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Wits' freshman
 
David Furlonger Financial Mail Friday, January 29, 2010
 
The way he tells it, Bheki Sibiya wasn't sure he wanted to head Wits Business School (WBS) until after he was offered the job. Now he's got it, he hasn't decided what to do with it.

Sibiya, who succeeds Mthuli Ncube - now dean of the Wits University faculty under which WBS falls - had no intention of applying for the director's post when it became vacant. "Someone asked if I'd heard about the job. I said no' and thought no more about it. I have no PhD or similar academic qualifications."

Then came a formal approach. "They said the search was for someone with leadership qualities. They had looked at my private-sector history and I was appropriate. They said: Give us your CV even if you're not convinced.' So I came for the interview. Next thing I knew, I was offered the job. That's when I started thinking seriously about it."

A number of things persuaded him. One was the importance of education in empowering people. There was the prospect of a new challenge. And there was the size of it. "The job is big enough to be challenging and small enough to be manageable."

He arrived with no preconceived vision. "My ideas are still fairly undeveloped. When, as captain, you board a ship that is already in motion, you don't change course for the sake of it. I will continue in the current direction and adjust our course as ideas develop."

WBS will welcome continuity. When Ncube took over in 2006, he was the sixth person to occupy the director's office in three years. A succession of full-time and acting appointees passed through as the school endured a period of internal strife. Ncube restored stability, reversed the outflow of teaching talent, and strengthened relationships with business.

He had expected to stay longer, and will continue to play a mentoring role. But Sibiya, who has a five-year contract, will be his own man once he has learnt the ropes. "If I leave no legacy, no positive mark associated with me after five years, my tenure will have been a waste."

Sibiya (52) has held senior management positions at SA Breweries, Tongaat Hulett and Transnet, among others, is a past president of the Black Managers Forum, and founding CEO of Business Unity SA. At the time of his WBS appointment, he was chairman of the PPC Cement group and of Brait SA, and director of various companies.

He says he has resigned some directorships and will not extend his Brait chairmanship after his current term expires in March. But he will remain PPC chairman for at least two more years. "For me to resign would be disruptive to PPC." But can he give focus to WBS when he also has corporate responsibilities? "The centrepiece for me will be WBS. But a business school should not be an ivory tower where academics engage in theoretical activities. They must also engage with business."

And potential conflict of interest? "My role at PPC is not a secret. If there is engagement between it and WBS, I can declare an interest and recuse myself."

Sibiya holds a BAdmin degree from the University of Zululand and an MBA from Western Michigan University in the US. His new position carries the courtesy title of professor. He will not teach but concentrate on building bridges with business, increasing demand for WBS programmes, and encouraging endowments and donations from alumni and business leaders.

Specifically, he thinks it is time some new millionaire/billionaire black South Africans put something back into education. He uses the example of Connie Nkosi, the first black woman to earn an MBA in SA, who now sponsors five women at WBS each year.

Sibiya's non academic role mirrors that at many US schools, where deans are appointed for their management and money-raising skills. "I see my role as that of a CEO, to provide leadership and support and create an environment for the school to flourish."

 
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