MARK Mfikoe, the director of Standard Electrical for 14 years and president of the ECA(SA) is an amazing man. Vision and foresight, coupled with integrity and tenacity are rare gifts - and although he has these gifts in abundance, he remains a humble man who inspires and enriches the lives of everyone around him. 

Mark is currently a director and shareholder of Standard Electrical, which was acquired when Standard Electrical sold 68% of its shares to Black shareholders. He is also the managing director of Tlhabollo Electrical, a wholly owned subsidiary of Standard Electrical.

He was elected president of the ECA(SA) in November 2010 after serving on its National Executive Council for about five years.

His passion - and therefore his specialised knowledge - is labour law, occupational health and safety, and contract law.

This dedicated Orlando Pirates supporter is a keen golfer, playing off a 14-handicap and he also enjoys a good workout in the gym.

A loving father of three children, Mark enjoys a night in with his kids playing on their Play Station; and socially, he enjoys a night out with friends playing Ludo or pool with his friends at Ultra Chill in Jericho.

A keen debater and lover of traditional poetry, Mark also made his contribution during the liberation struggle as president of the Azanian Student Convention for four terms.

He concentrated on business when politics became a career of choice for many. He loves his community and readily identifies with the people of Jericho Village in the North West, where he grew up milking his father's cattle and goats - a chore that he loved.

Sparks: Where were you educated?
MM: I started my primary schooling at Mmatope Primary in Jericho - a little village in the North West - in 1975, and matriculated at Sekitla High School in the Northwest village of Mathibestad. I did my tertiary education largely through Unisa, completing my BA degree in 1989 and BA Honours in 1992. In between, I completed a postgraduate diploma at the University of the North in Limpopo in 1990. I also hold a certificate in Estimating and Tendering, a postgraduate diploma in marketing management from Unisa and a diploma in labour relations from the Centre for Advanced Management studies. In addition, I recently completed the Modern Sheq/Risk Management study programme with IRCA Global. I am currently in my final year of a Bachelor of Law degree with Unisa, specialising in commercial law.

Sparks: How long have you been involved in the electrical industry?
MM: I have been involved in the electrical game for 14 years in various capacities since 1997.
Sparks: When and where did you start your career?
MM: In 1991, at the age of 22, I started my working career as a lecturer in the Department of African Languages at the University of South Africa. I resigned in 1997 to join Stantronic firstly as a consultant and then as group HR manager.
Sparks: What are the greatest changes you have seen over the years?
MM: Nothing compares with the achievement of the right to choose, and the removal of limitations by birth that came with the 1994 political freedom. As a person involved in the Liberation Movement, I sometimes have to deal with the fact that the price we paid was too high. However, I have to accept that, for the general good, the liberation project achieved a remarkable outcome to the extent that, save for a number of natural hurdles, we all can be free.

Sparks: What major projects have you worked on and what is your greatest accomplishment?
MM: As managing director of Tlhabollo Electrical, we completed the Department of Foreign Affairs in Pretoria and the Department of Education around the same period in a joint venture with Standard Electrical. The nature of my job now as director of Standard Electrical is that I get involved with every project on construction safety, HR, IR and the commercial contractual side. I was a member of the team that completed, amongst others, the rebuilding of two Makro (Woodmead and Roodepoort) stores that burned down, Jabulani Mall - the first major shopping centre in Soweto, Moutse Mall in a former homeland village at the doorstep of a squatter camp in Dennilton, Michaelangelo towers in Sandton, the Bank of Tanzania, and the Gautrain electrical installations.
Sparks: Have you won any awards?
MM: No, I have not won any awards of any significance to the world.

Sparks: Who has been your inspiration or have you had a mentor who has influenced your career?
MM: My biggest inspiration is my mother and the people of Jericho, the village where I grew up. My mother made me believe from a very early age that I was special and that I do not belong to a class of those that fail. I came sixth in my class in Standard 8 and my mother, who was a domestic worker in her working days, cried when I showed her my report. I vowed never to be behind in anything in which I compete. I matriculated ahead of my class and ever since I have led every organisation I have joined. For the people of Jericho, I just want to do well, for them to know that being in that almost neglected part of our country does not condemn you to the scrap heaps. These are my people and I want them to experience the magic of thinking big. They might struggle to have a meeting with the director of arguably the smartest Electrical Contracting business in the land or the president of the ECA(SA) but they know they can play a game of Ludo with me, hear my views, have their advice listened to, and so on. I draw inspiration from my refusal to let the people of Jericho and my mother down.

Sparks: What, to your mind, is one of the biggest challenges facing the industry at this time?
MM: We are part of the construction industry as a whole and the big challenge is not to compromise the quality of our businesses as margins grow thinner and work is scarce. We train our own artisans, managers, quantity surveyors and construction site labour. Together with these dwindling margins, we also have to deal with a Sector Training Authority that is out of touch with industry, a learnership system that has severely compromised training in the electrical industry, and an industry that has lost interest in the capacity of the Sector Training Authority's to deliver on its mandate. Our work carries with it a lot of risk and a competent, well-trained, adequately resourced labour force is imperative. To continue training, we need to get adequate work and projects at respectable margins. We need to survive this time and emerge sharper and stronger as an industry to benefit from the upturn.

Sparks: What do you enjoy most about your job?
MM: I get a great deal of enjoyment every time a client, employee or partner expresses gratitude and when I am able to inspire others to dream big and achieve. When three of our junior contract managers passed their trade tests with distinction, I was happier for them that I ever was about my own results. I love it when our work environment is conducive to the development of people.
Sparks: How do you motivate your staff?
MM: We all know that ‘thank you' alone does not pay rent. We have a profit share scheme for our employees, which allows for all members of our staff to share the positive results of the company. Profit is, however the result of the collective doing all the right things to achieve project completion, section handovers, quality work, industrial peace, safety in the project, material protection and operational efficiencies. We celebrate all these and give awards for exceptional contributions to employees who contribute best towards the achievement of these results.

Sparks: If you could "do it all again", would you change anything? If so, what would that be?
MM: Yes, I would. I love law and back in 1996 when I was doing Masters at Wits, I registered for a law degree at the same time. However, I learned there was a rule that I could only do one degree at a time so I chose a Masters in linguistics because I was a lecturer. If I had known how versatile a law degree is, I would have chosen law then.
Sparks: Would you advise a person leaving school to enter the electrical industry? And why?
MM: Yes, I would but not simply with the idea of remaining an employee or artisan or wireman. They should learn and respect the trade and look to be electrical contracting business people and learn the business side of this discipline.

Sparks: What is your advice to electrical contractors and/or electrical engineers?
MM: As electrical contractors, we need to be respected as specialists in our field and specified contributors to the construction industry. We also must use the organised force of the ECA(SA) to make our presence felt in regulations, contractual standing, labour relations and technical matters as well as government structures like the CIDB so that we are not just spectators in a game but players who shape the industry and take it forward.
Sparks: What is your favourite quote?
MM: "Nobody cares how much you know until they get to know how much you care." Theodore Rooseveldt.

Sparks: Name three things on your ‘bucket list' (things you want to do before you ‘kick the bucket').
MM: Firstly, I don't want to kick the bucket just yet! I want to educate my children in any field of their dreams so that they can be empowered and compete favourably in the world; create enough wealth capacity (I recently started a cattle and pig farming operation) so I do not have to worry about retirement; and I want to practice law in the last 10 years of my working life.