Meet the Boss: Jaco Lotz, ‎International Business Development Executive, ADvTECH

Jaco Lotz

1. What was your first job?

Project accountant at Shoprite Checkers in Cape Town.

2. What parts of your job keep you awake at night?

To align South African thinking with the rest of the continent, and to explain our specific environment in South Africa better to the rest of the continent’s people that I engage with.

3. Who has had the biggest impact on your career and why?

I’ve learnt a great deal from every business leader I worked with. I was blessed to work for passionate, focused and highly driven men and women throughout my career.

4. What is the best professional advice you’ve ever received?

Listen well to the focused and passionate people in the organisation as they hold most of the answers to growth and sustainable business strategies.

5. The top reasons why you have been successful in business?

I’ve been frequently exposed to new challenges through changes in my career path and have been blessed with good health and energy to focus on these and develop through the learning curve.

6. Where’s the best place to prepare for leadership? Business school or on the job?

Both. One needs to understand the various theories to leadership and then need to practice on the job to develop the various leadership styles required for different scenarios.

7. How do you relax?

Engaging with friends, my dogs and family. I like to spent as much time as possible in nature to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation.

8. By what time in the morning do you like to be at your desk?

It varies as I do not run a precise schedule. But I normally start to work between 07h30 and 09h00 in the morning.

9. Your favourite job interview question?

Should you be on your deathbed at the end of your life and looking back over the extend of your time on earth, what will bring a smile to your face in those last two minutes on earth ?

10. What is your message to Africa’s aspiring business leaders and entrepreneurs?

We are destined to unleash the true potential of this continent. To do this over the next decades we need to develop strategies to work more effectively and passionately together across the man-made borders of this continent. Africa is rising and make sure that you contribute positively towards a sustainable and more homogeneous future for all who loves her dearly.

ADvTECH is a South Africa-based private education company.