Page 17 - MiNDSPACE Issue 2 2022 - Old Mutual Corporate

I am busy, but I take screenshots of the numbers and my staff call everyone to hear what they need. The second one is for staff. The third I use only for WhatsApp. This is for government people, media people, corporate people and select businesspeople. It also has all my international numbers on it. Because I don't have time to talk, I WhatsApp. Then I have a backup phone in case something happens to the other three.’
Imtiaz Sooliman is the ultimate glass-half-full person. Despite his deep criticism of the government, he is also reassuringly cheerful and positive. ‘I have hope in this country because there are a lot of good people. Not everyone in government is bad. The greatest issue is a lack of skill, and that can be fixed.’
Sooliman is very hands-on. He is the undisputed leader, but he also believes in inspiring his teams to get on with the job without micromanaging them.‘I specialise in setting up projects. Of course, I can't really make a plan unless I understand the situation on the ground, but once we have the plan figured out, the teams take over. They know what to do. They are the silent heroes. They are the ones burning in the sun.’
It has been hard on his family though, he admits. He has two wives and two households 800 metres apart. Although the proximity is helpful, he is away a lot.
THE FUTURE LIES IN CIVIL SOCIETY
Zorah Bibi Sooliman, his one wife, founded GOTG’s counselling division 25 years ago and heads it up. The other, Ayesha, is
a nurse who plays an important voluntary role in their medical projects. His computer-engineer son joined GOTG in September 2017 and runs its IT, logistics and finance, and manages some international projects. Sooliman has four adult daughters: two, a dietician and a doctor, volunteer for medical missions; one runs a gym and the other is studying psychology. ‘And then there is my youngest. She is six. She is my boss.’
Although it might seem like it, GOTG cannot be everywhere. Sooliman believes that Covid, the unrest in June last year and the floods earlier this year, finally exposed the challenges facing South Africa, citing a lack of disaster-management systems and
poor infrastructure as two of the problems.
‘It also showed something else,’ he says, his voice rising with
His time is up. I ask what drives him to keep going. ‘I was talking about this to the Ukrainian ambassador the other day,’ he slips into the conversation. ‘We are running a big operation there at the moment.’
emotion. ‘It showed the strength of civil society. Civil society stood up and took ownership of the country. I have said it many times: This country belongs to its 60 million people. As active citizens, we will take care of the country. Ubuntu and ethics will triumph. We are brothers and sisters. Black, white, coloured, Indian. South African and foreigner. There is strength and power in unity. We saw it during the terrible disasters in KwaZulu-Natal when people stood up and got on with it.’
This is vintage Sooliman. So many irons in the fire one can hardly keep up. No crisis too big or too small. And a searing nothing-is-impossible attitude that burns like a flame.
I ponder aloud whether its enormous success is also because the people who work at GOTG feel they are part of a greater good. That what they do has meaning and importance. Sooliman has no doubt that service is transformative to the giver and that the reward of being valued in the way that South Africans value GOTG inspires dedication to the cause.
‘There is unanimous support for what we do. Whether it’s in a township or a rich area, working class or middle class, whether it’s churches, mosques, temples or synagogues, there is unconditional support for us.’
He tells of the excitement when people see them arriving. People wave to them in the traffic, cops stop vehicles just to be able to shake the team’s hands and say how proud they are of them or law-enforcement officers escort GOTG vehicles to the front of the line in traffic jams. ‘They say, come, you have to move, you have important work.’
IT’S ABOUT WORK-WORK-WORK-LIFE BALANCE
He laughs when I ask him if he ever gets tired of the frenetic pace of his work. ‘No. I am a total workaholic. I get tired when
I am not working.’ He says a benefactor once offered him a free holiday, but he had to tell ‘the nice people that I hate holidays’.
‘The most difficult part of the past 30 years is that my family does not get to see me. I travel a lot. They understand what I do and most of them are involved at some level in our organisation.’
‘Four words drive me,’ he says. ‘Spirituality. Morality. Ethics. Values’. M
impactSPACE interview
THE GIFT OF GIVING
oldmutual.co.za/corporate | 15