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Unblocking transformation

Johannesburg - President of the Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals (Absip) Sibongiseni Mbatha has become an important voice in the calls for transformation in the country’s financial services sector.

City Press met the jovial executive in Sandton to pick his brain. Born and bred in Mtubatuba, northern KwaZulu-Natal, Mbatha was the youngest of five siblings. His mother was a school principal and his father worked for a sugar milling company.

Like other village boys in the area, he completed the first step of his education at the local Siyathuthuka Primary School before going to high school and matriculating at Ikusasalethu High School. He then headed to the big city lights of Durban with a bursary for a teaching degree at the now defunct University of Durban-Westville. In his second year, however, he switched to a commerce degree.

The decision did not go down well with his mother because his father had just died and it meant the family would have to pay for the course themselves.

After graduating, he got a job at Standard Bank and had the privilege of deciding where he wanted to be based in the company’s career development programme.

“I could have chosen any place in the province, but I said I wanted to be based back home. There was no position for me in Mtubatuba and the closest was at their Empangeni branch.”

He was rotated through various divisions of the bank, an experience he said was extremely valuable. Eventually, he found his niche in business banking.

After two years, he moved to Pretoria to be small enterprise manager for the bank. Leaving a branch in a small town in KwaZulu-Natal for the big city was a culture shock for him.

After three years, he was recruited by Absa, where he spent a year. His duties included helping small and medium-sized enterprises get funding.

With the experience he got working with businesspeople, Mbatha decided to try his hand at running his own consulting company. This involved helping enterprises find funding and draw up business models and plans.

“I went solo in management consulting and ran that business for almost four years with a small staff complement.

“I did that until I was recruited by the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) as senior business support manager. I took the job because it was exactly in my field and passion,” he said.

Although he enjoys his job at the IDC, he does not rule out the possibility of one day returning to the corporate world.

“As much as I want to serve the country through the IDC, I think I can also be of service in another capacity, like I do at Absip,” he said.

Besides financial services, Mbatha’s other passion is livestock farming.

His face lights up when he talks about retiring to a farm when he calls time on his corporate career.

“If I were to do something else outside financial services, it would definitely be livestock farming.”

He already owns livestock at home in KwaZulu-Natal and it’s something that is close to his heart.

It is a business model whose value chain he understands well.

“For self-actualisation, I think an African man must have livestock. That in itself gives me satisfaction.”

Mbatha said Absip faces several problems. Top of the list is transformation.

“Currently, the face of the sector does not resemble the demographics of the country. You have to change it in terms of ownership patterns, demographics, and allocating opportunities in the sector. That defines change. We must recognise that some strides have been made demographically, but are they in key decision-making positions? Our diagnosis is that they are not.”

Besides pushing for change at executive and board levels, he said middle management transformation was overlooked. This is where executives are prepared and skilled for succession.

“If you are wrongly indoctrinated at middle management level, you are going to be a problem at executive level.”

Absip currently has 12 student chapter branches to help groom young people in the sector. The problem remains a lack of opportunities when they graduate.

“We have more graduates than opportunities and that’s why entrepreneurship becomes important.”

Young people needed to be helped and given opportunities to start businesses.

One obstacle to reducing the inequalities between black and white, rich and poor, is not regulations, but rather mind-sets, especially at board level.

Mbatha said boards need to become aware of the importance of ensuring they reflect the country’s demographics.

“You don’t want to be forced to transform. When you don’t transform, you are doing the opposite. You are perpetuating the status quo.”

Mbatha said the organisation has already made inputs to the Financial Services Charter. Government now has to ratify it.

Progress on the draft charter was halted following hearings at Parliament’s finance committee earlier this year, which revealed the unimpressive transformation in that sector.

“What we are saying is sign off the charter as is, but then immediately start a review process to take into account the discussions and findings by Parliament.”

While the road looks to be a long one, Mbatha is determined to be part of it every step of the way.

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