Unlikely trio excels in CEO challenge

A Durban beach boy, a UCT Radio jock and a hockey-cum-chess player may not be the obvious trio to take on a global corporate contest, but they did the University of Cape Town (UCT) and South Africa proud when they excelled at the recent Procter & Gamble (P&G) CEO Challenge.

Blake Springate is the beach boy, Dimpho Thepa the radio jock and Bontle Mahoda the hockey-cum-chess player, and although the team finished second in the final round, Springate, who is studying finance and accounting, was told he was the best speaker of the competition.

Thepa, who also has an eye for fashion and can herd cattle, is majoring in politics and philosophy, while Mahoda, the second youngest of four sons and who has dabbled in numerous sporting codes, is studying finance.

Late last year Springate and Mahoda, who met in first year, decided to enter the CEO Challenge as a team. Their third teammate failed the first round of the assessment.

Thepa had entered earlier in the year when P&G specifically targeted young female leaders. Her two teammates also failed to proceed past the gruelling first assessment.

According to the website, the annual challenge tests the participants’ “aptitude for business strategy and real-life problem-solving” to determine who the best candidate is to become the next P&G chief executive officer.

The four rounds include an individual assessment, the national round, regionals and then a final between regional winners. In the first round, participants undertook a 75-minute individual online assessment, in which Springate, Thepa and Mahoda all excelled.

Working and winning

A day before the national round deadline, P&G informed the three they were to join forces to represent UCT. While the two finance students had entered as a team, neither thought they knew Thepa until they realised she and Mahoda had attended primary and high school together in Limpopo.

“A day before the national round deadline, P&G informed the three they were to join forces to represent UCT.”

With the stars apparently aligning, and less than 24 hours until the submission deadline, they needed to meet – but Mahoda was travelling and Thepa was in hospital.

The three persisted, however.

Thepa was adamant she’d participate from her hospital bed ­– with permission from her doctor. So the group set up a Google Hangout, shared screens, laid the ground rules for working together, and began their virtual meeting.

“Initially, everything was everywhere, but we managed to put it all together in one place,” said Mahoda.

They pooled their skills: Springate and Mahoda had experience in start-ups and what they had learnt at UCT, while Thepa had honed her critical thinking, speed reading and training courtesy of the Allan Gray Orbis Foundation fellowship programme.

“We already had this well of knowledge to draw from, so we didn’t have to start from scratch,” said Thepa.

Three days after submitting their first group project, they learnt they were South Africa’s winning team.

“I had my coffee, was on the way to catch a Jammie, got the email and I was like, what is going on?” Mahoda recalled.

Thepa said she started screaming in the back of an Uber when she read the email, while Springate managed a surprise “yoh” when he found out.

With less than a day to prepare, the three were booked on flights to Johannesburg to compete against the winning teams from India and the Middle East.

The experience

In Johannesburg, the team officially met for the first time. They were also introduced to high-ranking P&G managers and the rest of the region’s competitors, with team-building exercises and dinners impacting on their time to prepare their brand strategy.

It was only on the morning of the presentation that the team had their final chance to strategise.

The plan was to keep the solution as simple as possible. Again, drawing on their individual past experiences and using the ground rules they’d previously laid for working together, they completed their presentation by the afternoon deadline and emailed it to P&G.

“We need to broaden our view of what’s possible with our degrees.”

The next step was to present to a panel in person, and the four competing teams made their case at P&G’s head office in Sandton.

India emerged tops, with the South Africans getting a special mention from a senior P&G executive, who said the race was a close one and that Springate was the best speaker of the competition.

What next?

Back at UCT, the three are using the experience to map out their careers.

Now that he’s been exposed to P&G, Springate is considering pursuing a career in the corporate world.

“I think the challenge has given me a big inclination to get involved in these competitions. I don’t think enough people do,” he said.

Mahoda is looking forward to building his technical skills while pursuing a master’s degree, and Thepa has fallen deeper in love with P&G.

“I am looking forward to working with P&G,” she said confidently.

Ultimately, for Thepa it’s all about taking advantage of the available opportunities while at UCT.

“We need to broaden our view of what’s possible with our degrees,” she said.