Bongani Nqwababa
Mr. Bongani Nqwababa, BAcc (Honours), FCA, MBA is a South African with over 30 years global experience in the energy, mining and petrochemical sectors, Mr. Nqwababa holds an Honours degree in Accounting from the University of Zimbabwe and qualified as a chartered accountant in Zimbabwe in 1991, after training with Price Waterhouse Coopers. He also obtained a Master’s Degree in Business Administration with Merit jointly awarded by the Universities of Manchester and Wales, Bangor in 1999. He was Joint-Chief Executive Officer and Joint-President at Sasol Ltd and Chief Financial Officer and Executive Director of Shell Southern Africa, Eskom Limited, Anglo American Platinum and Sasol Limited. He is the founder of BN Africa Capital (Pty) Ltd which has a focus on investments in his areas of expertise in Africa.
He was a Commissioner on the World Bank paper on “Carbon Pricing and Competitiveness” presented to the UN in September 2019. He was also previously Chairman of the South African Revenue Services (SARS) Audit Committee (2007-2014) and Non-Executive Director of Old Mutual plc (2008-2014).
He is currently Chairman of Babcock Engineering in South Africa, Senior Advisor of leading global consulting firm BCG and Non-Executive Director of DBSA (Development Bank of South Africa) a Development Finance Institute (DFI), Harmony Gold Mining Limited, African Rainbow Minerals Limited and Discovery Bank. He was the Infrastructure lead for Business South Africa’s COVID-19 economic recovery response. This entailed minimizing negative impacts of electricity, liquid fuels, telecommunications, water and sanitation during the pandemic and formulating South Africa’s Economic recovery plan in these sectors. He currently Chairs South Africa’s Infrastructure Fund Strategic Advisory Committee(IFSAC).
Media & Articles
It may be a function of the positions that he has held, the companies he has chosen to work for, or simply the law of attraction selecting the right man for the job – but Bongani Nqwababa has a somewhat heroic reputation as Mr. Crisis Management.
In the course of his illustrious career, Nqwababa has variously navigated national and multinational corporations through month’s long strikes, depleting workforces, customer supply issues, plummeting product prices and skyrocketing resource prices.
In this in-depth interview of his career, the refreshingly unassuming Nqwababa frankly shares the tough lessons that he’s learnt, both globally and locally, throughout his career.
He discusses his early days in as corporate accountant for the world’s largest single site steel company at the time Columbus Stainless, his time as Finance Director at Eskom when the warnings of power outages were beginning to emerge (and being ignored), his experiences at Anglo Platinum during two years of strikes and breakthrough strategy of moving from a volume to a value strategy, and how his learnings have impacted his decisions.
Key Achievements
“Organizations that successfully transform their cultures do not view culture, strategy, and leadership as separate,” says Nqwababa. “Together, these components drive high-performance culture and create superior value for all stakeholders CFO
He completed the negotiation of the BEE (Black Economic Empowerment) deal with Thebe Investment Company. Restructured governance processes to accommodate minority shareholders. Consolidated Shell Finance Function in Southern Africa (i.e. South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Lesotho, and Mozambique). Delivered R300m in cost savings, largely on product logistics management.
The changed contract from volume to efficiency focus. Part of the team consolidating Shell Downstream operations in Africa. Went on assignment in Europe for 6 months, prior to assuming the CFO role.
Angloplat and Sasol CFO
At Shell – The fuel delivery contract cost driver changed from volume to efficiency to ensure deliveries were on time when needed.
At Anglo American Platinum strategy to focus on safer, bigger resource bases, and value rather than volume has resulted in the market capitalization of the company more than doubled within 10 years.
JCEO
Safety performance significantly improved in all measures. Kept costs flat in real terms for 5 years. Improved gender and race diversity at senior levels (VP and above by 15%). Operations delivery against plan over 92%. Delivered value-driven strategy at capital markets day in 2017. Climate change strategy and short-term targets delivered in 2019. Commenced culture transformation in 2017 to move from “command and control” to “collaborative and respect” in delivering results. Leadership style also changed from disempowering to empowering.
Why the Tree?
Roots are the foundation and absorb water and nutrients, the trunk is the spine holding it all together, branches signify enduring relationships and partnerships, leaves absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen for a healthier sustainable life and fruit is the ultimate reward of shared prosperity.
