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Wakeford steers local expansion
Posted on: Monday, 23 January 2006. Article source: Daily Dispatch
Businessman Kevin Wakeford is an advocate of economic development. The two are inseparable.
The former chief executive officer (CEO) of the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob), who triggered a commission of inquiry into alleged manipulation of the rand, has returned to his birth province and is a man on a mission.
As the new head of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) with net assets of almost R1bn, Wakeford is involved in a bureaucratic battle to turn the troubled organisation around. He resigned at the end of September, but was persuaded to stay on by Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela.
He has been charged with "stabilising the troubled agency and restoring investor confidence".
The ECDC plays host to investors who are attracted to the province's multibillion-rand lucrative projects: the Coega Industrial Development Zone and the East London Industrial Development Zone.
"We have already managed to put the Eastern Cape on the radar screens of international investors," he says. He has started with his turnaround strategy at the ECDC by commissioning a human-resource audit. He is restructuring to get the skills they need, and has instituted a new board. "A potential retrenchment process in the organisation will be finalised by mid-February. There is a possibility of cutting 31 out of 180 jobs."
Structural changes include replacing the Business Finance Unit with the Enterprise Finance Unit to better reflect developmental intent, and dissolving the Trade Promotion Unit into the Export Promotion Programme of the Enterprise Promotion Unit.
Management will be benchmarked against industry leaders and held to the highest standards.
A new corporate image is planned which will see the ECDC rebranded as an "Enterprise Development Corporation" to increase the scale of its services and allow more rural community participation.
But Wakeford doesn't see himself in his current post for too long. "I feel strongly that I've done my part and it is time to pass the baton to another person. A black candidate should lead this organisation; someone who grew up in one of these communities who could be seen as a role model by young and upcoming managers from the same communities."
Wakeford was born in Port Elizabeth (PE) in 1962. He matriculated from Muir College, and later graduated from the University of PE with a BA (Hons) cum laude.
He had a two-year stint with the Consultative Business Movement, engaging liberation movements on economic issues. "This is where I cut my teeth in business."
In 1996, as CEO of the PE Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Wakeford helped to raise R1,2m to assist marketing the Coega concept.
Three years later, he left the windy city for the city of gold to head Sacob, the voice of the country's business.
At Sacob he took the unity debate close to its conclusion. He put the transformation agenda on the radar screens of all represented organisations and successfully emphasised the notion that "without embracing nonracialism, business would not prosper".
He resigned from Sacob in October 2002 due to conflict within the organisation, fuelled by his stance on the rand and on business unity.
He sits on the boards of the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), East London IDZ, Magwa Tea Corporation, Simmers & Jack, and The Mine Employees' Pension Fund.
When he is not tied up in business trips, he spends time with wife, Glenda, and Jessica and Bayla, his two daughters, at their East London home. He loves visiting historical sites, and his favourite pastime is walking on the beach with his two dogs. He loves reading newspapers and listens to a bit of classical music, Eric Clapton and Neil Young.
Wakeford is a gold investor. He doesn't own businesses, but says: "I am financially okay." He is looking to venture into forestry farming in the Eastern Cape in future.
He says Eastern Cape's road to success should start with a change of attitude. "People of the Eastern Cape have got to escape the syndrome of talking themselves down."
The former chief executive officer (CEO) of the South African Chamber of Business (Sacob), who triggered a commission of inquiry into alleged manipulation of the rand, has returned to his birth province and is a man on a mission.
As the new head of the Eastern Cape Development Corporation (ECDC) with net assets of almost R1bn, Wakeford is involved in a bureaucratic battle to turn the troubled organisation around. He resigned at the end of September, but was persuaded to stay on by Eastern Cape Premier Nosimo Balindlela.
He has been charged with "stabilising the troubled agency and restoring investor confidence".
The ECDC plays host to investors who are attracted to the province's multibillion-rand lucrative projects: the Coega Industrial Development Zone and the East London Industrial Development Zone.
"We have already managed to put the Eastern Cape on the radar screens of international investors," he says. He has started with his turnaround strategy at the ECDC by commissioning a human-resource audit. He is restructuring to get the skills they need, and has instituted a new board. "A potential retrenchment process in the organisation will be finalised by mid-February. There is a possibility of cutting 31 out of 180 jobs."
Structural changes include replacing the Business Finance Unit with the Enterprise Finance Unit to better reflect developmental intent, and dissolving the Trade Promotion Unit into the Export Promotion Programme of the Enterprise Promotion Unit.
Management will be benchmarked against industry leaders and held to the highest standards.
A new corporate image is planned which will see the ECDC rebranded as an "Enterprise Development Corporation" to increase the scale of its services and allow more rural community participation.
But Wakeford doesn't see himself in his current post for too long. "I feel strongly that I've done my part and it is time to pass the baton to another person. A black candidate should lead this organisation; someone who grew up in one of these communities who could be seen as a role model by young and upcoming managers from the same communities."
Wakeford was born in Port Elizabeth (PE) in 1962. He matriculated from Muir College, and later graduated from the University of PE with a BA (Hons) cum laude.
He had a two-year stint with the Consultative Business Movement, engaging liberation movements on economic issues. "This is where I cut my teeth in business."
In 1996, as CEO of the PE Regional Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Wakeford helped to raise R1,2m to assist marketing the Coega concept.
Three years later, he left the windy city for the city of gold to head Sacob, the voice of the country's business.
At Sacob he took the unity debate close to its conclusion. He put the transformation agenda on the radar screens of all represented organisations and successfully emphasised the notion that "without embracing nonracialism, business would not prosper".
He resigned from Sacob in October 2002 due to conflict within the organisation, fuelled by his stance on the rand and on business unity.
He sits on the boards of the Coega Industrial Development Zone (IDZ), East London IDZ, Magwa Tea Corporation, Simmers & Jack, and The Mine Employees' Pension Fund.
When he is not tied up in business trips, he spends time with wife, Glenda, and Jessica and Bayla, his two daughters, at their East London home. He loves visiting historical sites, and his favourite pastime is walking on the beach with his two dogs. He loves reading newspapers and listens to a bit of classical music, Eric Clapton and Neil Young.
Wakeford is a gold investor. He doesn't own businesses, but says: "I am financially okay." He is looking to venture into forestry farming in the Eastern Cape in future.
He says Eastern Cape's road to success should start with a change of attitude. "People of the Eastern Cape have got to escape the syndrome of talking themselves down."
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