The Phenomenal and astute business leader: Dr Reuel Khoza.
On a grey Saturday morning, myself and a friend drove to the northern suburbs of Joburg to attend the Black Management Forum Gauteng Youth Professional Seminar. As we drove into the plush Woodmead Office park, I started to wonder what type of other young professional we would be able to interact with on the day and I remembered I had not done any research on the keynote speak. Oh dear, I thought to myself, will I be able to relate to what he has to say? I then sarcastically thought, well if heâs as good as everyone had made him out to be, heâd be able to sell him to me instantly I smiled.
As the program co-coordinator introduced him, title after title and achievement after achievement, one accolade after the other I then realized what a great man this was and he was about to speak right in front of me. I sat up and started to pay attention attentively.
Heâs first statement he made was about how we should talk about Afrocentricity and redefine the world in our own terms, his talk would mainly focus on the history of the BMF throughout the years. âBMF was established in 1977 as a response to the philosophy of Black consciousnessâ, said Dr Khoza, I then replayed memories of my history classes in school and what I had learned about Black Consciousness. The man was talking about my favorite topics, issues I felt we donât discuss a lot because of our countries history and that others are not comfortable with discussing racial matters.
A well-spoken and very articulate Dr Khoza touched on various topics, keeping me intrigued in the process. âYou must command respect not demand.â uttered Dr Khoza Often leaders demand respect from us and I think very few actually know that thereâs a difference between respect and fear and that the two are confused at times. Â
The current status of our economy is not friendly to the previously disadvantage aspirant young entrepreneur and some seem to think going out and protesting and looting property will yield results for them. âBe a youth that thinks and makes change and not one that Toyi-toyis.â Dr Khoza reminded us. Your work ethic will also elevate you, waiting for opportunities to come to you is an ancient practice, âwork hard, work smart and most importantly work long because you have a lot to catch up since we gained democracy only 20 years ago.â Dr Khoza by looking at him, his achievements and all the long years of service he has given, I released indeed working, hard smart and long does pay off.
âA Token manager never questions the rightness of whiteness.â In an economy where  9% of our population has control it, how do you become assertive and command respect and still get ahead if you donât have much to control? That is a question as a young person we need to ponder deeply and take action make sure the countryâs wealth is shared evenly for children and grandkids. My role as a young person in a modern South Africa is to make solutions to these questions which aggravate my thoughts most of the time.
At this moment Iâm still focused and attentively listening to this great leader in South Africa business. Â He mentions that, âBe an African leader with global competiveness.â I want to conquer Soweto, Abuja and Tokyo but still remain an African is what I imagined this meant. âYou must be indigenous, embrace your skin pigmentation and have a solid brain.â Dry Khoza added. Do I have a capacity to become all of that? Of course I do, we all do and whoever says I cannot then my work will speak in my defense.
How many times have you seen how snow white most corporate boardrooms are? âBe racially conscious, and racially assertive, let them call you racist if they will.â Dry Khoza spoke, those words resonate with me and many young people, we are often told not to use our skin color as an âexcuseâ. Forgetting that we need to as a society realize that our Equity laws are not effective enough and past imbalances need to be address.
âA 21st century leader must be able to deal with complexities, Political Economics, have moral compass and integrity.â - Dr Reuel Khoza response to a question which was posed at him when asked what type of leader he wants to lead our country. He is bold and assertive in his statements I admire that about that him. In closing he told us how we should not be packaged goods, manufactured at Wits, branded Bcom, we need to read, write and get our work critiqued because our learning should not end at school.
It was Q&A time I asked Dr Khoza what was his take on mentorship, how important it. His response âChoose different mentors who can add different dimensions to you; however you must always remain the core.â
Well there it came to an end; this good orator kept us eating from the palm of his hand none of us even kept track of time. A great session one I wished I could attended in my early 20âs because I would have done a lot of things differently, Thank you Dr khoza.
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
snowghoul
baratheonpilled
