to leave business school "with an exaggerated sense of self-importance". He says: "As an MBA graduate, you leave as a more rounded and useful individual, not as a superhero or prodigal son."

Graduates interviewed for this cover story say it’s the sense of realism imbued in them by schools that has enabled them to succeed in their post-MBA careers. Regenesys graduate Thabang Chiloane, Nedbank’s head of group public affairs, recently drove the launch of what is believed to be the world’s first institute for stakeholder relations. He says: "It is because of the skills and courage I garnered from my MBA that I was able to bring to fruition my vision of setting up the institute. I believe business, government and societal relationships will improve because the institute will have played a positive part."

Fellow Regenesys graduate Promise Mthenjane credits his executive progress at Tiger Brands, where he has been promoted twice in the past few months, to what he learnt in the MBA classroom.

"Career discussions with my employer are more structured and focused and the business is committed to my growth. I have also been exposed to the strategy formation and implementation of the business at a high level. It has given me a great overview of the business world and allowed me a deeper understanding of the changes in the business environment."

Others find different benefits. Musician Barry van Zyl, who graduated this year from Henley Business School, says access to the school’s 76,000-strong global alumni network has provided him with opportunities in the UK music business. Van Zyl, long-time drummer for Johnny Clegg’s band, has performed or recorded with Annie Lennox, Carlos Santana, Sipho Hotstix Mabuse and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

Recording studios and classrooms are the furthest thing from Jadon Schmidt’s mind. As project manager for Red Cap Energy, he spends much of his time on exposed hillsides developing wind farms. Schmidt, who also has an MSc in estuarine ecology, studied for an MBA at Rhodes Business School because of its expertise in environmental sustainability.

His thesis, on resource economics, examined the management of protected environments.

Schmidt, 43, who graduated in 2011, says his studies enabled him to expand his environmental expertise into economics and general management. Red Cap is the only SA-owned company in its sector and Schmidt is responsible for such things as land negotiations, permits, environmental impact studies and contracts.

"In a daily operational sense, my MBA is not used that often but when it comes to income revenues on 20-year purchase agreements, budgets and spreadsheets, it’s given me the confidence to handle anything that comes up," he says.

For some graduates, that "anything" can be completely unexpected. Brenda Molefe undertook her MBA at the Management College of Southern Africa (Mancosa) in the expectation that it would lead to promotion within the Gauteng provincial government. It didn’t. Instead, she set up a series of companies, including a fashion label and a model and talent agency.

She says: "I might not have climbed the corporate ladder but I have found my true purpose in entrepreneurship and I thank the MBA journey that sparked the desire in me and gave me the courage to tackle any task."

The impact of SA MBAs is being felt elsewhere in Africa. In Malawi, Rejoice Chisi is passing on her Mancosa skills to others. In addition to her job as operations manager for a microfinance company, she spends her free time training young people in business management. She is part of a women’s leadership network and this year addressed a Singapore conference on its activities. She says: "The MBA programme has changed my way of thinking. My passion is to help more women realise their goals and be empowered."

This is all music to the ears of Johannesburg Business School director Lyal White, who says: "The purpose of the MBAs is to create leaders, people who make a difference. It’s not there to develop people for the corner office."

According to Regenesys’s Law: "The MBA is meant to be practical. It’s not just about imparting knowledge but about encouraging critical thinking.

"Companies want graduates who can solve problems. I can’t guarantee we always get it right but we’re trying."

Rhodes director Owen Skae says preparing students to transfer their education back to the business world can be harsh. "We may tell them at 6pm that they have to make a full-scale strategic presentation at 8am the next day. Tough? Yes. Will they be up all night preparing? Probably. But don’t tell me it’s unfair and you don’t have time. This is what you’ll face in the real world."

Milpark dean Cobus Oosthuizen says: "A three-hour exam is no way to assess mastery of something. You must show you can apply what you learn."

Regent Business School director Ahmed Shaikh says MBA education is not just about preparing people for the immediate business environment but also for the future. Because of technology developments, it’s been estimated that one-third of work skills required today will be redundant within two years. That, in turn, will require new leadership and management skills.

"Employers demand new standards for what graduates should be able to do," he says. "The key shift in industry expectations is for graduates to move from possessing ‘discipline-specific’ expertise to a commercially aware graduate with a broad range of skills that can be applied in different work contexts.

"Business education must be transformed in ways that will enable students to acquire the creative thinking, flexible problem-solving, collaboration and innovative skills they will need to be successful in work and life."

Martin Butler, head of the MBA programme at University of Stellenbosch Business School, says business schools tread a fine line between practice without respect for theory, and theoretical content that is not linked to practice.

"Students are not passive learners," he says. "They are challenged to discuss the application of theory and become co-creators of the learning experience by displaying this application in the classroom to a particular context."

He adds that Stellenbosch is moving away from traditional tests towards assessments that demonstrate skills application with value for students’ employers. "By constantly innovating on practice-based assessments, we emphasise practical application throughout the programme."

The FM is introducing a regular business schools feature on its website — www.financialmail.co.za — starting on October 1.

Academics, graduates, students and readers who want to contribute should contact David Furlonger at furlongerd@fm.co.za

—  ONLINE LAUNCH

That word "practical" is also favoured by Akhona Tinta, strategic planning director at Amathole district municipality in East London. Armed with her 2017 MBA from Nelson Mandela University Business School, she is determined to influence the public sector to behave more like its private counterpart.

"We need to work like a business," she says. "My MBA has enabled me to see where there are opportunities and start joining the dots." She adds: "There will be resistance because people don’t like change but I think government and business can learn from each other."

Gladys Mawoneke knows all about public sector resistance. Armed with a 2009 master’s in business leadership (MBL) from Unisa’s Graduate School of Business Leadership, she spotted a gap in the market for her Breva soda brand. After asking the Industrial Development Corp (IDC) to help fund a bottling plant, she was provided with funds for a market feasibility study.

She recalls: "The results were very positive and the IDC agreed but it turned down funding because it said the sector was very competitive, I had no product experience and my balance sheet was weak. I was devastated."

Fortunately for Mawoneke, Woolworths thought differently and offered her a loan. That, plus additional funding from Anglo American, gave her the start she needed. "In November 2014, I launched Breva," she says. "Pick n Pay was my first customer and I haven’t looked back."

She adds: "My MBL gave me the confidence I needed. When I was starting out with Breva, I used to refer to my textbooks when I had a problem. Now it comes naturally."

CASE STUDY 1

Ian Haddon: A new approach to mining

How can mining houses persuade neighbouring communities and society that mining operations are to everyone’s benefit?

The University of Cape Town’s Graduate School of Business believes some of the answers may lie in the dissertation of one of its 2018 executive MBA graduates.

Disputes between mines and communities are frequent, not least in SA, and often lead to the failure of projects, says Ian Haddon, GM of the MSA Group mining consultancy.

He says he undertook the executive MBA to become more strategic and forward-thinking. “Most of what I was doing was operational. I was fixing things today, rather than looking ahead to tomorrow.”

The relationship between mining houses and communities is the biggest issue in the global mining industry, he says.

“A mine’s relationship with the government and community is considered every bit as important as the mineral resource, mine design or commodity price. Dealing with this issue requires a holistic and multidisciplinary approach.”

Mines are deemed to have a social licence to operate when communities give a project their broad approval. However, Haddon says the idea of “compliance and grudging acceptance” is out of date and there needs to be new ownership models and closer integration of community activities into mining operations.

“A post-mining sustainable economy should be planned and implemented from day one, as a collaboration between government, mine and community, with both the funding and success of that shared between all parties,” he says. “All three need to work together in a process of participation, empowerment, alignment of goals and integration of activities.”

CASE STUDY 2

Phatho Zondi: How my degree put me in the fast lane

As a doctor specialising in sports medicine, Phatho Zondi knew she needed management skills to run her own practice. What she didn’t know was that acquiring those skills would limit her opportunities to practise medicine.

Zondi graduated with an MBA from the Gordon Institute of Business Science in 2015. She says: "At medical school, what they don’t teach you are the basic principles of running a practice. I needed not just general management skills but also finance and economics. My MBA was a means of fast-tracking."

A year after graduating, however, she was asked to take charge of the Sports Science Institute of SA. Acceptance would mean uprooting her family from Johannesburg to Cape Town. "I thought about it for three months. I wasn’t sure I had the necessary leadership experience but eventually I accepted." She became CEO in June 2016.

The brief was to steer a business turnaround and strategic renewal. Her MBA, she says, was ideal preparation. "One of the things I learnt in the group study format is that what you are trying to project is not always what others perceive." What she thought was self-confidence was seen by some as confrontational. That realisation has coloured her management style.

Her one regret as CEO is the lack of hands-on medical involvement. Zondi, who has been chief medical officer for SA national athletics, Paralympics and rugby teams, says: "As a sports doctor, I see the effects of what I do almost immediately. The athlete is better or not.

"In an organisation, there are lots of conversations and everything takes time. You measure the speed of implementation, not cure."

CASE STUDY 3

Michelle Dateling: A star is born

There’s a big difference between being an entrepreneur and being a business owner, says Michelle Dateling, co-founder of AnaStellar Brands, a company that develops and markets pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

Theoretical classroom study may give you the business skills to run an existing company, but creating a new venture in an overcrowded market is another matter.

Dateling, an optometrist, set up AnaStellar in 2016 with fellow Wits Business School MBA graduate Anastasia Dobson-du Toit. They were supposed to be joined by four classmates, but these dropped out one by one as the venture progressed.

AnaStellar specialises in SA-made products for women. Dobson-du Toit describes it as “a smaller, smarter” player in an industry dominated by multinationals. What sets it apart is a marketing style built on personal service and relationships. Lessons learnt during the MBA were vital in creating a targeted marketing plan, she says. So was an optional course on entrepreneurship.

The biggest benefit of the MBA, says Dobson-du Toit, was in providing a holistic view of how a business operates. A good product idea is no guarantee of success. You need a grip on all aspects of the business, from operations and marketing to strategy and finance.

The biggest challenge so far? “Dealing with the human element has been tough and it is important to find a team with the same vision and work ethic as you,” she says.

CASE STUDY 4

Sipho Xipu: Hard-headed leader

Sipho Xipu knows all about the ups and downs of business. In his younger days, he owned a spaza shop and was involved in taxis and cash loans. They had their moments, but “they would all eventually fail”, he says.

In the mining industry, too, he has hired and fired with the best of them. A former office bearer of the National Union of Mineworkers, an experienced human resources and industrial relations manager, and an investor in mining companies, he is now CEO of Triple M Mining, a service provider in the SA hard-rock mining industry. The company, based in Rustenburg, has more than 1,500 employees working underground.

Xipu earned his MBA from Mafikeng Business School in 2007. The school is now a campus of North-West University’s School of Business & Governance.

“The MBA has been very relevant to my career,” he says. “I needed more exposure to strategy, planning and restructuring. The toughest subject for me, though, was financial management.

“It was something in which I had no background — as you can see from what happened to some of my early companies.

“What I learnt at Mafikeng has helped me restructure Triple M and has enabled the day-to-day running of the business.”

CASE STUDY 5

Zibu Mthiyane: Learning to lead

The daughter of a retrenched miner, a mother at 17, a former domestic worker and part-time hairdresser — it’s fair to say that University of Stellenbosch Business School MBA graduate Zibu Mthiyane has used education to turn her life around.

She is the founder and CEO of Zoluhle, a black women-owned company specialising in the design and manufacturing of synthetic steel products, and was a Mandela Washington Fellow, a member of former US president Barack Obama’s Young African Leaders Initiative and one of SA’s top 40 women under the age of 40.

Mthiyane is also a founder member of a women’s development club, MMC SA.

She says her MBA made her question her role in society. “It changed the way I see education. It focused on my development as a human being as opposed to simply giving me information.”

The “business in society” module encouraged her to reflect on her personal contribution to transformation. Previously, she had looked at government for solutions but never at herself. Before the MBA, she was a portfolio manager for a KwaZulu-Natal electrification project.

In a recent interview, she said: “My life in general — both personal and professional — is almost unrecognisable when you compare it before and after my MBA.”