Watch: Doing business in Africa is a marathon, not a sprint – SA’s richest man

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Watch: Doing business in Africa is a marathon, not a sprint – SA’s richest man

12:12 CAT | 26 Aug 2016

Businesses operating in Africa “have to get in tune with the rhythm” and “understand that it is a marathon and not a sprint”, SA billionaire Christo Wiese said this week.

Wiese, the chairperson of Steinhoff, told Bloomberg in an interview at his Cape Town office on Wednesday that his firms had no anti South African or African bias.

“We as a group are very committed to South Africa, we are Afro optimists,” he said. “We believe this country and – in fact – the continent both have a great future. “

“But it is Africa,” he said. “You have to get in tune with the rhythm and you have to understand that it is a marathon and not a sprint.”

In a wide-ranging interview Wiese said Brexit was a mistake and said Eskom and SAA would be better run if they were partially sold to private investors, helping to solve economic challenges.

Selling part of Eskom will increase “capacity, it would hopefully strengthen corporate governance,” Wiese said. “Another enormous albatross around our neck is South African Airways (SAA). The solution is fairly simple.”

Turning to Steinhoff [JSE:SHF], Wiese said it isn’t done with deals and has the potential to double its market value over the next five years.

“It’s in Steinhoff’s DNA,” Wiese said. “That’s what you’re seeing: it’s just more of the same.”

The chairperson and largest shareholder of the acquisition-hungry South African retailer said the company looks for targets with strong management teams, good cash generation and the potential for growth, as well as “sheer size.”

“You want to be a number one, two or three player in the sectors that you identify,” he said. “That requires scale.”