🔒 WORLDVIEW: How to make a billion or so in five years. Ask BrightRock.

By Alec Hogg

In the world of business, authentic talent is rare. But sometimes life introduces you to someone exceptional, a person so out of the ordinary you intuitively know they’re headed for bigger things. When that happens, it’s a good idea to stay close.

I had that feeling when meeting Santie Botha who arrived at Absa from Unilever just as I was preparing my exit. We only worked together a few months before that opportunity called the Internet pulled me away. You never leave a happy home without regrets. Not learning more from this former tennis pro was one of mine.
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For her part, Santie certainly lived up to my high expectations. She rejuvenated Absa’s marketing efforts and then shone even brighter as one of the top team at MTN. Today, barely into her 50s, she is an elder stateswoman of South African business, chairing the super-successful JSE-listed education company Curro; chancellor of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University; and serving on the boards of major industrial groups Tiger Brands and Imperial Holdings.

In my experience, her closest peer is Suzanne Stevens, one of the smartest marketers and creative managers I’ve come across. And a supermom to boot. We met a decade back when Suzanne was Discovery’s marketing chief and the prime mover being her company’s headline sponsorship of my old national radio show.

Five years ago, she and three colleagues left Adrian Gore’s highly rated multinational to start a competitor they called BrightRock. I thought she’d lost her mind. Discovery’s shared value model was starting to explode globally and Suzanne seemed positioned for the ride of her life.

But after a few cups of tea I finally ”got” why BrightRock’s four musketeers believed they had a winner. Yesterday their disruptive life assurance model received the ultimate stamp of approval when competitor Sanlam paid R707m for 53% of the young company. Put differently, in just five years Suzanne and her now 350 colleagues have created a company worth R1.4bn. Some kind of record?

My interview with BrightRock’s CEO Schalk Malan is on Biznews and contains a few gems for those wanting to follow BrightRock’s path. It also provides a useful reminder of those two golden rules for creating wealth in your own business.

First you need a dream involving a higher purpose. No successful business has been built without a foundation that it will change the world. Vision and Mission statements are all very well. But unless there’s a simple ambition everyone in the team can buy into, you’re likely headed for mediocrity.

And secondly, it’s all about the right mix of people. BrightRock’s founding foursome share the same values but have diverse characters and bring specialist knowledge to critical parts of the business. Suzanne told me they’ve all aged in the last five years. Perhaps. But imagine how much older they’d feel today if they hadn’t followed their dream.