Full Name: Henk Ferreira

Position and Company Name: COO of the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI)

Main Activity of the Company: The RMI is the employers’ organisation for the retail motor industry, with about 8 500 member businesses across seven constituent associations, from the dealer floor to the independent workshop, the forecourt and the parts counter

Date and Place of Birth: 1983

Schools and Tertiary Education: Matric at Hoërskool Pietersburg, a business administration qualification from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, a postgraduate diploma and an MPhil in innovation and development in progress at the University of Johannesburg

First Job: Call centre sales at OUTsurance – you learn fast when every call is scored

Size of First Pay Packet: R2 500 a month – it went quickly

Career Path to Date: I started my career at OUTsurance before moving to AutoTrader South Africa, joining Motus as executive head of M-Sure, and now serving as COO of the RMI

Value of Assets under Your Control: The RMI is a member organisation, so I count scope, not capitalisation. It represents roughly 8 500 members and an estimated 300 000 employees across the industry. The industry contributes about 5.3% of South Africa’s GDP, comprising 2.76% directly from the retail aftermarket and a further 2.33% from manufacturing

Number of People under Your Leadership: Twelve direct reports, each with teams beneath them: the constituent association directors, the regional offices, IT, compliance, quality and new mobility

Management Style: Direct, honest and allergic to politics. Bad news does not improve with age

Personal Best Achievement: The commercial side of AutoTrader’s digital transformation. People move when they understand the why

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: My father. He spent 40 years in the South African Police Service (SAPS). He rose through the ranks on merit, becoming a general after 1994 and retiring as a general in the post of divisional commissioner of the SAPS Training Division. He loved us through protecting and providing, long before I recognised it as love. It was quiet and consistent and it held our whole world up. I only understood it fully once I had children of my own and found myself trying to give them the same

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: George Mienie, CEO of AutoTrader. He believed comfort and growth do not share an office, and he managed me accordingly. Stretch roles, hard conversations, questions I could not yet answer. He backed me publicly and challenged me privately, which is rarer than it should be. I lead people the same way now because of him

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Rassie Erasmus. How do you carry the pressure nobody sees?

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Willem Roos of OUTsurance. The standard set there has followed me everywhere since

Philosophy of Life: Do right when nobody is watching. Stay uncomfortable enough to keep learning

Biggest Ever Opportunity: My current role. The industry carried me for 23 years. This is my chance to carry some of it back

Biggest Ever Disappointment: The years I gave to work while my children grew. Home after bedtime, weekends behind a laptop, and I called it providing. I am correcting it now. You do not get those years back

Hope for the Future: That we hand this industry over better than we found it

Favourite Reading: Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, Jim Collins’ Good to Great and Legacy, James Kerr’s book on the All Blacks. I like business books with scars in them

Favourite TV Programme: Whatever channel has rugby on it – Springboks first, franchise second

Favourite Food/Drink: A cappuccino, and my mother’s frikkadel bolletjies

Favourite Music: It depends on the day

Favourite Sport: Rugby, watching it and living it. My Saturdays belong to the school fields

Hobbies: Sport, these days mostly from the sidelines

Car: A Nissan NP200 does the weekday work. Something larger comes out on weekends when the whole family loads up

Pets: My children’s pets, which all end up being mine

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Unchecked numbers presented as fact, and problems hidden until they turn expensive

Married: To Rene

Children: A daughter aged 21 and sons aged 18, 13 and 10

Clubs: None