By Alec Hogg
Ahead of last night’s cabinet reshuffle, I found myself reflecting on the challenges facing Cyril Ramaphosa’s newly installed lieutenants. Tough as they might be, they pale next to the task awaiting 51 year old Kevin Sneader who on Sunday was elected global chairman of McKinsey.
Sneader has inherited a huge South African problem, courtesy of McKinsey’s facilitation of Gupta-inspired corruption at Eskom and Transnet. Indeed, London’s Financial Times yesterday opined that restoring the firm’s reputation leads the new boss’s priorities.
With Ramaphosa’s new team now installed, the pressure on McKinsey is sure to grow. And it will be intense. Among my memorable moments in Davos was witnessing one of Ramaphosa’s confidants flaying McKinsey’s SA chief. Judging by that encounter, Sneader can expect no quarter.
