Lesang Magang makin' it rain dollars and sense

I've seen the Oppenheimers grow De Beers over 150 years when reading about them and you aren't going to be a chief executive of De Beers unless you are an Oppenheimer. I'm simply saying part of the problem in Botswana is we don't create wealth for the next generation because what happens is you own a moraka, your kids go and get a qualification then they go into different businesses;' says Lesang Magang MD of Phakalane Estates as he establishes one of the reasons why he has only ever worked for the family business. The 33-year-old development itself has a very long history that is quite literally ground breaking, ambitious, visionary and controversial; however it is also currently, arguably the best address in Botswana especially if you can afford a property over looking a world class golf course. As much as the development of the family business is Magang's priority, it isn't the only nine-iron that David and Dorcas Magang's first born has in the fire.

In typically straightforward and actually insightful terms Magang elaborates: "This is how we introduced the story, people can buy houses on instalment basis, it's like people who drive the Range Rover they drive, not because they can afford 800 000 bucks but because they can afford the instalment:' So from making it affordable and convenient to have a desirable address the other aspect that Magang is passionate about is sharing the positive effects of owning land in the estate.”We can have the most elite residential suburb whether it's comparable to the Palm Jumeriahs in Dubai; we are still going to attract the most exclusive people. It's like if our country can only have three-star hotels guess what! You only attract three-star clientele; three-star investor; three-star everything. If you're five-star you attract five-star, if you're seven-star you attract seven-star, just like Dubai;' enthuses Magang on the sort of opportunities that would be available to Botswana as a side effect of having wealthy residents living at Phakalane. Even the talented job-seeker would feel the positive effects, not to mention the tax man as more money circulates in the economy. "I don't even have enough cousins to hire so when I do things it's for the benefit of the country so whether you like me or not, envious or not;' Magang says candidly. It seems that Magang is going to see his projects through despite the many challenges he has faced, whether they were bureaucratic, petty, personal, unnecessary, lack of capacity or just because the Phakalane plans were ahead of the time. The man does have some advantages that he has drawn from to get as far as he has come. Being a Magang is considered privileged, an achievement of only one generation, however it's not easy as Magang explains, "Every time, it doesn't matter what I do, everybody's going to say it's because ke ngwana waga Rre Magang. But I say yeah it is an advantage but at the same time I had to do what I had to do but I have to be tested every time:' And the testing did not start with joining the family business. Looking back at the educational journey of Magang one would find him to have a wide range of experiences, from being an astute organiser, a debate champion, a thorough political animal, and at one point a real possibility that he might lose his father prematurely due to a car accident.

This sort of resilience and discipline was nurtured from the very beginning as Magang's mother used to say to him, "When term starts every year you must be in front of the class, when you are in a queue you must be in front of the queue; because if you are in front you hear the information before the kid at the back" In 1989 after completing his a-levels at Maru-a-pula (MAP) Magang was shipped off to Oxford in England to do his A-levels. "I did my A-levels at a tutorial college at Oxford. College wasn't that fancy, most of the tutors where lecturers in university so they used to teach A-levels part-time to supplement their income;' explained Magang about his Oxford days. The fact that the classes were rather informal made Magang maintain the discipline he had learnt at MAP, as well as a temporary disadvantage which helped him focus. Magang explains, "I started my A-levels a term late because my finals at MAP ended at an odd time as to theirs and because of that I was left behind so I had to double up past lessons and current lessons to catch up a term's work and remember I wasn't the smartest of kids at MAP I was just an average B plus!" Magang was sponsored by his parents who were at the same time developing a project that is now known as Phakalane Estates. Money was not in plentiful supply at the time unlike with some of his fellow students in his class who were from wealthy West African families.

The young Magang was well aware of this and maintained his discipline and eventually finished second in his class of six students. "A private tutorial is not for you if you are not disciplined because you can actually do nothing, lecturers are not going to tell you off. For me it was like 'get on with it, get those grades, get to university; I had no option of retakes;' says Magang. Instead of business studies in London, law in Birmingham was next for the more mature Magang at the University of Central England in Birmingham (UCE) where he was at an advantage. Magang tells it like it is, "When you get to Birmingham all of a sudden you look impressive because you speak better English than most people because of their accent. My lecturers used to ask me 'where are you originally from Mr Magang?' I'd say I'm not originally from anywhere but I'm from Botswana!" Evidently the lecturers believed that Magang must have been somewhere to learn English before coming to Birmingham. While at UCE, Debate, an activity that had begun in Oxford, blossomed and was to become something of a guiding influence in Magang's life. Speaking about debate Magang says, "By the time I got to university I was ready for debating competitions. I was in the senior team from year one right up until I graduated. I then ended up doing Observer Meeting competitions which was the most prestigious aspect of the competitions where I made it to the semi finals. The satisfying thing was beating Cambridge, Nottingham University and all the top universities and law universities along the way:’ The long lasting effects of having been proficient in debate meant a person was worldly wise as well as being well versed on a wide range of subjects. "You are never given a topic to rehearse, every topic is given was given 10 minutes before the debate then you would be put in a proposition or opposition side. You can not BS your way through because your debating was intellectual;' says Magang. University was not all fun and games for Lesang as he also took on the responsibility of president of Botswana's Students Union for the entire UK which then comprised of about 800 students. Magang's other responsibilities included, senior debater, senior Mooter (legal debate exercise), debater in town halls for local councillors, President of the Law Society as well as studying for that law degree he initially enrolled for. Graduate he did and also managed to arrange for a very distinguished barrister called Lord William, QC. to come to UCE to speak at the graduation ball. At the ball Magang gave a well rehearsed speech that so impressed Lord William that he offered Magang a peerage, which is an internship that guarantees that you meet and interact with all the right people. However Magang passed up the opportunity and chose to come back to Botswana instead, and so a freshly graduated lawyer and champion debater returned to our borders to face new challenges. "The reason I'm giving you this background is because people think Lesang Magang just arrives, his father was a minister and yeah it's easy [for me];' Magang says. In 1994 it was anything but easy as Magang went straight into politics as 1994 was an election year. Magang's father was hospitalised at the time due to a car accident so it was the younger Magang as campaign manager who took his father's message to the constituency. Again, an advantage became a temporary disadvantage as the great debater had to switch from addressing in English to addressing in Setswana but still get his point across. At the same time Lesang was appointed MD of Phakalane Estates which he was already prepared for by virtue of spending his university holidays working with project managers to keep up with developments.

Balancing politics and the family business, Lesang advanced in the Botswana Democratic Party Youth Wing to be chairman by 1998. On the business side Magang instituted some changes as well which would ultimately payoff by not only improving the image and value of Phakalane Estates but by offering a positive investment to Botswana, Batswana and beyond Botswana is a country full of promise as we approach a milestone in our elections history where more young people than ever have registered to vote. This surge in young people wanting to take their own destiny into their hands may be an indication that maybe more of the youth will follow examples being set by the likes of Lesang Magang. Incidentally, Magang is not alone as he has a young brother, Thola who prefers to work behind the scenes and who Lesang describes as being "the harder one of the family:' Magang also credits Thola with bringing the Club House into profitability, something the hired managers never achieved. Meanwhile on the horizon fast approaching our borders is the youngest Magang, a sister called Bonang. "Wait till my sister comes back because she is smarter than Thola and I; she's got like three degrees and she's got double the pace;' a visibly excited Magang says of his youngest sibling. Basically watch this space we have seen what the Magangs are capable of, how will it be when there are five, and three of them young, tried and tested and well prepared... for their future you understand.

11 Nov 2009

Lapologa, October 2009