My Africa Today

Stephen Saad – Aspen Phamacare Holdings Limited

Stephen Saad has reason to be proud. In little longer than seven years he has made Aspen Pharmacare, Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer.

Stephen’s greatest achievements in the healthcare sector relate to his pioneering ability in combating HIV/AIDS. Stephen has secured voluntary licenses from multinational pharmaceutical giants for the manufacture of desperately needed antiretroviral (ARV) medicines. Aspen is one of only three pharmaceutical companies worldwide to be selected by the Clinton Foundation as capable of manufacturing antiretroviral (ARV) medicines at the stipulated quality and price.

In addition to this, Aspen’s manufacturing facilities have recently been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as being suitable for the manufacture of generic anti-retrovirals to meet the needs of President Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The President’s organisation has pledged $15bn to assist developing countries as they address the crisis of HIV/AIDS over the next five years.

Aspen presently has a market capitalisation in excess of R5 billion and is Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer and the continent’s largest manufacturer of generic pharmaceutical products.

Koos Bekker – M-Net

Koos Bekker is the visionary who dreamt up M-Net. In 1985 M-Net was one of the first two pay television ventures to be created anywhere outside of the United States. M-Net broke even in 1988 and the group has since grown into one of the most successful pay television operations worldwide.

Koos overcame some initial mistakes and several hurdles to make it work. From this base he then led the launch of Supersport, MultiChoice across Africa, MIH internationally, M-Web, Irdeto in Holland, the creation of the cellphone operator MTN, the drive into China with the conception of SportsCN and the buy-in into Tencent (QQ), as well as the recent setting up of Entriq, a broadband technology provider in San Diego.

All these companies fall under what is today known as MIH Holdings, which operates pay television and Internet subscriber platforms in Africa, China, Thailand, Greece and Cyprus. They constitute some 80% of the total value of the Naspers group, the biggest media group in Africa by far, which Koos now heads up.

Glenn van Heerden – Avis Southern Africa Limited

Glenn van Heerden not only embodies the cheery personality of the Avis brand in South Africa, but is also a pioneer of car rental and fleet services in our country.

Avis Southern Africa, one of the leading Car Rental Agencies on the continent, was founded some 37 years ago in Bloemfontein by 25-year-old Glenn and a colleague named Noel de Villiers. With a fleet of only three cars and R20 000 worth of loan capital, they started a business that is today a household name.

Avis is now spread out in most of southern Africa including Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mozambique, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe. Avis Southern Africa’s operations also span countries like Norway and Sweden, and it ranks as the largest licensee outside the USA in the worldwide Avis group. It runs a rental fleet of some 20 000 cars, and its leasing arm has more than 60 000 vehicles under management.

In 2003, during a period marked by delistings from the JSE, Barloworld acquired Avis, worth R2,2bn. Van Heerden, who was CEO and later chairman of Avis, is now a non-executive director of Barloworld Motors.

Pam Golding – Pam Golding Properties

Pam Golding regards her availability and her vast network, built up over 45 years of personal contact, as her most valuable attribute in business.

After having worked for Syfrets for five years, Pam started her business on her own with no capital in the midst of economic uncertainty. At that time the political situation in South Africa was driving foreign investment out of the country and the property market was deemed to be a very high-risk investment for both buyers and sellers.

Founded in 1976, Pam Golding Properties has grown from being a single woman “out-of-my-garage”-property business, to a leading South African organisation employing over 1 800 people.

Today Pam Golding Properties is South Africa’s premier property group, boasting a turnover of R9,7bn in residential sales in 2004. Providing the international investment community with credible South African business infrastructure, Pam Golding Properties currently has operations in 3 European countries as well as franchises in several Southern African countries.

Dempsey Naidoo – PD Naidoo & Associates

Dempsey Naidoo left South Africa in 1976 under trying circumstances and won a United Nations scholarship to complete his engineering degree in the UK. On his return to South Africa in 1981, Dempsey worked for mining giant Anglo American where he was invited to join Anglo’s prestigious Executive Training Scheme.

It was during this time that Dempsey realised that he needed to make a contribution to black technical advancement.

With the help of his wife Jackie, and the support of businesspeople in Lenasia, Naidoo established a part-time community organisation. The role of the organisation was to comment on technical issues in black townships and to serve as a forum for black technical people to get together and share their dreams and aspirations. The business people supported the organisation by giving it engineering work in the area. This resulted in Dempsey leaving the security of a flourishing career at Anglo American to start PD Naidoo & Associates and all money generated by the company in those early days was reinvested in order to grow the business.

Today PD Naidoo & Associates, a consulting engineering firm, employs over 300 people, has 11 offices in South Africa and offices in Mozambique, Mauritius, Botswana and Angola.

Raymond Ackerman – Pick 'n Pay

“Building a successful business is 90% guts and 10% capital”. This is the firm belief of Raymond Ackerman, founder and Executive Chairman of what is today the most successful retail supermarket chain in South Africa, Pick ‘n Pay.

In 1967, Raymond left an established retailing firm in Cape Town and started a retail corporation with the purchase of four small shops. Under his leadership, Pick ‘n Pay grew rapidly and in the 1970s branched into the hypermarkets that offered South Africans one-stop shopping. Pick ‘n Pay is now one of South Africa’s pre-eminent FMCG retailers, consisting of over 450 stores including 121 supermarkets and 14 hypermarkets. Operations are in food, clothing, and general merchandise sectors as well as financial services. The company operates throughout South Africa, southern Africa and Australia.