The Old Diocesan Issue 10 - Magazine - Page 35
BUSINESS
“What I remember
most clearly about
my school years is
the fun I had with
my mates.”
– Mike Bosman, chairman
of the SPAR Group
Mike Bosman (left), chairman of SPAR, with the newly appointed group CEO,
Angelo Swartz, in 2023.
What Bishops taught him was
that it’s okay to be an outlier
and to find the upper hand.”
Raymond went on to become
a major supporter of Bishops, and
eventually Patron of the OD Union.
Presumably when future Pick n
Pay CEO Sean Summers applied
for a job not long after leaving
school, it didn’t hurt that he
too was an Old Diocesan.
Sean started working at Pick
n Pay in 1974, and also became a
formidable force in South African
retail, rising to the position of CEO
in 1999 before leaving in 2007.
It’s testament to his endurance
that he returned in 2023, at the
age of 70, to the supermarket he
had once steered to become the
country’s largest.
“I always liken retail to handto-hand combat,” Sean once said
in an interview. “It is. There are
fixed bayonets in the trenches
every day, and it’s real warfare.”
This may be the attitude required
to succeed in the struggling South
African economy.
There is one other advantage
that Bishops offers for a career in
the retail industry, which has to do
with geography. Much of the retail
industry is based in the Cape, and
it does stand to reason that many
students would end up in an
industry located near home. But
if that is so, it’s difficult to place
Mike Bosman, now the chairman
of SPAR after a spell as acting CEO.
He didn’t start out in the retail
industry, and SPAR, which is based
in Durban but has about 4,550
stores in 11 countries, certainly
doesn’t conform to the theory
of geographical proximity.
Mike himself laughs when it
is suggested to him that Bishops
alumni somehow have a special
place in South African retail
history. “What I remember most
clearly about my school years
is the fun I had with my mates,”
he says. “I wish I could tell you
that they somehow turned me
into who I am… But I just don’t
think so.”
And yet, on closer examination,
Mike does have an early overlap
with one of the leading retailers
mentioned here. In the 1970s,
both he and Gareth Ackerman
were members of the Social
Responsibility Society at Bishops,
which was a remarkable choice
for young men at school during
high apartheid. Moreover, this
links back to Raymond Ackerman’s
time at the College, three decades
prior, when he was involved in
teaching black staff at the Night
School. Gareth recalls that one
thing the society did was question
the white-only racial composition
of the school at the time. Is there,
perhaps, a connection between
learning social responsibility in
your teenage years and a career
in value-focused retail?
Mike and Gareth went on to
UCT together, and their families
have remained in contact – though
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