Director and Senior Economist

He joined the Nedcor Group in 1969 as an investment analyst and was appointed Investment Manager of the merchant bank after gaining experience in London. During this time, he completed his MBL, Cum Laude, at the University of South Africa. In 1975, he moved into the construction industry as a Financial Director and became Managing Director of Dorbyl Structural Engineering and a member of the Group Executive Committee. He later joined Murray and Roberts with responsibility for a number of diverse industrial, electronic and engineering companies. Rob has wide skills and experience ranging from negotiations with domestic and international companies and public authorities to direct line responsibility for investment decisions, mergers and acquisitions, capital projects in a range of industries, company rationalisation and restructuring, and the development and profitable growth of private and listed companies.

Rob was Chairman of the Constructional Engineers Association (CEA), the CEA representative on SEIFSA, an executive member of the Association of Steel Merchant Stockholders, as well as being active on a number of other Councils and committees. For more than twenty years, he has been involved in consulting to a range of government, corporate and private clients in investment, business and economic analysis, strategic planning, organisation structuring, mergers and acquisitions. Rob has worked closely with Econometrix for many years, both as client and in a consulting capacity, and joined the team to head up a business unit in 2004. Some recent assignments emphasize his broad knowledge, skills base and capabilities. He consults, gives presentations and lectures on current international and domestic economic developments and growth strategies including advising on investment and development strategies for multinational corporations and banking institutions.

Examples of specialised studies in the private sector include important, high profile studies involving the strategic analysis and impact of the pricing of international commodities in the domestic market, the requirements governing fair competition for listed companies and the economic impact of electronic payments for an international company. Work for government includes reports on the economic impact of alternatives governing the liquidations industry conducted for the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, industry and sectoral strategy assessments, examination of the criteria required for attracting foreign direct investment and the development of sectoral growth strategies for the Department of Trade and Industry and provincial government.