Katy Chance cornered Dr Iqbal Surv, the businessman who was once Bafana Bafana’s first team doctor, and got some knee-jerk reactions
Dr Iqbal Surv is CEO of Sekunjalo a position he says he initially thought he would occupy for possibly a year. Five years on he is still firmly in the driving seat.
How and why the move from sports medicine to big business?
It was a philosophical calling, really. I was one of only four South Africans with a fellowship from the United States for practising as a doctor specialising in sports medicine, but I had been very active politically during the struggle and in 1996 a group of us decided that we needed to have an input in the economy of the country.
We put together Sekunjalo, which quickly gathered momentum and someone had to run it. I got the short straw! I expected to be back in medicine after a year, but it didn’t work that way.
Do you miss medicine?
I miss what I call the “soft side” of medicine. You trust the patient, the patient trusts you, there is a clear goal healing. It’s a “feel-good” profession. I’m afraid I’ve become rather a cynic in the past six months due to business.
Too often you trust people in business and you get burned. Medicine is essentially philanthropic and I’ve learned the hard way that business is not!
How would you describe your management style?
Very open-ended. I don’t like an autocratic, vertical style; I prefer a horizontal approach (something to do with patients and bedside manners, perhaps!).
What do you do to forget about work?
I play soccer and tennis. I have an exer-cycle in my office and occasionally I dictate from my treadmill! I’m also an avid reader. I read a lot of books that are good for the soul.
I love to travel overseas both extremes: islands in the sun like Mauritius and skiing in Switzerland. I’m not a bad skier but I can’t hit the black slopes just yet.
Favourite books: Tuesdays with Morrie was a great book. Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s 100 Years of Solitude, A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth and J M Coetzee’s Disgrace all make the list.
Favourite movie: Last Tango in Paris and more recently Cinema Paradiso.
Favourite food: I love a traditional, home-cooked biryani but I also love Italian and Chinese food. Actually, I just love food!
You most embarrassing moment in business?
Well you must remember that I came from a medical background, not a business background …
Out with it!
Once when we were just starting out, I was sitting with a couple of colleagues, who were both accountants, and I asked them to tell me what “this thing was called a balance sheet”!
What personal goal have you yet to accomplish?
I’ve already started on that book! It’s called Not Black and White. It’s about my days during the struggle, my experiences in the medical profession and now business.
In fact, if I had wanted to be anything other than a doctor it would be a writer. It’s just a question of finding the time. I’d like to write a book about how to keep your soul in business. I’d like to believe that such a thing is actually possible!