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The chief executive of the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market is the best man to work for in the country. He beat hundreds of entrants to claim the title Boss of the Year.
Boss of the year, Kgosietso Ramokgopa who heads up the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market
KGOSIENTSO RAMOKGOPA, the head of the Johannesburg Fresh Produce Market (JFPM), is the Boss of the Year.
The 33-year-old Ramokgopa, nicknamed "Sputla", won the title for 2008 at a ceremony held at the Montecasino Ballroom in Johannesburg on Thursday, 16 October, National Bosses Day.
He survived several rounds of the competition, beating hundreds of entrants to make it to the final six.
"It is a pleasure to congratulate Kgosientso on the achievement of having become a title bearer for the 2008 Boss of the Year Award," said Thomas Mawasha, the JFPM's marketing manager. He had nominated Ramokgopa for the award.
The Boss of the Year Award, now in its 19th year, is open to bosses throughout the country. It aims to acknowledge them and highlight the attention they pay to the needs of their workforce, as well as their leadership skills.
The awards were also seen as a barometer of the nation and its places of work, because entries received and finalists chosen each year reflected who was doing a good job and where, according to Mawasha.
Ramokgopa had brought creativity into the JFPM workplace, he said. "And this has gone some way to improving the business environment."
Impressive
Born in the township of Atteridgeville, in Tshwane, Ramokgopa has an impressive CV. He has a masters degree in public administration, another in business leadership and a bachelor of science in civil engineering listed among his academic achievements. And he is on the verge of finishing his PhD in public affairs through the University of Pretoria.
He has acquired plenty of experience in a very short space of time, having started his working life as a transport consultant in 1998. Since that time he has been a transport researcher, a councillor in the Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality and a director in a transport consulting company in Tshwane.
In 2005, Ramokgopa moved to Johannesburg to take up the position of chief executive of the Metropolitan Trading Company (MTC), a City of Johannesburg company that looks after informal trader and public transport facilities in the city.
During his stint at the MTC, he turned around the business fortunes of the company and ensured it received a clean audit report, its first ever - the entity was formed in 1999.
At the beginning of 2006, Ramokgopa took over the chief executive position at the produce market from Bernard Magabe.
Inheriting a market that needed urgent intervention in terms of infrastructure and declining transactions, especially with big retailers, Ramokgopa immediately set out to rebuild confidence in the market from those retailers who were sourcing fresh produce directly from farmers, bypassing the market.
"We are delighted that his remarkable leadership qualities [have been] given the recognition they deserve. We've known he's a dynamic and visionary leader and felt strongly that the public should also know about his leadership qualities that are alert to the demands of today's socio-economic realities," Mawasha said.
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