Kobus Wiese Tough and Intimidating – and a Great Businessman
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3 Kobus Wiese Tough and intimidating – and a great businessman The All Blacks’ haka was in full swing … it was a hot Saturday after- noon, on 24 June 1995. The venue was Ellis Park, Johannesburg; the spectators were shouting and singing ‘Shosholoza’ … a cacophony of sound and a variety of contorted facial expressions by the All Black team of Sean Fitzpatrick were directed at the unlikely finalists in the 1995 Rugby World Cup, the Springboks of François Pienaar. One huge Springbok stood out from everybody else as the Spring- boks faced the haka, and menacingly he advanced towards the All Blacks, breaking the line the Boks had formed before the opposing team. The big number five was totally oblivious to everything around him, advancing with the whole Springbok team following a few metres behind, until he was less than a metre from the haka performers. The man? Kobus Wiese … intimidating as only he can be. He was a giant on the field: tough, uncompromising and unshakeable. Off the field, he was a gentleman: a soft-spoken, wealthy businessman who was always ready to help. from locker room to boardroom The Springboks went on to win the Rugby World Cup 15-12 on that day in extra time. Their defiant response to the haka on that occasion and the stare-down between the Springboks and All Blacks from a metre apart will be remembered for a long time. The history of the haka is interesting: ‘The haka was adopted by the New Zealand national rugby union team and has been performed by them at every local and international match since 1905. Over the years they have most commonly performed the haka “Ka Mate”. In the early decades of international rugby, they sometimes performed other haka, some of which were composed for specific tours. Since 2005 they have occasionally performed a new haka, “Kapa o Pango”. The performance of the haka has been called ‘the greatest ritual in world sport.’* In 1997, Richard Cockerill was disciplined for responding to the haka before the start of an England versus All Blacks game. Cockerill went toe to toe with his opposite number Norm Hewitt while they per- formed the haka. The referee became so concerned that Hewitt and Cockerill would begin fighting that he pushed Cockerill away from Hewitt. Cockerill went on to say afterwards, ‘I believe that I did the right thing that day. They were throwing down a challenge and I showed them I was ready to accept it. I’m sure they would rather we did that than walk away.’ Ignoring the haka is a tactic sometimes used by opposing teams. Famously, the Australian rugby team did a warm-up drill well away from the All Blacks during their 1996 Test match in Wellington. More recently, the Italian rugby team ignored the haka during a 2007 World Cup pool match. All Black team member Keven Mealamu said later that in his opinion the snub had backfired and motivated his team instead. Australian back David Campese often ignored the haka, * Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haka; www.606v2.com/t7158-thehaka-how-would- you-handle-it; Kobus Wiese and the Haka 26 Kobus Wiese most notably in the 1991 World Cup semi-final, when he chose to prac- tise warm-up drills instead of face the All Blacks. In 1989, as the All Blacks were performing the haka at Lansdowne before playing Ireland, the Irish lined up facing them and then edged closer and closer to the All Blacks. By the end of the haka, Irish captain Willie Anderson was only inches away from Buck Shelford’s face. In 2005, the All Blacks agreed to a request from the Welsh Rugby Union to repeat the sequence of events from the original match a cen- tury before in 1905. This involved the All Blacks performing the haka after ‘God Defend New Zealand’ and before ‘Hen Wlad fy Nhadau’. But for the November 2006 Test, when the Welsh Rugby Union demanded a repeat of this sequence, the All Blacks refused, and instead chose to perform the haka in their changing room before the match. All Blacks captain Richie McCaw defended the decision by stating that the haka was ‘integral to New Zealand culture and the All Blacks’ heritage’ and ‘if the other team wants to mess around, we’ll just do the haka in the shed’. The crowd was unhappy about not seeing the haka and only being shown brief footage on the screens at the Millennium Stadium. Of the 1995 World Cup, Wiese recalled that he ‘was just so incredibly motivated after President Mandela came on the pitch wearing François’ number six, nobody and nothing could stop us on that day.’ Jakobus Johannes Wiese, better known as Kobus Wiese, born 16 May 1964 in Paarl, played at lock for the Springboks between 1993 and 1996. He played in the provincial Currie Cup for the Golden Lions (former team of the Transvaal). When he took over as captain of the Golden Lions, he was asked about his aims: ‘I simply want to do it my way, to give my best for the team, to take us back where we belong,’ Wiese said. When he was part of the 1995 Rugby World Cup squad, he was banned and fined for punching and knocking out Derwyn Jones of Wales in the Boks’ 40-11 win. Jones was a major line-out threat and was 27 from locker room to boardroom knocked out by a punch from behind in the fourth minute of the match. Wiese received a 30-day ban and a fine of R50 000, but he did manage to score a try in the match! Wiese played rugby for Boland, Western Transvaal and Transvaal, and he toured as a Springbok to Australia in 1993, New Zealand, Wales, Scotland and Ireland in 1994, Italy and England in 1995, and Argentina, France and Wales in 1996. He was, of course, a member of the World Cup–winning squad in 1995, becoming a national hero overnight. He was then appointed to the Golden Lions’ captaincy when François Pienaar left the country. Life after rugby Wiese is currently the owner of a chain of coffee shops and CEO of a coffee-roasting factory in Johannesburg, as well as a consultant and TV presenter. Kobus, Cornel and Ben Wiese initially conceived the business concept of Wiesenhof Coffees in a small coffee shop in 1996. The two Wiese brothers, Kobus and Cornel, began roasting their own coffee beans, and soon the demand for their gourmet coffee and their passionate customer service escalated and the business started expanding rapidly into cof- fee products, coffee machines, consumables, disposables and franchised coffee shops. Their unique style, friendliness and the taste of their coffee beans were very well received and seemed to be a recipe for success. As a result, the decision was made to start importing coffee beans on a larger scale, and so the Wiesenhof Coffee Roastery (Pty) Ltd and the Wiesenhof Coffee Group (Pty) Ltd were established. Wiesenhof Coffees is now the fastest-growing coffee company in South Africa, with plans to expand internationally. ‘It’s very rewarding to see someone prepare a nice cup of coffee for a customer; coffee-making is an art, it’s a matter of finding the right 28 Kobus Wiese quality of the beans, mixing the right blend. Here in South Africa we have the attitude that being a waiter or a barman is the last way out. In Europe it’s not an occupation people look down upon, it’s like a normal profession,’ says Wiese. Within a short while people were enquiring about the possibility of opening a franchise under the Wiesenhof name – 10 years later there are more than 60 franchised Wiesenhof businesses across South Africa, selling a range of foods from salads to steaks and, of course, a unique South African coffee. Wiese understood hard work, whether it was on the rugby field or in business. He applied the same principles diligently in his unwavering quest to build Wiesenhof into one of the most respected coffee-brand franchises in South Africa. Although Wiese is not involved in the business on a full-time basis (his chief executive officer, Rob Barrett, runs the operation), he says modestly, ‘I just make sure I contribute positively towards the business.’ i don’t think you should ever manage anything that you don’t care passionately about – D.A. Coleman ‘Firstly,’ Wiese says, ‘you need to surround yourself with a great manage- ment team that is competent and understands the business, but is also willing to adapt to change. I think I have that and have the right set of people. We went through a rebranding exercise which was quite emotional because you think you have all the right ideas, then other people come in and suggest changing this, doing this a different way, etcetera. At first you kick against it, but when you take the emotion out of it, you realise there are a lot of people out there with great ideas.’ In the end, however, Wiese was comfortable with the rebranding of his products and believes that it was the right decision to take, as the new look of the brand was generally well received by the public. 29 from locker room to boardroom An important business goal was to get the franchise model going, which created a great deal of anxiety, as a number of well-known franchises had recently failed and the model had to be absolutely right. Wiese started by approving a special list of suppliers who needed to meet very strict criteria in terms of quality and reliability, and they had to be compliant with the ISO standards.