He speaks his mind

By Ruramai Gatsi
IN May last year the leadership structure at one of Zimbabwe’s leading business organisations, the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries, changed with the coming in of Mr Joseph Richard Kanyekanye.
Since taking over from Mr Kumbirai Katsande, Mr Kanyekanye has been on a drive to push for the cause of business given the myriad of challenges that local businesses are facing.
His forcefulness, zeal to get things done and penchant to speak his mind have won him both admiration and friends as a business leader although there has been a downside to his popularity in some instances.
One of those instances was during a 2011 budget consultative meeting for parliamentarians that was held in Victoria Falls where he was heckled by MDC MPs for calling on the lifting of sanctions.
When asked how he felt about the incident after the meeting, Mr Kanyekanye simply smiled and said: “I enjoyed it.”
At another forum he said: “I always speak my mind and can clearly demonstrate what I will be saying.
“Sanctions are affecting the country’s economy and we must focus on how to get out of them rather than mourning about them.”
As a business leader he believes in working with winning and innovative teams that seek to succeed at all times.
He is an optimist who sees a silver lining in the cloud and he believes that businesses need to continue to look for ways to get on with the job as some issues are beyond their control.
“Businesses may not direct the flow of macro-economic policies but they should adjust their sails and succeed,” believes Mr Kanyekanye.
Apart from being CZI president Mr Kanyekanye is also the chief executive of Allied Timber Holdings (Pvt) Ltd, a company made up of five subsidiaries, four of which are located in the country and one in Botswana.
Mr Kanyekanye, who was born on January 8 1967 in Masvingo in a family of three, believes that the success that he has achieved is due to the influence of his parents who strongly believed in a sound education.
“When I was growing up I was not sure what I wanted to be, but I had a passion for making things like toy cars, so somehow I wanted to work with manufactured goods.
“My father always said to us, ‘I refuse to accept that you cannot do this’, and that always inspired us to go on and do things that others thought were unachievable,” he said.
This was later to inspire him when he successfully turned around the Forestry Commission into a private limited company involving other shareholders.
As the inaugural managing director he was given the mandate of transforming the company into a commercial and profitable entity.
He subsequently ran the new company for six years before he was elevated to group chief executive.
He spent most of his childhood in Harare where he did half of his primary education at Mabelreign Police Camp before moving to Senga Primary School in Gweru.
The keen wildlife and nature enthusiast did his Ordinary Level at Fletcher High School and Advanced Levels at Mutare Boys’ High where he was a prefect.
He trained as a forester in Zimbabwe and proceeded to the United Kingdom to study for a BSc Honours degree in Wood Science at the University of Wales.
Mr Kanyekanye also studied for an MBA at the University of Zimbabwe and is currently studying for a Doctorate in Business Strategic Management and hopes to complete the programme in July.
He worked initially as a forester in silviculture and forest harvesting before becoming a lecturer in Forestry and Sawmilling Technology Diploma programmes at the Sadc Forest Industry Training Centre.
He moved back to commercial forestry as a sawmill superintendent and was later promoted to sawmill manager, estate manager, divisional manager and then general manager in the space of seven years.
A staunch Catholic, he has a great passion to help in the development of Catholic churches.
“To me, the Catholic Church represents a mixture of religion and practical life that works for most of us,” he said.
In 2007 Mr Kanyekanye was chosen as one of the top 10 outstanding Zimbabweans by Junior Chamber International where he took the first national place for business and entrepreneurship.
Other achievements include being the overall national winner last year for sustainable management in Zimbabwe, Empowerment Company of the Year and first runner-up overall Exporter of the Year for 2006.
Mr Kanyekanye, a father to three sons, is married to Colleta Valerie, who is a graduate entrepreneur running her own executive clothing business.
Mr Kanyekanye is also a businessman in his own right as he operates what he referred to as “little ventures” which include retailing, electrical and clothing manufacturing.
His view on the economy is that it is recovering although there had been several setbacks, which include electricity problems and inadequate lines of credit.
“The Government needs to allow individual companies to import electricity as a short-term solution.
“The timber industry managed to secure the right to import power from neighbouring Mozambique but the ministry is yet to give the green light.
“In the long term Government should invite and give incentives to anyone who has the capacity to provide power,” said Mr Kanyekanye.
The CZI president added that Zimbabwe must have a rallying position as a nation to say “this is what we can do”.
“As a nation we need to have low hanging fruits for what we do and need to make a conscious effort in all sectors of the economy and focus on it.
“A US$100 billion economy by 2030 is attainable as Zimbabwe has functionally literate people known for their hard work,” added Mr Kanyekanye.