Johannesburg, 12 Aug 2011
Telkom's new CFO, Jacques Schindehutte, who has been with the company for two weeks, says he has a “good idea” of what challenges the company faces.
The fixed-line operator announced Schindehutte's appointment in June. He took over from acting CFO Deon Fredericks, who replaced Peter Nelson, after his surprise departure last August.
Nelson's resignation came shortly after the company announced CEO Reuben September would leave with immediate effect. September's replacement, Jeffrey Hedberg, left the company in March after holding an acting position and was followed by Nombulelo “Pinky” Moholi.
Schindehutte says Telkom needs to build trust in its management team, as well as its business strategy. Telkom must also manage its investments, old and new, properly, and execute its strategy “brilliantly”, he notes.
Telkom has previously been criticised for its bad investment decisions, including its failed Nigerian venture, Multi-Links. The company invested just over R3 billion when it bought Multi-Links in May 2007 and January 2009, but sold the entire company in June for R68 million.
Right choices
Schindehutte's first objective is to ensure Telkom is making the right decisions and executing well. He will look at all the business cases of the company's various projects.
His job is to make sure Telkom's “base camp” is in order and that he makes the right decisions, which are then properly executed, he explains. Schindehutte is aware of Telkom's “colourful” history and looks forward to setting the tone as one of its leaders.
One of Schindehutte's tasks will be to ensure the company balances the interests of all its stakeholders, including government and private investors, he says. He adds that it is important to keep customers happy, as Telkom's subscriber base “takes care” of its ability to provide a return on investment.
Schindehutte says customers need to be served by a skilled and motivated workforce, because when staff are unhappy, it shows up almost immediately in customer satisfaction surveys.
Telkom is currently locked in wage negotiations with the Communication Workers Union, the South African Communications Union and Solidarity. Discussions have been dragging on for about five months as unions want an increase of between 10% and 12%, while Telkom's offer is 5%.
Schindehutte was previously Absa Group's FD, a position he held for five years until March last year, but stayed on with the company until September. During his time at the bank, he was involved in it being bought by UK-based Barclays.
Before joining Absa, Schindehutte was employed by Transnet in a number of senior roles for about 14 years.
Schindehutte says he has had the good fortune of working for competent CEOs and Nombulelo “Pinky” Moholi is such a CEO, and is also determined to succeed, although she has an enormous task ahead of her.
Share