Why I believe The Bokke should win the world cup – my personal story

Guy Golan

28 October 2019

You know, I've been living in South Africa for nearly 15 years. And I can tell you, I have a lot to thank South Africa for!

People tell you, don't make a decision while you run away from something. Make a decision while you go towards something.

The decision to move to South Africa was a bit of both. I just finished a job in Angola. The money was good but I did not really enjoy what I was doing. Lots of corruption, lack of transparency, dictating management style, made my daily routine not so great. Add a suit and tie at 35°c and it was hell! I was an executive, an executive without power. Someone with strong title that cannot impact anything. In fact, I was a pawn. A pawn with an awesome title.

So you can say I was running away from Angola when I decided that enough is enough after both my son and wife were hit by Malaria. That was it.

What do I do now? We managed to save some cash. Enough to allow us to make some ballsy moves.

On the cart, Canada or South Africa. I know, you'll tell me: "Guy, you must be kidding me. You compare Canada to South Africa???" and I would reply, then and now, with a strong firm 'yes'. In fact, you can compare between anything you like for as long as there is good basis to establish your comparison. Ours was: Good life. Good opportunities.

The year was 2003. I've known South Africa since 1999 and seriously fell in love. To me, SA was the epitome of good life. It was also the epitome of good opportunities. Oh, one more thing. It wasn't far from Israel, where our parents and the wider family stayed.

Decision was, if I can find a job, something to work towards while I still run away from my job in Angola, then I'll definitely want to move to South Africa.

I sent my fillers to those I know and managed to get from one of my agents, while I used to work in aviation, a message: "Guy, I have an investment in a failing IT company. I need someone that can make sales". 'Sales is me!' I thought to myself. He also said, if you are interested you need to arrange your own work permit. So I did.

April 2004 I joined New Generation Solutions in Centurion, South Africa; A 5 people company doing cabling and basic IT support to small, micro enterprises. Since I was running away from something, I wasn't too picky. It looked like this transformation would bring some serious benefits.

Little did I know what a tough mission this would be!

I got into a company that was bleeding. A company that was haemorrhaging cash. A company with some serious talent but with no revenue. What surprised me then and now, not even once have I said to myself: 'what have I done?!'.

You know the story about the father and son surviving a ship wreck now swimming in the ocean, not seeing land in the distance, and the son asks his father: 'dad, how much more do we have?' and the father says: 'shut up and swim!'?

Well, complaining would not help. So I shut up and I swam. I swam hard. I swam with vengeance to ensure we survive. I swam to ensure my decision of ‘good life. good opportunities’ will stand! I swam for my children, for my wife, and for my new family - the NGS family.

Fitting into a new culture was not easy. My Israeli background and upbringing is one of head-on and intensity. That was the only thing I knew. When I heard people in SA telling me 'I'll call you just now' I was standing next to the phone waiting.

Months later have I learned that 'just now' in SA means - 'I'll call you when I feel like it'. It could be never. But I was there, swimming with vengeance! So I called again. And again, not knowing why people don't answer.

Until one time I called Wayne from the Civil Aviation Authority (I'll never forget his name!). Wayne answered after I called quite a few times. He was patient but firm. He said: 'you know Guy, this way you'll never get closer to anyone in South Africa. You are too aggressive. You are desperate. South Africans don't like it when people push them. You are too pushy'. Wow. That was an eye opener. Can it be that my way of doing business that made me close millions will not lead me to doing anything in South Africa?

What do I do now? I asked myself. The company is bleeding. The funds are thin. The clients don't take me seriously. And, we have nothing exciting to offer. We are doomed! I have to think about something else! I took the evening, then the next day, and the day after and got into the weekend trying to figure out how we make it work.

And then it hit me. We need to speak to our existing clients and increase our revenue. We need to ask them for strong referrals. We need something different. We need to approach many more so things happen while taking their natural course. We MUST NOT sound or act desperate under any circumstances!

I am not sure if Wayne even remembers this moment but I was and am SO thankful to Wayne. He made me think, adjust and act. I continued shutting up and swimming. This time with purpose! Towards a goal!

The next day I went to Attie, my business partner and drafted a plan. 'Attie, you say we are charging our clients too little. I want to meet with all our existing clients. I want to understand why they pay so low'. Attie scheduled meetings with all of our clients. My conversation was honest and simple. I introduced myself to them and explained our situation. I told them we are bleeding due to the fact we don't charge much. My question to them was: 'are you satisfied with our service?' All of them said yes.

I then came up with the following conundrum: 'if you pay so low it is either we are not worth it or we are just suckers'. They all confirmed we are suckers. Conversation was now easier. I offered them gradual escalation to help with the price increase and for us stop the bleeding. All but one agreed to it. We were relieved!

But, we were still just a small company doing cables and basic IT support for small and micro organisations. There were over 2000 companies in South Africa doing the exact same. I called Attie: 'Attie, explain to me where we can be different and make some money'. Attie drew a pyramid with infrastructure at its base, security above it, application above security (it was CRM) and then at the top of the pyramid it was ERP. Attie said we can make most money in ERP but cannot afford the certification. Same was for CRM. Security was relatively easy. It was somehow connected to infrastructure, to our basic IT support.

Now we know, we can also do security. That should make us some money and hopefully make us unique. Me being from Israel, serving the Army at some classified positions, can surely find something interesting in security. Remember, in 2004 security was dominated by Anti-Virus and Firewall. Intrusion Detection was just introduced.

This is how NGS introduced to South Africa Data Loss Prevention - DLP. Against all odds, a small company from Centurion, having its office between a nail parlour and pizza place, bleeding badly with no real uniqueness, opened the DLP market in South Africa, signed most of the big banks and made a name for itself. Against all odds, against all large corporates, against all those that never believed in stopping leakage, we not only stopped the bleeding but also won!

We shut up and kept swimming. Was the goal money? Perhaps for the first steps of survival. The goal was good life. Good opportunities. Was it the tech that made the difference? Perhaps it was the catalyst. Attie, myself and the team made the difference. We are the ones that won and showed what true South African perseverance is!

You ask how a long personal story relates to why I believe the Bokke should win? On Saturday, our Bokke and us will re-live the 2007 final against a team that is stronger, haven't lost a game, ranked higher and beat the All Blacks. Our Bokke, that started months ago with bleeding and even bled in the first game against New Zealand have formed to be a strong team! A team that is not desperate. A team that keeps swimming towards a goal. A team that the people are the beating pulse of it. A team that will get into the field and do the job with passion. Will do what we, South Africans, do: think, adjust and act. A team that should win against all odds!

Bring it Home!