Where will it end?
Yet another emigrating executive.
More goodbyes
Another South African MD announces his plans to emigrate.
Body count mounts
Another South African businessman emigrates.
Truworths (JSE: TRU) is down one financial director and Australia is up a new family as Truworths's incumbent FD Wayne van der Merwe announced today that he will be emigrating Down Under.
Van der Merwe will continue to oversee the financial side of the business while Truworths searches for a new FD over the next six months.
He joins a list of local businessmen who have relocated offshore. Other émigrés include Simmer & Jack CEO Gordon Miller who has moved Canada; former Mastercard boss Eddie Grobler, who is also moving to Australia; Builders Warehouse MD Aubrey Cimring, who plans to emigrate to Canada; and many others (see Where will it end?, More goodbyes, Body count mounts, and Why Sasfin's MD is leaving SA).
The reasons for leaving vary. Bradley Hopkinson, former deputy CEO of Simeka BSG, moved to Seattle in the USA to take up a position at Microsoft while AECI executive director and CFO Roger Williams decided to emigrate following the death of his 12-year-old daughter, who was shot dead by armed robbers in Fairlands on February 12.
Australia has proved a popular destination for South Africa's executives; in addition to Grobler and van der Merwe, Rob Marais, CEO of Amalgamated Appliances' core appliances division and Peregrine (JSE: PGR) CEO Keith Betty both plan to relocate to Australia next year.
The mobility of these talented and experienced businesspeople is a testimony to the globalised world we now live in. In the increasingly complex and interlinked world, skilled managers are hard to find, and companies willingly pay top dollar for talent. South African executives, with their English ability and experience managing in a complicated developing country environment, make attractive targets for recruiters. At the same time, issues like crime, political uncertainty, and infrastructure worries act to push executives into searching for opportunities elsewhere. See Crime and violence reasons why SA losing executives to Australia
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