25/03/2014
Keynote Address by Louisa Mojela, WIPHOLD Founder, CEO & Chairman on the Occasion of Wiphold’s 20th Anniversary Celebration,
21 March 2014, Sun City, South Africa
Your Majesties, King Letsie III and Queen Masenate
Your Excellencies, President Thabo Mbeki and Mrs Zanele Mbeki
Honorable Deputy Prime Minister Mothejoa Metsing and Mrs Metsing
Honorable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Please accept all protocol as being observed, and
Welcome all to WIPHOLDS 20th Anniversary Celebration.
In 1994, the people of South Africa spoke with one voice, electing to build a new and democratic country. The excitement of a better future pulsated through the nation and the world at large. One might say that in many ways South Africa became a Phoenix rising - a country reborn out of the ashes of a dark past. Full of hope and high spirits, the possibilities dreamed of and yet untested, were endless. There was no stopping the people's imagination, including the imagination of four women who would go on to form WIPHOLD.
This weekend is a deeply moving milestone for WIPHOLD as we gather to celebrate our company’s 20 year journey of empowering women through business. There is much to celebrate and we thank you for being here to share in our pride; to smile with us, to SHINE with us. Gloria, Nomhle, Wendy and I are proud that a dream we had 20 years ago has translated into the WIPHOLD of today.
But, what we are celebrating is not simply what the four of us started up in 1994. What we are celebrating is the realisation of a vision built on the dreams and support of thousands of women and men. It is to those women and men, some of whom are here tonight, that we pay tribute, and give thanks.
WIPHOLD is and can be everyone’s story. Beyond the company’s sterling financial success, we hope that the WIPHOLD story is one from which lessons can be drawn, lessons that could be applied in boardrooms and government offices, in urban suburbs and rural villages and not only at IMD University in Switzerland. For to shine, is to acknowledge communal kinship. As we shine, so must we pass it on, paving the way for those who follow. In the same vein we are mindful of those who have made our road a smoother one.
The creation of WIPHOLD is something that would have been difficult to achieve by ourselves and, had we undertaken this journey alone, it would have gone against the very ethos of what we were trying to do, an ethos that remains pertinent today and in the future. Although we were all excluded for most of our lives by the previous regime from business and economic participation beyond being merely providers of labour and consumers of goods and services, we were very much aware that as Africans we are raised in a culture of inclusive families with a clear sense of collective responsibilities. So it was very natural that our vision had at its very core a spirit of inclusivity and empowerment embedded in the DNA of WIPHOLD from the very beginning.
Our journey was set in motion long before the birth of WIPHOLD by heroic women who paved the way for us. We pay tribute to the women veterans of our liberation struggle – the women of the 1956 March to the Union Buildings. We wanted to be pioneers in the business world in the same way they had been in the political sphere. We thank them for their inspiration.
It was the efforts of women like these that helped show us that the strength of our vision was in the numbers. If we were going to succeed in a man’s world it was not going to work if we spurned our sisters. Rather, we needed to join hands. We needed a mass movement of women galvanised with the simple purpose of converting their purchasing power and consumerism into investment opportunities that could bring about financial independence in their lives; financial independence that could come from owning and investing in big companies and corporations that had hitherto been the preserve of an exclusive few - predominantly white males.
We knew as well that we were not going to get very far if we sat back and waited for something to be done for us; for a few good men to rock up and invite us to take part in the new economic transformation opportunities; or if we waited to be given some handout. We chose to seize the opportunity created by the enabling legislation put in place by government and shape it for our own benefit before it was shaped for us. And so it was, that by our own design we embarked on building a company that embraced the empowerment of women in a genuinely broad-based way. There were no empowerment codes to guide participation in business or in the broader economy, as there are now. As it happened WIPHOLD did not need any regulation to force us to be inclusive. For us inclusiveness was a business imperative for our existence and survival.
Of course, it would be remiss and inaccurate to claim that the creation of WIPHOLD was only a case of women doing it for themselves, by themselves. In the early days, even sometimes today penetrating the corporate boys club often seems impossible. As we started out, we were often dismissed as a group of inexperienced and naive young women who had little idea how the big boys played the business game. And so we are especially appreciative of the many men who supported us as equals and partnered us along the way. We pay tribute as well to Presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki for their extraordinary vision for South Africa, and their passionate advocacy of the essential role that women play in our country’s transformation; for the enabling environment that they put in place and then championed from the highest office in the land.
As with any journey in life, WIPHOLD has had its ups and downs. It has not by any measure all been plain-sailing. One of the things that has enabled us to robustly endure the storms is that from very early on we invested in skills. We couldn’t just ride on the coat-tails of BEE; we had to have seriously skilled people and we had to work hard for every cent we raised. Had we not taken this approach, we would not be where we are today; in fact, we may well have not survived at all. And along with that dedication to attracting and developing the very best people, and a resolute work ethic, we have also always insisted on absolute adherence to sound and ethical corporate governance and integrity.
We have never and will never tolerate corruption in any form; a lesson that I believe every single South African – no matter their station – needs to cling to and live by if we are ever to rid our country of this darkening cloud.
We are proud of the WIPHOLD business model, not just because it has been able to withstand turbulent times, but because we believe it offers proof of just how significantly business can impact socio-economic development if it truly wants to. We believe passionately in the role that business must play in transforming South Africa, and other emerging market economies on the African continent and beyond. But we don’t think that this can and should only be done through donations and Corporate Social Investment. If we in business are to truly transform the world around us then we have to do it through the very core of our businesses; the engine rooms that generate the billions. And we have to do it by getting out of our offices. That is the WIPHOLD WAY, and it is why Gloria, myself and our executive team spend so much time in the most rural parts of our country. It is why we spend as much time chasing and structuring investment deals in Sandton, Cape Town or Beijing, as we do engaging rural communities in Acornhoek, Centane and remote villages in Lesotho or conducting workshops in Zimbabwe or Ghana, and designing products and processes that facilitate economic inclusion. For as long as Gloria and I remain in the employ of WIPHOLD, and without ever abusing our status as founders, we will never be satisfied if all we’ve achieved is a successful investment company, one that has made us and a handful of others succeed. If that was all, we would not have done our job. As we succeed, we must do so in a way that takes thousands with us, that creates the thriving entrepreneurs, farmers, Chartered Accountants etc. of tomorrow. This is why we remain proud of our two Empowerment Trusts that have over 250 000 beneficiaries and have received dividend distributions in excess of R100million to date. This we believe is the WIPHOLD of the next 20 years.
Our business has grown and will continue to grow, but our founding vision and message will always remain the same. We have grown our interests across multiple sectors ranging from financial and advisory services, to mining and manufacturing, consumer goods and others. Looking ahead, we will continue to be long term investors and continue our drive to prosper in the sectors we are already active in. Financial Services, in partnership with Old Mutual, Nedbank and Mutual & Federal will remain a core focus; as will our partnership with Sasol Mining and our work with them to establish a women-owned and women-run coal mining operation through Ixia Coal. Work on the construction of our cement plant in Limpopo has started and our partnership with Jidong Cement Group of China and Conticem is central to our future business focus. We look forward to exploring opportunities with Jidong to expand cement operations into the rest of Africa and beyond as part of our WipInternational strategy. We will also continue to grow our portfolio of strategic investments, including high performing assets such as the Distell Group. And, we will continue to focus on investments such as ABB that have developmental impact on the country’s infrastructure.
As we move into the next 20 years, we will continue to drive positive initiatives that will help direct focused energy towards the participation of women in all sectors of society and the mainstream economy, championed by accountability, integrity, honesty, impeccable governance and a "can- do" attitude. This will remain the central challenge that WIPHOLD sets for itself; one that we invite our colleagues in business, fellow citizens, young and upcoming professionals and the youth to join us in addressing.
Our work as WIPHOLD, and as South Africans, is by no means done. There are several challenges to still address, and as we go into our conference tomorrow and when we leave Sun City, we need to be asking ourselves:
• What is each and every one of us doing to make South Africa a better place to live for all its citizens? Are we sitting back and waiting for things to be done for us? Or are we seizing the moment, realising our power and our responsibility and shaping the future together wherever we might sit – in business, in government, in rural towns or villages and in churches. What are we doing, for example, to address the crippling challenges of education? What are we doing to address the unacceptable reality that too many of our compatriots continue to go hungry? Are we doing our part to ensure that South Africa will be a place where our children and their children will thrive?
• And what are we doing to ensure that the dream of the economic empowerment of women is truly realised. Later this weekend, you will receive a commemorative book that documents WIPHOLD’s 20 year journey. We hope that it inspires you. In the foreword, President Thabo Mbeki poses a number of questions that we must seek to answer tomorrow and as we return home. These are:
o What progress have we made with regard to the emancipation and upliftment of women and what role have the women played in this regard?
o Have we succeeded to mainstream the strategic goal of gender equality in all spheres of our national life, defeating the attempt to consign it to a ‘ghetto’?
o What have we done to empower women to play their full role as important change agents in our country?
o Has such progress as we have made in the emancipation and upliftment of women also benefited the poor women in our urban and rural areas, and not just a thin upper layer of successful women?
o How are women proving themselves an indispensable and effective force to bring about the Renaissance of Africa?
WIPHOLD is joyously happy tonight. We are so very proud of our journey thus far and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for walking the road with us. We invite you to continue with us. Let us together, women and men, commit ourselves to spend the next 20 years making South Africa and our Continent a place that is more than even we can imagine. Let us set ourselves the challenge of being able to look back in 20 years’ time and say – ‘’South Africa, Africa we are SHINING!’’
As we celebrate WIPHOLD's adolescence, we are cognisant of and pay tribute to the many men and women who gave us a hand, held us up and on whose shoulders we have been raised to be here:
Like the women of 1956 who defiantly took on their oppressor in a March to the Union Buildings, some carrying children on their backs caring more about doing the right thing than for their own safety; Their spirit continues to shine!
Like the South African government in 1994 that saw it prudent to create an enabling environment for previously disenfranchised black South Africans to participate in the mainstream economy. Your vision shines through!
Like our fellow Africans on the continent who during the dark days of our national history, through their generosity of spirit and resources extended support and safety, often at their own peril for our cause. Their selflessness shines through!
Like the men and women who raised us whether at homes, in churches, in schools or in our communities. Their hopes and dreams for all of us shine!
Like husbands, children, grandchildren, families, friends, colleagues, shareholders and investment partners who stood by our vision during difficult times and circumstances. Your unwavering support and belief in us shines through!
May we all together move forward and light up our country and our Continent, from the South to the North, from the East to the West. South Africa we will Shine! Africa, we will shine!
God Bless Africa, Guard Her Children, Guide Her Leaders, And give Her Peace.
Thank you.
