I do not think of myself as a philanthropist. Philanthropists normally share self-made success. My business and personal philosophies and practice are based on and guided by my Christian faith, which was strengthened immensely by how God responded to my plea of desperation when faced with complete business failure 36 years ago. Now, sharing with others offers me inspiration and direction.
My guiding principle is ‘feed the stream of life, not your own dam’. Putting the interests of the community above those of the individual – or business or state – eventually creates maximum benefit for all. Focusing on others is what leads to a life of significance for each of us.
In 1980 my first entrepreneurial business venture was facing imminent insolvency. I turned to God and in total despair offered Him 30% of the value of my company – mistakenly thinking His favour could be bought. I was to learn subsequently that ‘prosperity theology’ is not part of His persona. Not only did He turn the situation around but – without any outside capital – the business prospered into what is today the global Mertech Group. I transferred the promised shares into a trust which was named the Mergon foundation, derived from the Greek words ‘nomè’ (the area where the flock graze) and ‘ergon’ (effectiveness).
In reaction to God’s continued blessing the original 30% was increased over time and today the foundation holds 65% of the shares in Mertech, which shareholding provides the funding for the foundation’s charitable activities. My daughter, Carla, and I are the family representative trustees, although the foundation is otherwise quite independent from our family.
In the spirit of its name, the Mergon Foundation works to allocate funds effectively to educational programmes, community health initiatives and enterprise development schemes. The mandate of the foundation is the effective expansion of the Kingdom of God through business, and it aims to further this vision through each of the established community organisations it partners with. Currently, the foundation supports 147 partners and allocated R90 million in the 2015/16 financial year, funding some 700 partner projects throughout Africa and the Middle East.
A selfless approach is paramount but, to become a catalyst of change, it must be combined with good stewardship and a constant focus on effectiveness. The foundation is run as a business, with an emphasis on promoting efficiency and effectiveness. Our online application process is simple and our system of evaluation is thorough, enabling us to assess each organisation’s leadership and sustainability against the foundation’s vision.
We expect this same commitment to effectiveness from the partners we support. The foundation maintains an ongoing evaluative approach to ensure that the partner remains effective in its work. Constant evaluation of partner achievement causes allocations to be increased, reduced or stopped.
Without being prescriptive, the Mergon Foundation goes beyond funding to assist with management expertise and promoting interpartner communication to ensure specific project successes among other partners and advancing synergistic cooperation in general.
Overall community upliftment can be substantively achieved through stimulating the involvement of all sectors of society – government, business and NPOs. The public and private sectors need to work together intentionally to serve mounting community needs. For our country and our continent to begin to flourish it is crucial that the business sector in particular steps up and realises its obligations to society at large.
An example of this cooperation working is a small Namibian language bridging initiative for disadvantaged preschoolers. The project’s initial success with one informal school and 15 kids attracted integrated local support and funding from the public and private sectors, which has turned it into a very effective community development programme with now 120 ‘schools’ helping 4 000 children toward improved entry-level language skills. It is this type of active, cooperative effort that produces tangible, sustainable change in our society and establishes a path towards significance.
Francois van Niekerk is the founder of the Mertech Group and the Mergon Foundation and cofounder of the Atterbury Property Group. He is recipient of the 2013 African Achievers International Philanthropist of the Year award and the 2010 Inyathelo Special Recognition Award for Philanthropy, and has been listed by Forbes Magazine as Africa’s most notable philanthropist. In May 2016 he received an honorary doctorate from Unisa ‘in recognition of his philanthropic work and business leadership adding to South Africa’s international image’. He is the author of the best-selling book ‘Doing Business with Purpose: from Success to Significance’.
Source details: Nedbank Private Wealth Giving Report III
