Full Name: Gitan Kumar Kantilal

Position: CEO of Dynamic Supply Chain Management Consultants

Main Activity of the Company: Creating sustainable solutions in the supply chain industry and fleet management space

Date and Place of Birth: May 17, 1968, Johannesburg

Education: Matric, BTech (logistics

First Job: Stock controller at Unitrans

Size of First Pay Packet: R2 000 a month

First Job with Present Group: CEO

Value of Assets under Your Control: About R150-million

Number of People under Your Leadership: About 20

Management Style: I set high standards on performance and am obsessive about doing things better and smarter and I require that my staff do the same. Teamwork is important, as is working to non-negotiable deadlines, as well as working with a ‘can do’ attitude. I also strongly believe that one must never leave anything for tomorrow if it can be done today

Personal Best Achievement: Being able to create a vision to build a brand that provides a high level of service with sustainable models in which both company and supplier enjoy win-win rewards-based solutions

Professional Best Achievement: Saving multinationals millions of rands, thereby enabling them not to pass on price increases to the consumer in terms of distribution costs

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Life: SP Choudary, of United Breweries

Person Who Has Had the Biggest Influence on Your Career: No one in particular but many that I have met on the journey to where I am today

Person You Would Most Like to Meet: Sergio Marchionne – he runs two giant automakers headquartered on different continents. One executive once told the Financial Times that the Fiat/Chrysler CEO “invented an eighth day and we work it”

Businessperson Who Has Impressed You Most: Sir Ratan Tata, an art connoisseur and notable philanthropist. His legacy of support for the poor and the oppressed lives on in the activities of the Sir Ratan Tata Trust

Philosophy of Life: You win some and you lose sometimes but learning from losing creates better odds to winning further down the line

Biggest Ever Opportunity: Buying my first 100 cars from Fiat

Biggest Ever Disappointment: I can only quote Martin Luther King Jr, who said: “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.”

Hope for the Future: That we create solutions that no supercomputer can create, exploiting human intelligence to the extreme

Favourite Reading: I am currently reading The Murder of Normal Ware, by Rosamund Kendal. I thoroughly enjoyed her previous book, Karma Suture. I have huge admiration and respect for South African authors, including Ansal Kusum, JM Coetzee and Arundhati Roy. My all-time favourite is Heat and Dust, by Ruth Prawer Jhabvala

Favourite TV Programme: CSI/NCIS

Favourite Food/Drink: Being a vegetarian, all things Italian

Favourite Music: R ’n B, old-school 80s and 90s

Favourite Sport: Soccer

Car: Jeep Cherokee

Pets: Two dogs – an Alsatian (Duke) and toy pom (Champ)

Miscellaneous Dislikes: Mediocre customer service and lack of urgency

Favourite Other South African Company: Blue Label Telecoms, which was started by two brothers and has become a force to be reckoned with

Favourite Foreign Company: Tata Grou

Married: To Sandy, since May 16, 1992

Children: Sachin, 16, and Ishan, 15 – my absolute joy and pride and my best achievement to date

Clubs: The Absa Running Club