First timer Tollo Nkosi of UMSO Construction lays down a challenge to WBHO’s Mike Wylie et al

LONDON — This will be the first time Tollo Nkosi participates in South Africa’s annual CEO SleepOut™, and he’s made sure it will be a memorable occasion having invited some high profile business associates. But he’d also like to see more of the construction industry’s big hitters coming along – including the industry leader Mike Wylie of WBHO. He explains why he’s going to be braving the elements on July 11th and what he expects to learn. – Alec Hogg

In this 2018 CEO SleepOut™ update we’re going to be talking with Tollo Nkosi, who is the CEO of Umso Construction. Good to have you on the line, Tollo. Just to perhaps set the scene a little, why are you participating in the SleepOut™this year?

Thanks for having me. It’s something that one has always wanted to do. Obviously, it would send the invitations a few and apart so, we haven’t had an invitation previously so, this is our first time we’re invited. Why we’re participating? We believe it’s the right thing to do, to connect with other CEOs and, most of all, it’s for a good cause.

You can’t really, in Madiba’s Centenary year, get a better cause than this could you?

Absolutely, and there’s many others that are happening outside the CEO SleepOut™ so, it seems this has become a movement on its own and South Africans have taken up the challenge in many other different ways.

Yes, find your inner Madiba, but Tollo, just from your perspective. What are you expecting to find? It’s the middle of winter. It’s very cold in Johannesburg. This is the way that the homeless people spend pretty much every night, but what are you hoping to pick up and learn?

For me, I think it’s an opportunity to step out of your comfortable shoes, or your comfort zone, and understand what the majority of South Africans and those who have no means around the world have to go through every day. While for us, it’s only for one day. Perhaps out of that we develop even a better understanding of how much a contribution we have to place into these initiatives, and not only once a year. Understandably, many companies and I’m assuming companies headed by the CEOs invited are involved in a variety of initiatives that relate to corporate social investment. But a majority of those are usually driven by other people within these organisations so, when CEOs themselves go out to do it themselves, it can only be a positive, even to those that drive their programs within the organisations.

Now, you’re a civil engineer. You were previously with Group Five. How long has Umso been around for?

Umso has been around for 22 years and 17 of that I’ve been with Umso. I started as a young manager and later became an ops director to COO and eventually, CEO.

Your teams, when they’re out in remote locations building SA and investing in construction presumably they won’t have to sleep out under the stars, as you’re going to be on the 11th July?

No, they don’t but I think the one thing that becomes clearer when we’re working out there, especially in remote rural areas is the contrast of what the circumstances are and the conditions out there in the rural, underdeveloped communities compared to what most of our staff would be accustomed to. As they would come from urban centres, they would come from cities, some of them so, it’s always an eye opener to observe the clear contrast between what people from these communities have to put up with.

That’s perhaps a sign of leadership, in particularly in the SA context. We know that the great political leaders of the past, Nelson Mandela who everyone is celebrating rightly so, this year, always thought about the rural areas. They always thought about the poor. Talking to Dr Mandela, Madiba’s eldest daughter, she said that he always gave away 1/3rd of his income to poor people so that they could benefit. Perhaps, just by being exposed does give one a different approach to the future?

Absolutely, it’s a life changing experience and you can only be stubborn not to be swapped over, and I’ll give you an example. As we operate in a majority of these rural communities, we build bridges and so forth, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing the children cross on a bridge for the first time. A bridge that their ancestors never thought would ever exist. It’s always such a reward. I remember one specific bridge that we opened back in 2009, where there was a 92-year-old man who said, ‘he’s 92, and they’ve dreamt of that bridge since he was about 4 years old.’ So, we have huge material that we have collected over the years of these projects and what they mean to the beneficiaries and I can tell you, SA has great capabilities of building world class infrastructure in urban centres, Johannesburg, CT, and elsewhere but for me, the most rewarding feeling is always when you hand over that project to communities that have nothing and they haven’t had anything before comparable.

Transforming lives?

Absolutely.

It’s something that we forget about. I remember a dear friend of mine, who’s passed, used to farm in the Karoo in Trompsburg and he said, ‘in Johannesburg a tin is garbage. Here, it’s a cup.’

Absolutely, it changes your mindset around a lot of things that we would ordinarily take for granted. When you realise the vast amount of trekking by food that we do for leisure or for sport when we go out on weekends and hiking. Then you realise this is what these rural communities do for a living, to get to a shop, to get to a school, to get to medical supplies. It’s a trek on its own and it’s an everyday trek.

Building of empathy and understanding for others in the country. But just as far as your company is concerned, Tollo, when you think of Nelson Mandela and his leadership qualities and what you’re going to be participating in on the 11th July. How do you or is there a way that you could instil that into your own business?

Well, certainly, and I think firstly, for a 42, going on 43 year old guy it would rather be, let’s say it’s an experience that you would have come across through a narration of stories. books – Nelson Mandela is an icon that has been spoken about across the globe. To claim a personal experience is maybe a little far-fetched but you cannot ignore the impact that his life has had on SA as a whole. I’ve got twins that are 8 years old they already know so much about Nelson Mandela that it cannot be ignored that beyond his days as a struggle icon or leader. The life that he’s led continues to inspire so many South Africans and these sorts of initiatives. For me, it’s really following through the steps of these icons that are so spoken about that it would be hard to ignore what they stood for. Even if one was still in the early days of their career development, during his leadership as a president.

It is so interesting that you mention this that as South Africans we do have Madiba as an icon, but it’s not just for us. He really represents something that the whole world is looking for and many people around the world try to study him and to replicate his life or his beliefs.

Absolutely, it’s always interesting when you engage with your friends that are abroad and typically American friends, and you look at how much attention they have paid to our history. Things that you would have assumed are an SA story, but the detail in which they relate to, the sacrifices he’s made, and many other leaders that were with him during those days. It’s an amazing story.

It really is. So, have you decided who you’re taking along with to the SleepOut™?

Yes, I have. I’m taking three gentlemen. The first guy is Max Boqwana, who is an attorney by profession. He works closely with President Thabo Mbeki’s foundation. In fact, he’s the CEO of the foundation. Over the years we have engaged in similar programs of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation so, it was only sensible that we say, look, if you are a true South African your efforts will not only be channelled at the Thabo Mbeki Foundation so, we would like you to come out of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation and join the CEO Sleepout so that’s the first guy. The second guy is a guy named Richard Ndlela. He’s a close friend who’s always been in the media space, even though he sort of pulled out of it a bit. He runs his own business and him being a person that is passionate about community development, and you see this in everyday activities that he does. He’s a person who relates to every others, a security guard, a sweeper, and to a CEO, and I felt its befitting that I invite him. A third gentleman, Qinisani Mbatha who is the CEO of a company that’s involved in quantity surveying. These are cost management consultants and he’s a close friend so, this is my team.

That’s a very powerful team and I’m sure you’re going to get to know each other a lot better after this.

Absolutely, under the stars.

Under the cold stars. Well we’ll see the stars that night that’s for sure because they do shine brightly when it’s cold. Who are you challenging? Is there anyone in your industry that you would like to challenge to come along and also support?

I thought about it and I would have loved to invite our competitors, once again, to demonstrate that while we may compete in the industry, we are able to share common cause but unfortunately the industry is handled with turmoil, as you would know. Construction companies are underperforming terribly at the moment so, I wasn’t going to risk an invitation that could be cancelled at the last minute so, I went for the safe route.

Well, something might still come to mind in the next few weeks, as we build up to the 11th. Clearly, you’ve already thought about it and you’ve thought about what it’s likely to mean to you. Given that the funds are going to Liliesleaf, this iconic part of SA’s heritage. Has that also encouraged you to participate this year?

Maybe not so much Liliesleaf in that Liliesleaf on its own is iconic and I believe Liliesleaf has been developed to a point that anything more than what it is, is really an overkill. Except additions here and there. I’m not sure what else they would be looking at doing to expand the usability of the facility but for me, it’s really what the initiative stands for and I understand they support may other initiatives themselves, out of these sponsorships so, that’s really where the crux of it is for me, in that understandably they support many other initiatives around Johannesburg that would benefit hugely out of the CEO SleepOut™.

Well look forward to seeing Tollo Nkosi and his very strong team as he’s discussed with us, and who knows, in the next few weeks he might find someone to challenge in the construction industry. I’ve got a name that I’m going to be putting forward, Mike Wylie from Wilson Bayley, and hopefully he can come along with us, Tollo.

Please, feel free to invite him and tell him I’d be happy to spend time with him.

Good, well, Tollo Nkosi, there we’ve got a challenge. I’ll be dropping Mr Wylie a note later today. This is an update on the CEO SleepOut™. Remember, it’s happening on the 11th July 2018, at Liliesleaf.