The rise and rise of Markus Jooste – well passed worrying about Kimberley’s racetrack

For me, listening to Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste’s results conference call yesterday was surreal. It feels like just the other day we were in the Racing Association boardroom scratching our heads about how to save the tiny Kimberley racecourse. Now here he was every inch the global business leader fielding questions from Wall Street’s finest.

Today Steinhoff is a R300bn multinational with thousands of stores all around the world. And it’s ready for another surge. The most interesting part of yesterday’s call was when Jooste went off script to share his belief that the recent acquisition of US-based Mattress Firm will be the group’s fourth game changer – a leap to match Afcol in the 1990s; Conforama in 2010 and the Pep deal in 2014.

Very few South African businesses have been successful in America. But Jooste’s decentralised, supportive approach gives him a better than average change of success. If he is only half right about Mattress Firm, today’s shareholders are in for a treat. Including us, as Steinhoff is a key holding in the Biznews SA Champions portfolio.

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