Varejes scores with Jake
Jake White could arguably have walked into any number of high-profile jobs in corporate SA. So it was a coup for controversial businessman Gavin Varejes when he secured the services of the World Cup-winning former Bok coach. White has joined Varejes’s Richmark Holdings, an investment company with stakes in a range of property and telecommunications businesses, as its “head coach” of marketing.
White, a former school teacher, says he is “finished with rugby” on a full-time basis, though he may do the odd coaching stint, and plans to dedicate all his professional time to Richmark. “This is my focus now. I’m going to give everything I can to this venture.”
Varejes is a sports fanatic. His Sandton office is adorned with Springbok memorabilia and his colleagues say he has the largest collection of sports memorabilia in the country. He is particularly fond of his latest acquisition — the rugby ball used in the World Cup final between SA and England, which White recently gave to him.
Varejes began his working life as a lifeguard on the Durban beach front. After his father kicked him out of the family home, telling him he could support himself, he signed up at a teacher training college but left before writing his final exams to do a marketing diploma. Over the years, he has started businesses in electronics goods, home shopping, telecoms and is a player in the property industry.
Today, Richmark holds stakes in a range of businesses, including Wireless Business Solutions, the holding company of iBurst, headed by Alan Knott-Craig Jr, the son of the Vodacom CEO with whom Varejes claims to be good friends.
For his part, White says he relishes the opportunity to learn about the corporate world. “It’s something that’s new to me and a challenge. There are no bad companies, just bad people. It’s all relationship-based. I would like to build relationships for the Richmark group.”
White’s new boss, though, is no stranger to controversy. He was linked to the collapse a few years ago of financial services group Tigon. He agreed to sell cellular accessories business EuroPoint, which he owned with partner Tony Strike, to Tigon in the late 1990s. But former Tigon boss Gary Porritt accused EuroPoint holding company Bestyet of fraudulently inflating EuroPoint’s financial results and sued for R210m.
Varejes is also a friend of suspended national police commissioner Jackie Selebi. The Mail & Guardian reported last June that circumstances suggested that “their friendship contributed to the vigour with which Varejes’s enemies in Tigon were investigated and charged, while related tax fraud allegations against Varejes and a partner appear not to have been pursued with any urgency”.
But Varejes says the SA Police Service was not involved in the Tigon investigation. The M&G also raised questions about Varejes footing the bill for a number of holidays taken by Selebi and his family. He says the friendship is above board. On Tigon, Varejes says Porritt tried to frame him for the frauds.
Loading ...