7/31/2019 Brainstorm Magazine - Growing Something out of Nothing - Featuring Rob Sussman - November 2012

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7/31/2019 Brainstorm Magazine - Growing Something out of Nothing - Featuring Rob Sussman - November 2012

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7/31/2019 Brainstorm Magazine - Growing Something out of Nothing - Featuring Rob Sussman - November 2012

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inDePthPersonality profle

November 2012 brainstorm

Visitors to the ofces of

Integr8 might notice

that all the teacups on

the shelves are lined

up with the corporate

logo neatly facing for-

ward. Not a single one

is chipped or cracked, because a company

slack enough to tolerate broken cups will

also tolerate business proposals sent out

with coffee stains on them.

Integr8s joint CEO Rob Sussman is

deadly serious as he tells me this, thensees my expression and grins. Im fanati-

cal about everything being organised. I

know its anal, but I believe its important,

he says. If you make a big thing about little

things, then the big things become impor-

tant as well. The ofce has to be immacu-

late. I can drive myself berserk so I must

drive my people absolutely crazy. I some-

times have to apologise and say this is how

I am, everything has to be perfect, but its

worked well for us.

Sussman founded and grew the Integr8

group with his brother-in-law Lance Fanaroff.

Its a real family business, with his wife Tamithe chief marketing ofcer, his mother-in-law

the client relationship manager, his mother

running the companys property portfolio,

Fanaroffs brother running the IT rental divi-

sion, his sister in ofce administration and a

brother-in-law working as a project manager.

The group has about 540 other employees

too, making it the largest privately-owned

ICT company in Africa.

Sussman is only 38 and looks younger,

with gelled, spiky hair and a lean body

honed by daily workouts. I used to be the

wd Rb Sssn, Iner8, sys he hs priclrindse h ndersnds hw cpers hink.

phrphySa Gll

youngest guy in the boardroom, but now

the average age is 26. So Im the old, grey-

haired one, except I dont have any yet, he

jokes, nger-combing his funky hair and

sipping a Diet Coke.

Hes come a long way since his inauspi-

cious school days and directionless adoles-

cence in Cape Town.

I did computing in Standard Eight and

dropped out, thinking it wasnt for me. We

had to code to make a green turtle run

around a screen and we spent ages doing

that. At the end, you had a turtle runningaround and I thought, What on earth was

that all about?

A a-a He also dropped out of biology and ac-

counting, worrying his mother by his lack

of academic prowess. But his father was

unfazed. My father was very chilled and

laid-back. If Id followed my dad, Id be

working on Greenmarket Square or renting

out chairs on the beach, he says. Schoo

didnt interest me. I didnt like the academic

side or the structured environment. Later

I also learned the corporate environmentwasnt something I enjoyed. Im more in

tune with the entrepreneurial world.

Most of his friends went to university

but Sussman didnt. He had no plans at

all, so he enrolled for the easiest-possible

year-long business course, then skipped

most lectures.

His life was going nowhere, but when his

father decided to move on, his entire world

changed. You know how people say you

have an ah-ha moment? Well, I got a prop-

er klap as a wake-up call. Within the space

of six months, my parents got divorced, my

older sister went to live in Johannesburg

my younger sister went to live in Israel and

the family house was sold. My mom and

I moved into a guest house and shared a

room with our dog. I thought if theres ever

a time to wake up, its now.

Losing his whole family support system

was the turning point. He enrolled for elec-

tronics at a technical college, followed by a

7/31/2019 Brainstorm Magazine - Growing Something out of Nothing - Featuring Rob Sussman - November 2012

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November 2012 brainstorm34

if iD foLLoweD my DAD, iD be workinG on GreenmArket

SquAre or rentinG out chAirS on the beAch.RoB SuSSmaN, INtEgR8

inDePthPersonality Profile

three-year course in electrical engineering.

I excelled. I learned to listen in class, stud -

ied hard and did my homework every day.

Gg alA job with IT company Bhekisizwe taught

him how to build computers. He also

took a Microsoft course and lobbied his

managers to let him launch a Microsoft

business unit. When they refused, Suss-

man quit to set up a Microsoft integration

company on his own.

I realised I had a particular mindset that

understood how computers think. I justkind of get it; maybe Im wired that way. So

I went on my own and started selling com-

puters to friends and then to businesses.

Despite his lethargic start, Sussman

quickly got his act together. I missed out

on the phase of partying and drugging. I

didnt smoke and I didnt drink. I was too

busy working and looking after my moth-

er. Saturday nights consisted of movies

with my girlfriend and my mom.

If his girlfriend tolerated his mother

joining them on dates, she was deni tely

a keeper, I say. She was, and theyre still

together two decades later.

Hes also still very close to his mother,

and treated her to a European cruise for

her 68th birthday, where she attracted

envious glances from old dowagers con-

vinced she was travelling with a toy boy.

Despite good looks and easy charm,

Sussman says hes only had two girl -

friends, one from 16 to 18, and Tami from

the age of 18. Im very much a long-term

player, he says. I pick something and I

give it a proper go.

Tami now wants children, and Sussmanis happy to oblige. My wife wants kids, so

kids shell get, he says indulgently. The

reason they are still child-free is because

they have both focussed so hard on build-

ing the business.

What really kick-started his career was

when one of his sisters introduced him to

her boyfriend, Lance Fanaroff. Fanaroff was

a businessman importing glass at the time,

but when he won an IT networking contract,

he commissioned Sussman to conduct the

work. As the scope of the job grew, they

joined forces to launch a company, initially

working with business partner Mark Levy

who later left to form Blue Label.

b ad sThis was at the height of the dotcomboom, and they sold the business to a big

ger company with big dreams of listing

But that plan burst along with the dotcom

bubble, leaving the trio with nothing.

We had nothing. No customers, no in

come, no money, Sussman recalls.

The trio each stumped up R150 000

to create another company, Integr8IT, in

March 2001.

They continually reinvest the prots

into the business, rather than splurging

on luxuries. I ask if he has any extrava

gances at all, and his answer is the gym

Hes serious. Not a ashy car, luxuryhouse or baths in champagne, but tness

sessions. Trying to uncover any vices in

this good, clean-living Jewish boy is a

hopeless challenge.

He lives in an apartment in Cape Towns

Mouille Point, built when Integr8 rst invest

ed in commercial property developments

That shows how Sussman is happy to dip

into various ventures rather than being an

IT devotee. I think Im an entrepreneur, he

says. I like to grow things out of nothing.

He didnt come from money or a fancy edu

cation, he says proudly, pointing out wha

a successful enterprise they have grownfrom three initially small investments.

Hes also learned the importance o

a properly structured corporation, over

coming his initial dislike of such formal

ity. I have gured it out, he grins. I now

realise why corporate systems exist to

enable companies to grow.

His growth plans are hugely ambi

tious, with an aim of doubling in size ev

ery year for the next three years. Tha

could involve listing or a take-over by

a larger company. Not chasing growth

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with 550 PeoPLe, itS not A cLoSe-knit

fAmiLy buSineSS. itS not SittinG ArounD

with PizzA by the PooL.

RoB SuSSmaN, INtEgR8

inDePthPersonality profle

would be unfair to the young employees

who want to learn and join the manage -

ment team and become partners and

directors, he adds.

I chase success, and I dont think suc-

cess is money. Money can come from suc-

cess, but you can inherit a lot of money and

it doesnt make you a success. For me,

success is growing things out of nothing.

idas acyWhat he is growing now is ZunguZ, an

application developed to let Facebook

users securely transfer money to and

from their Facebook contacts.

Integr8s ideas machine usually begins

when Sussman comes up with some-

thing new and proposes it to Fanaroff.

Instead of picking holes or shooting it

down, Fanaroff tends to stretch things

into even greater possibilities. As much

as I present an idea, he catapults it even

further. I plant the seed, he waters it and

I have to trim it back. Its a fantastic rela-

tionship and works really well.Discussing the creation of new ven-

tures makes Sussman realise that that

is what keeps him interested in being at

the helm even though Integr8 has grown

into a serious corporation. Yet some-

times he questions whether being join

CEO is still the perfect role.

With 550 people, its not a close-kni

family business. Its not sitting around

with pizza by the pool, he says. As the

business grows, its no longer about youits about your people and what they de

mand and their careers. You doubt your

self. You sometimes sit in a meeting and

think, I wonder if Im the right guy for the

job now? We have put brilliant people

in the right roles to run the business on

a day-to-day basis and a lot of them are

better than I am.

Yet hes very much the leader, and

still loving it. As our evening interview

ends, he tells me hes going straigh

back to work. I cant wait to see whats

happening and whos done what. Work

isnt work its what I want to do. It s mypassion, he says. I get into bed at nigh

with my laptop and work.

Which is one thing that may have to

change, or those elusive children could

remain some way off yet.

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