The House of Busby

Group Financial Director and Chief Operating Officer

1 January 2005 – 31 August 2010

The House of Busby operates retail stores and wholesales accessories in South Africa and Australia. The group was a Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) listed company and was taken private out by Ethos Private Equity in May 2008. The group operates the Nine West, Aldo, Guess and Tumi stores and as well as other well-known retailing concepts. The group is the largest accessory supplier to most of the major chain stores in South Africa.

When I joined the group in 2005, the earnings for the full year ended 30 June 2004 were 32 cents per share, the share price was R3,30 and the group had a market capitalization of R180 million. The private equity transaction (May 2008) valued the group at R1, 3 billion. The earnings for the 30 June 2010 year end would have been in excess of R2 per share. The group was recognized by the Sunday Times Top 100 company, in its 2007 supplement, as the 8th best performing share on the JSE over the previous 5 years.

The group operated subsidiaries in Australia, in the retail and wholesaling sector. I was involved in the strategic decision making and ensuring compliance and accurate reporting for these subsidiaries. I was a member of the Australian remuneration committee. My main focus was ensuring the success and viability of these operations, as well as giving input on financing requirements and the deployment of capital.

As Group Financial Director I was responsible for all aspects of the finance function, including complying feasibility studies, due diligence investigations and ensuring that all the subsidiaries reported on time and accurately. I prepared and presented analyst presentations and ensured we complied with all aspects of the JSE listing requirements. I was responsible for ensuring that the Australian subsidiary complied with Australian regulations and setting the financial policies for the subsidiary in conjunction with the local management team.

My role encompassed more than the traditional Financial Director role and included the following (all reported directly through to me):

•  Marketing
•  Information Technology
•  Human Resources
•  Operations
•  Company secretarial

I was responsible for the group’s performance in each of these sectors.

As Chief Operating Officer I was responsible for group strategy as well as the project to redesign the organization to meet the objectives of the new Private Equity owners

Buffet Investments/ Mithratech South Africa

Chief Financial Officer

16 February 2004 – 31 December 2004.

On returning from the Czech Republic, I joined Mahler Management Company, a private equity firm owned by Jonathan Beare. Initially, I was hired to help a US investment to grow its business. I was temporarily assigned to Mithratech South Africa in the role of Chief Financial Officer to rectify a few minor problems.

On further investigation the minor problems masked severe problems; the business was losing R1.5 Million a month, I embarked on a business re-engineering project. The net result was that we managed to make a profit exceeding R1.5 million by September 2004. The output tripled, with a doubling of productivity per employee. The management accounts closed within 3 days of month end. The business was sold to Black Empowerment Investors in November 2004 at a substantial profit and having garnered significant new contracts. This company is now a subsidiary of a listed company.