Marc Lubner – untiring worker to improve lot of the disadvantaged

SUZANNE BELLING

“My grandfather built a business around the principle of caring for people and their businesses. My father made a life of it. This is the culture in which I was raised,” Lubner told SA Jewish Report.

Born in Zimbabwe, Lubner grew up in Johannesburg and attended Hyde Park High School where he played first team rugby. He obtained a B Com degree from Wits and spent school holidays in the family business, the PG Group, and in his final year at university worked on site in the timber yard in Germiston, “to pay off a car for my girlfriend”.

It followed naturally that his grandfather gave him his first job at PG in Springs, where he worked hands-on as a glazer, before becoming glazing supervisor, working on homes in Witbank.

Lubner was elevated to manager, responsible for running multiple branches.

“At age 22, I worked literally 16 hours a day. I decided at that stage to take a year off to go travelling around the world.”

He then did his MBA at the Kellogg Business School at Northwestern University in Chicago. He made the dean’s list and started his own consulting company.

“When I saw (Nelson) Mandela was being released, I decided to come back to South Africa and rejoined the PG Group.”

A month after he married – he is now divorced, with two children – he was posted to Australia to turn a group business around. The business was later sold and Lubner returned “to work alongside my dad”, becoming involved in private equity and the Sega TV games agency, which was sold after four years to CNA Gallo.

“Whatever I did is relevant to my work today. It all culminates in G-d’s plan.”

Umbono was Lubner’s next company, involved in the first wave of black economic empowerment.

“I witnessed the huge economic wealth in the hands of a few individuals, but there was no real transformation.”

When he sold the business, he concentrated on the Smile Foundation, which he founded with Mandela. It helps children from disadvantaged backgrounds, with facial, feet and head abnormalities, obtaining access to first-class surgery and psychological support. To date it has helped over 2 000 children.

When Bertie Lubner was well into his chairmanship of Afrika Tikkun, he had bypass surgery “and effectively died on the table”. During his father’s recuperation, Lubner offered to work for Afrika Tikkun without pay, eventually taking a salary – less than half of what he was previously earning.

“I literally worked in the townships – it is a tragic situation there.”

Lubner’s contribution in Diepsloot, north of Johannesburg, was helping to establish a pre-school as an offshoot of the “Blue Room”, where women went to give birth to their babies.

In 2005, Lubner was appointed CEO of Afrika Tikkun and spearheaded the concept of the organisation’s “From Cradle to Career” – a set of processes of development centres for early childhood; youth – aged seven and above; and post-matric training facilities. This was extended to gear youth for the job market.

“Wherever possible, we find companies looking to employ youth and prepare them with hard and soft skills to go into learnerships and jobs. To this end we launched an endowment trust, Afrika Tikkun Investment Trust.”

The companies involved sell shares to contribute to black empowerment in accordance with the black economic empowerment objective of benefiting previously disadvantaged individuals, as well as the institutions funding the deals.  

Lubner said: “My contention, having worked in both the business and philanthropic worlds, is that there is no shortage of money. The problem is the various organisations involved, that are not working together to bring about transformation. We can optimise our impact and reverse the trend, but only if we work together.

“Corporate South Africa should not only commit to change, but should contribute towards it in an integrated approach. I believe Afrika Tikkun will achieve this.”

Lubner is also chairman of the SA-Israel Chamber of Commerce, a past chairman of the YPO local chapter, which presented him with a legacy of honour award and the Global Philanthropy Award.