Page 32 - 100 years of Anglo American

HOW Mining

magnate
Sipho
Nkosi
MR

COAL

WAS

BORN

When a young MBA graduate returned from the US 30 years ago, he was snapped
up by Anglo American – and so began his life in coal, writes Dewald van Rensburg

ipho Nkosi grew up around the Nkosi’s first job was actually at Ford Motors bosses, you knew you were interacting with
coal mines near Vryheid in SA and he was set on a career in the South Africa.”
KwaZulu-Natal. However, when he automotive sector. Instead, he got put straight But, culturally, Anglo American at the time
joined Anglo American’s coal back to school by James Campbell, then the was “so steeped in English tradition, as far as I
division as a junior manager in managing director of Anglo American Coal. was concerned”.
S1986, he knew nothing about the “He said I could not attend management “And hierarchy, respecting hierarchy, was
mineral that would dominate the next 30 meetings because I knew nothing about the very important – in the way you dressed, the
years of his life. coal business,” Nkosi said. “You come in with a dining areas you ate at, the people you
These days, Nkosi knows everything about MBA, which was rare at the time, and you interacted with. All those things were part of
coal. think you’re a somebody. Then people tell you the culture of Anglo American,” Nkosi said.
Last year, he stepped down after seven that, actually, you know nothing.” Two years later, in 1994, he returned to coal
years as founder-CEO of Exxaro, South Africa’s Nkosi recalls his training for his full first when he was recruited by what was then
major black-owned presence in the mining year: he shadowed geologists and metallurgists, Trans-Natal, part of the second major South
sector. The R30 billion company he helped then finance people – taking notes and African mining conglomerate at the time,
create has interests in mineral sands, zinc and reading. Only then did he go to the mines. Gencor. This would be merged with Randcoal
renewable energy. Above all else, it has coal. Campbell taught him another direct lesson. to create Ingwe, where Nkosi would be part of
“My journey at Anglo American was quite “One of my immediate bosses became ill and the international marketing team.
interesting. Coming in with that kind of lack I was doing his job. I was so chuffed when he “The culture there was more relaxed. It was
of knowledge – it was critical for me to learn came back. I went to him and said: ‘Look, sir, I an organisation where I could go without a
as much as possible,” he recalls. “I had no clue have been doing your job’. He said well done, tie. You could approach anyone ... it was an
about how coal worked. It was not an easy but James did not think that way. He called easy organisation.”
time.” me in and said: ‘If you continue with that kind The new era of empowerment deals and
In 1986, Anglo American recruited him when of attitude, you will remain a junior manager. corporate restructuring was in full swing and
he returned from the US with a brand new You were supposed to say, this is now my job. Anglo American led the way with gold spin-
MBA – a rarity in the country then, not least You were abdicating your responsibility by not offs in the 1990s. At the turn of the century,
for a black South African. taking charge.’ Anglo American and Gencor, which became
“Coal was something I never thought I “Campbell was a very direct human being.” Billiton, were putting together a deal.
would work in,” says Nkosi. “I think that Anglo Nkosi’s job lasted for five years, after which Nkosi had, meanwhile, moved on to ABB
American has always been a company that he became head of strategy at Southern Life. Alstom and was the managing director of
could read the signs of change in each and Like an astonishing array of South African power generation in South Africa.
every country. It understood that things were companies across all sectors at the time, the “That completed my training loop – all the
changing. insurer was part-owned by Anglo American. way from coal to power stations,” he says.
“If you fast forward, most managers in “It has always been a dominant force in “Anglo American and Billiton knew me well, as
South Africa post-1994 have been influenced South Africa. Because it could not grow did Eskom. It was a no-brainer for me to form
by the company; worked for it; had been beyond the borders of the country, it owned Eyesizwe,” he says.
supported by it; had a bursary from Anglo almost anything in South Africa,” he says. That company became the foundation of
American...” “When you were interacting with the big Exxaro. The rest, as they say, is history.
32 ANGLO AMERICAN 100 YEARS