Full Name: Deon de Kock

Position and Company Name: CEO: Africa at Babcock International Group

Main Activity of the Company: Babcock is a London-listed FTSE 100 international defence company that supports and enhances its customers’ defence and critical-infrastructure capabilities. In Africa, it provides engineering, asset management and technical support services across the defence, energy, mining, petrochemicals and transport sectors

Date and Place of Birth: April 2, 1970, Vryburg, North West province

Schools and Tertiary Education: Matric, Stella High School, North West province, 1988; BEng (Mechanical), University of Pretoria, 1995; MBA, Bond University, Australia, 2000; Certified Director®

First Job: Project engineer at Voest Alpine Mining and Tunnelling

Size of First Pay Packet: R5 800 a month

Career Path to Date: I joined Babcock as CEO: Africa in January 2026. Previously, I was CEO of the Electrical Engineering and Renewable Energy segment at Reunert Limited (November 2023 to December 2025), following my role as regional president for sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and South Asia at FLSmidth (July 2016 to November 2023). Earlier, I served as COO of Sentula Opencast Mining Division (2015 to June 2016) and MD and co-owner of No Limits Sport (2008 to 2014). I began my career at Sandvik in 1995 as project engineer (Voest Alpine Mining and Tunnelling), progressing to GM: operations (Sandvik Tamrock) (1997 to 2003), business line manager and later VP: Sandvik Construction for South Europe, North Africa and Middle East, based in Milan, Italy (2004 to 2008)

Value of Assets under Your Control: About R6-billion. Babcock International Group has a market capitalisation of £4.8-billion (R104-billion)

Number of People under Your Leadership: 1 130 Babcock employees plus 500 to more than 2 000 contractors, depending on projects to be executed

Leadership Style: A team and distributed leadership style focused on creating high-performance cultures and teams. While ultimately accountable for the business, I expect joint leadership and boundary-less behaviour from my direct reports and team members, whom I empower to execute their respective roles

Personal Best Achievement: As president of FLSmidth’s sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East and South Asia region, I led significant transformation and growth, including integrating the former sub-Saharan Africa and Middle East region with sub-continental India into one region during the Covid-19 pandemic

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My late father, my mother, my wife and our three sons

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: Jim Tolley from Australia, a previous manager, mentor and friend, and my late father, an entrepreneur, farmer and mentor

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: My Creator

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Jack Welch, chairperson and CEO of General Electric from 1981 to 2001, John C Maxwell and Elon Musk

Philosophy of Life: Life and business are games we play, and I play to win. I play by the “rules of the game”, which are: Smile – be friendly and be kind; Say “hello” and wave “goodbye” – always greet people; Say “please” and “thank you”; Show respect to people from all walks of life; Have fun, work hard, no drama!

Biggest Ever Opportunity: My five-year overseas assignment, based in Milan, as VP at Sandvik responsible for South Europe, North Africa and Middle East

Biggest Ever Disappointment: The death of my elder brother a month before his twenty-first birthday in 1988

Hope for the Future: A resilient and united South Africa

Favourite Reading: Business, self-improvement and entrepreneurship

Favourite TV Programme: UFC Fight Nights

Favourite Food/Drink: Food: beef steak, sushi, pizza; drink: water mostly and on occasion a whiskey

Favourite Music: All music, including opera, reggae and classical music

Favourite Sport: Rugby (younger days) and golf (to play nowadays) and UFC (to watch)

Hobbies: I’m a recreational pilot

Car: A 2015 model 3L D4D Toyota Fortuner, with 509 875 km on the clock

Pets: Zoe – our three-year-old Dachshund

Miscellaneous Dislikes: People who don’t play by the “5 Rules of the Game”, standing in queues and being stuck in traffic

Married: To Marjorie, for 29 years

Children: Vosloo, 24; twins Déan and Elmar, 22

Clubs: Rustenburg Flying Club, Silver Lakes Golf Club, IoDSA