The Old Diocesan Issue 10 - Magazine - Page 32
RETAIL
REVOLUTIONARIES
With the legacy of Raymond Ackerman fresh in our minds,
we asked renowned business journalist Tim Cohen to assess
the influence of ODs in the South African retail industry.
He took a dive into correlation and causation
A
n extraordinary number
of South Africa’s leading
retail figures were
educated at Bishops.
Prominent personalities on the list
include Laurie Chiappini (1961O),
the co-founder of Mr Price; Mike
Bosman (1978O), chairman and
former acting CEO of the SPAR
Group; Kevin Lennett (1984O),
MD of The Crazy Store; and Sean
Summers (1972W), currently in
his second stint as CEO of Pick
n Pay. Speaking of which, there
are, of course several generations
of Ackermans active in various
28 | THE OLD DIOCESAN
aspects of the retail industry.
This raises an obvious question:
is there some link between Bishops
alumni and the retail industry, or is
the correlation just happenstance?
Speaking to Mike Bosman and
Gareth Ackerman (1975S) for this
piece, it turns out they themselves
don’t see a direct connection:
correlation, after all, is not
causation. But there is one
possible exception, and it’s
pretty big: Raymond Ackerman
(1948S), father of Gareth – and
also the father of the South
African supermarket. Indeed,
it was Raymond’s death last year
that inspired this discussion.
How would this theory go? As
Gareth explains it, in his opinion,
high achievers in school don’t
always become the most successful
later in life. Sometimes they do;
but often, the people tipped to be
future leaders don’t turn out that
way. In return, while his father was
no slouch academically, he was not
particularly known for his school
achievements. But one formative
aspect of his school career was
that, as one of the first Jewish
boys to be admitted to the