By accepting the position of chief executive of the South African Post Office, Chris Hlekane has taken on a demanding task.
The Post Office has been dogged by strikes, allegations of fraud and golden handshakes and Hlekane couldn't have picked a less opportune moment to become its head.
As the former general manager of the Airports Company of South Africa, Hlekane has built a reputation for turning business units around. He is largely credited with upgrading South Africa's airports and winning a 20-year concession, worth R70bn, to operate Brazil's Guarulhos International Airport in partnership with Brazilian infrastructure group Invepar.
Born in Khuruleni, a small town in Limpopo, and the eldest of five siblings, Hlekane matriculated from Kheto Nxumalo High School and planned to become a doctor.
"In my village there was poor career guidance. If you weren't going to be a teacher, you became a doctor. Hence after matric I went to Fort Hare University to do my pre-med studies," he says.
But after he failed his first year, it dawned on him that medicine was not his calling.
"That's when I decided to come back to Limpopo to repeat my first year at the University of Venda, only this time determining not to become a doctor but to complete my BSc," he says.
He completed his under-graduate degree in 1987, specialising in chemistry and botany, and a year later his honours at Rhodes University.
Following his graduation he worked for Petrocol, a division of Murray & Roberts, after receiving a scholarship.
He quickly rose up the ranks to become group quality manager, but after two years he saw an opportunity to join Colgate Palmolive. "At Petrocol I feared becoming a specialist in one area - my intention was always to broaden my understanding of the many units of a business," he says.
It's this desire to learn all areas of a business's operation that has led him to work for a number of multinationals, including Coca-Cola and L'Oréal.
As chief executive of the Post Office, Hlekane says his biggest challenge will be to leverage from the organisation's infrastructure and reposition as a sustainable and service-orientated organisation.
Source: Financial Mail via I-Net Bridge
