Success, the only option for Phumelele

Phumelele Makatini the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer of the Building and Construction Industry Medical Aid Fund (BCIMA)

“Get started and learn – there isn’t a single recipe or a formula to success for every woman.”

“Employed in higher paying managerial positions or successfully setting up their own businesses, many South African women today are enjoying greater financial independence and success than they did 15 years ago. While some meaningful progress has been made when it comes to the empowerment of women in our country we still have a long way to go.”

So says Phumelele Makatini the Chief Executive Officer and Principal Officer of the Building and Construction Industry Medical Aid Fund (BCIMA), who was speaking ahead of Women’s Day. A dynamic and seasoned businesswoman, Phumelele is an entrepreneur and educationalist with some 12 years combined experience within the healthcare, financial services, consulting and technology sectors. Prior to joining BCIMA she served in executive and senior management roles at a number of Blue Chip South African companies.

“In many households, women have become the primary breadwinners and have gained a greater say in the finances of the family. More often than not they are the family decision-makers when it comes to the health of the family,” notes the 38-year-old executive who hails from Johannesburg.

“Nevertheless, so many industries, including the building and construction sector, remain male dominated and much work remains to be done with regards to empowering women. Even more concerning is that levels of poverty remain high in South Africa which makes it near impossible for many women to rise above this.

“This is why it is so important for initiatives such as National Health Insurance [NHI] to be put in place, and for our educational system to receive attention, so that women are at least able to build their families and future from a basis of good health and a solid education for their children,” she adds.

“My main mandate at BCIMA is to grow the membership base and revenue of the fund. Growth has been slow for the last 15 years, so my focus is geared towards a growth plan and actually achieving those growth numbers, a challenging task in these unprecedented times of Covid-19. My work at the BCIMA is both stimulating and challenging because there is so much at stake – not only for the Fund, but also for its members and the businesses that employ these individuals. Failure is not in my DNA, however, just like the meaning of my name [Phumelele translates to Succeed in English], I see success as the only option.”

“I had a lovely upbringing being supported by both parents who endorsed my idea of going to boarding school in Swaziland when I was not quite seven years of age. This decision would become a turning point in my life, as it taught me independence, resilience and resourcefulness. These are character traits that I still uphold even today, and they provided me with the fundamental tools to thrive in both the business and corporate spheres,” adds Phumelele.

She says that she always knew she was destined for success because she was always hard working at school and very focused. Just a year before matric, her parents unfortunately fell on hard times and were sequestrated and lost not only their home but all their possessions.

“I made a promise to my dad then that I would buy him a house once I started working. As God would have it, this all fell into place. My first employer was Absa Home Loans and I soon fulfilled the promise I made to my father, buying my parents a house in a quiet suburb where they still live to this day.

“By the time I was 25 years old, I had acquired a plot of vacant land, a home for my parents as well as my first BMW 3 series. How I managed to achieve this at such a young age was through sheer hard work. I never had much of a social life; at any given point I was either working or studying,” says Phumi, who holds a Masters of Management in Entrepreneurship and New Venture Creation from the University of the Witwatersrand Business School, an honours degree in Politics from the University of Johannesburg (UJ) as well as a BA in Communication Science from the University of South Africa (UNISA).

“It is no coincidence that I become a CEO and PO of BCIMA just few months before I turned 38. At my 30th birthday party I had declared that I had the goal of being appointed an executive at Metropolitan Health, where I worked at the time, before I turned 31, and this too came to pass. I’m a very spiritual person and I’ve seen God’s blessings in every area of my life. I aim to continue to throw my heart into my work so that I can retire by my mid-40s,” she adds.

Asked what guidance she could give other women who are looking to succeed as entrepreneurs and in business, she said: “My advice is simple, just start, or, as so eloquently put by Richard Branson, ‘Screw it just do it’. There isn’t a single recipe or a formula to success for every woman, so the best thing to do is to just start and learn along the way. Experience has certainly been my best teacher. I have started two business ventures, one of which was successful and another a complete disaster. However, valuable lessons were learned from both. The key thing is to throw yourself in the deep end and get started.”

According to Phumelele, Covid-19 has undoubtedly put many start-ups and small businesses in precarious positions that many are not likely to survive. “Should your venture not succeed, my advice is for you to just dust yourself off and start again. This is in fact a good time for women to unearth business opportunities because every challenge also presents an opportunity. Perseverance and optimism are winning codes.”

She says that BCIMA provides meaningful medical scheme cover to many thousands of workers and their families within the building and construction sector who would otherwise not be able to afford it. “While most of the workers within the building and construction sector are men, we have succeeded in broadening access to health for many lower-income South African families, and are a noteworthy precursor to the National Health Insurance initiative. I think that this is one of BCIMA’s most important contributions to our communities and country,” adds Phumelele.

“There is never a dull moment in my role at BCIMA, every day is different but most days are filled with work that is geared towards growing the medical scheme. I also obviously attend to numerous regulatory issues because our industry is highly regulated by our statutory body, the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), where I am honoured to say I was recently appointed to serve on one of its advisory committees. I think that as a woman, I bring important new perspectives to both BCIMA and the CMS.

“The legacy that I would want to leave by the time I retire is to foster black excellence, and particularly for Black women in this country; I want those to be my points of reference,” she concludes.