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    2008-07-03

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    Jun 26th 2008
    From The Economist print edition
    2008年6月28《经济学人》印刷版

    Kuseni Dlamini, Anglo American’s new boss in South Africa, has worked his way up a white-dominated firm
    英美能源南非公司新老板Kuseni Dlamini在一个由白人主导的公司以他自己的方式推进公司发展。



    AFTER almost three years at the helm of the largest coal-export terminal in the world, Kuseni Dlamini is about to return to his mining roots. On July 1st he will take on a new job as head of Anglo American South Africa, the global mining giant’s subsidiary there. It will be something of a homecoming for Mr Dlamini, who has spent his entire career within the Anglo American and De Beers stable.
    在执掌世界上最大的煤炭出口公司三年后，Kuseni Dlamini即将回归他的采矿老本行。从7月1日起Dlamini将上任他的新工作——英美能源公司南非区总裁。此次上任对Dlamini来说有点回家的意思，因为他的大部分职业生涯都在英美能源公司和戴比尔斯度过。

    This makes him a rarity in South African business, where many ambitious black executives waltz from job to job at firms competing over a small number of talented black managers, or jump on the bandwagon of black economic empowerment (BEE)—the government redistribution scheme meant to redress the economic injustices of apartheid. Lazarus Zim, a previous boss of Anglo American South Africa, left in 2006 to set up a BEE investment firm after just a year in the job.
    这使得Dlamini在南非商业界很特别。在那里，很多雄心勃勃的黑人经理在不同的公司间跳来跳去，同少数很有天赋的黑人经理竞争，或者扑向了比较流行的“赋予黑人经济权利”，（BEE）这是南非政府的重新分配政策计划，它将纠正那些由于种族隔离而造成的经济上的不平等。上一任英美能源公司南非区负责人Lazarus Zim在工作一年后于2006年辞职去建立了BEE投资公司。

    But Mr Dlamini has chosen to stay within one field and hone his skills over many years. “If South Africa is to prosper,” he maintains, “we need a critical mass of competent, effective black managers” who can compete globally—the way top Indian or Malaysian executives do. Anglo American and De Beers operate in many different countries and industries. “I’ve always found the next challenge within the group more compelling than those from outside,” says Mr Dlamini.
    但是Dlamini先生已经选择先待在一个领域磨练一些年。他提到“如果南非继续保持繁荣，那么我们将需要许多有能力的高效的黑人经理人，他们能够像顶尖的印度人或者马来西亚人那样，在全球范围内竞争。”英美能源和戴斯比尔在世界上许多国家开展业务，“我已经发现未来来自集团内部的挑战要远比来自集团外部的挑战急迫的多。” Dlamini讲到。

    Yet life in a mining group long dominated by conservative South African white men has not always been easy. Over the years, many black executives found the corporate culture hard to stomach and departed, even before BEE started offering a faster route to riches. Mr Dlamini, blessed with a dogged determination, support from senior people inside and outside the group, and an ability to adapt to alien environments, stayed the course. He got used to being an odd man out at Oxford University, which he attended on a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. “England was cold at first,” he remembers, making it clear that he is not just talking about the weather. But studying there was ultimately a fulfilling and unforgettable experience that broadened his interests and taught him to remain a perpetual student.
    一个黑人在长期以来一直由白人主导的矿业领域总是很艰难。多年以来，很多黑人经理人认同和接受那样的公司文化很不容易的，即使是在BEE推出以前能够较快地富裕起来。Dlamini先生有着坚强的决心，并且受到集团内部和外部的大力支持，同时有能力适应南非这种外国环境，坚持到底。Dlamini先生在牛津大学时就很异类，对此他已经很习惯了，并且他获得了令人尊敬的罗兹奖学金。他回忆说，“刚开始，英国人对他很冷漠”。这使得他需要谈论除了天气以外的其他东西。但是在英国的求学经历是充实和难忘的，因为在那段时间拓展了他的兴趣，并使他学会要终身学习。

    Bobby Godsell, the former head of AngloGold, became one of Mr Dlamini’s mentors after convincing him to join the group in the mid-1990s, fresh from England’s rain and libraries. But Mr Godsell sent him to De Beers, the diamond company in which Anglo American owns a 45% stake. “He thought that the gold division was too rough for an Oxford man. And he was right!” says Mr Dlamini. “When I was ready for gold, then I went for gold.”
    上个世纪90年代中期，英国黄金的前任主席Bobby Godsell在确认Dlamini要加入公司后成为他的导师，那是Dlamini刚刚从英国完成学业。但是，Godsell先生把他派到戴比尔斯公司（这是一家在英美能源公司拥有45%股份的钻石公司）。因为Godsell认为黄金板块对于一个牛津毕业生来说太广泛而陌生了。最后证明“他是对的，当我准备好去黄金部门时，他就让我去了。”Dlamini说。

    The arrival last year of Anglo American’s new chief executive, Cynthia Carroll—an American who, unlike her predecessors, was not groomed within the group—has also changed the mood within Anglo. The board appointed Mrs Carroll to shake things up, and Mr Dlamini is determined to do his bit. His role in South Africa will be to advance Mrs Carroll’s “one Anglo” vision—which involves instilling a common sense of purpose, direction and values across the group. He will also manage Anglo’s relations with the South African government, local communities and civil society, which have in the past been prickly. And, much like Mr Zim before him, he hopes to bring more diversity into Anglo’s ranks and groom a new generation of managers. Although Mr Dlamini will not have operational oversight of the mining businesses in South Africa, which range from platinum to coal, he will have a seat on the group’s executive committee in London.
    去年上任的英美能源首席执行官Cynthia Carroll是一个美国人，不像他的前任，他不是由集团董事会推荐的，他的到来改变了公司的氛围。董事会委任Carroll进行重组事宜，Dlamini决心要尽自己一份力。Dlamini在南非的角色是Carroll所推行的“一个英国”的先行试验，它包括向其传递公司愿景、公司目标和企业价值。同时他还要搞好Anglo与南非政府、媒体和社会团体的关系，而在过去他们的关系是很尖锐的。就像Zim的前任，Dlamini希望给公司等级带来更多的灵活性，并推荐新一代的经理人。尽管Dlamini先生对于南非矿业生意（从白金到煤炭）上没有什么战略全局上的把握，但他仍将在伦敦集团执行委员会任职。

    Mr Dlamini has experience on his side. During his two and a half years running Richards Bay Coal Terminal (RBCT) on the northern coast of KwaZulu Natal, Mr Dlamini has done much to improve tense relations with the government and the state-owned rail company that brings coal to the terminal. He pushed through the ambitious 1.1 billion rand ($137m) expansion plan that had been languishing for several years, tangled in red tape and rail problems. This will boost the coal terminal’s capacity from 72m to 91m tonnes a year by 2009. Besides helping South Africa’s gaping trade deficit, more exports means more coal mining, which should create 3,500 more jobs.
    Dlamini先生有他自己的优势。在经营KwaZulu Natal东海岸的RBCT公司两年半的时间里，Dlamini先生做了很多工作来缓解和当地政府和国有铁路公司（靠这些铁路把煤炭运送到终端市场）的关系。他完成了谋求多年的价值11亿兰特（1.37亿美元）扩张计划。这把公司煤炭输送能力从现在的720万吨提高到09年的91万吨。除了帮助南非缩小贸易赤字外，由于更多的出口意味着需要更多的煤炭，而这将给当地带来3,500个就业岗位。

    Back to the mine
    回到矿山

    At the same time, Mr Dlamini transformed RBCT, in which Anglo, along with Africa’s other big coal producers, owns a stake. The company had long been seen as “a closed club dominated by the old boys of the mining sector,” he says. Having previously exported only coal produced by its shareholders, it began opening up in 2003, setting aside an annual 4m tonnes of export capacity for smaller firms. But under Mr Dlamini’s stewardship, emerging black-owned coal producers were brought in as shareholders, and more export capacity was earmarked for small companies. Thanks to shallow and abundant coal reserves, South Africa’s coal industry includes a multitude of small companies desperately looking for access to export markets.
    与此同时，Dlamini对RBCT进行改造，使非洲其他大的煤炭生产商和Anglo一起持有RBCT的股份。而这个公司长期以来一直被看作是“一个由煤矿业元老们主导的少数人的俱乐部”，Dlamini说道。2003年以前，RBCT只出口其股东所产的煤炭，从那以后它变得更开放了，给那些小公司每年4百万吨的出口限额。但是，在Dlamini身份的影响下，一些黑人拥有的煤炭生产商作为公司股东也加入进来，这使得那些小公司有更多的出口份额了。由于南非的煤炭资源埋藏浅而且储量丰富，南非的煤炭工业包括大量小公司，它们拼命地寻找途径来出口其煤炭。

    Mr Dlamini also helped make RBCT more commercial in its outlook, increasing efficiency and productivity. “It was time to run it as a business,” he says. The terminal, which handles almost all South Africa’s coal exports, is seen as one of the best-run in the world. Because RBCT is far from its export markets, it has to compensate by minimising the time-to-market through faster processing. Over 70% of its exports go to Europe.
    Dlamini还帮助RBCT使其观念更具商业化，并不断提升其效率和生产力。“是时候像商业一样运作它了”，他说道。RBCT的终端控制着南非所有的煤炭出口，它被认为是世界上运作最好的一个。由于RBCT远离其出口市场，因此它必须补偿由于通过加快流程缩短进入市场时间而带来的便利。据悉，RBCT超过70%的出口输往欧洲。

    In his new job Mr Dlamini will need drive, discipline and diplomacy. Calm and composed in person, he is equally at ease talking at the World Economic Forum about South Africa’s “moral and commercial imperative” to lead innovation in clean-coal technology as he is addressing employees outside RBCT’s offices, as monkeys hang from the branches of the tropical garden and eye the roast chicken served on paper plates. Mr Dlamini only loses his poise when asked about his age. “You can’t ask me that!” he exclaims, and bursts out laughing.
    Dlamini的新工作需要驱动力、纪律和对外交往。一脸平静的他在世界经济论坛上平等地畅谈南非的“道德和商业规则”， 并随着RBCT从公司外雇佣新人，大胆变革和创新，将引领清洁煤炭技术方面的变革。Dlamini只有当问到他的年龄时，他才变得激动起来，“你不应该问我这个”，Dlamini说完后突然又笑了起来。

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