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MBA Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks Associates Principal Associate (1996 - )
The MBA coaching practice draws on an experienced and skilled panel of specialists to cater to the individual needs of executives and high-potential individuals. Mel himself specialises in executive coaching where his broad-based experience in both the private sector and the academic arena gives him a solid platform from which to approach matters in a practical yet professional manner. In addition, one-on-one finance coaching for senior executives has proved to be a discreet and effective intervention and Mel’s ability to apply a hybrid coach-consultant approach, when necessary, often helps to achieve preset objectives in the most efficient manner.
Mel also runs in-house ‘Operational Finance’ workshops for groups. Again these bring a practical and hands-on approach to an area which non-financial staff from a wide range of disciplines often find intimidating. Putting money and business in perspective is Mel’s forte.
Mel has managed continuing education programmes for various professional associations, is a director of the Institute of Business Studies, a member of the Institute of Certified Financial Accountants and a Fellow of the SA Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators. He has been published widely in business publications and recently co-authored Business Accounting and Finance for Managers and Business Students (Juta).
Wits Business School Lecturer in accounting and finance. Programme Director: New Managers Programme (1986 – ) Mel has been associated with the Wits Business School since 1986. As Deputy Director of the Faculty’s Centre for Developing Business he developed and managed a wide range of programmes in the small business start-up and management area and was actively involved in the coaching of business owners in the areas of general management and strategic thinking at the start up and growth phases of their ventures.
He also developed and currently directs the certificated ‘New Managers Programme’ which is offered at the business school as well as in-house. Thousands of participants from centres throughout Southern Africa have benefited from his input in the finance and resource management modules of the programme.
Prior to his current association with the business schools at the University of the Witwatersrand and Pretoria University Mel was Financial Director of an operating company within the Construction Engineering Division of HLH Limited.
Client list ABB Daimler-Benz Transportation, ABI, AECI, Airports Company Ltd, Allied Electronics Corp Ltd., Altron, Anglo Platinum, Bearing Man, BMW, Boart Longyear Ltd., Coca-Cola, Development Bank of SA, Edgars, Eskom, Emperor’s Palace, Goldfields, Grinaker-LTA, Highveld Steel, Impala Platinum, Johannesburg Stock Exchange, MTN, Nissan, Otis, Pick ’n Pay, Plate Glass, Premier Group, Robor Steel, SA Breweries, Sasol, Southern Sun, Spescom, Standard Bank, Sun International, Total, VW. A long history in development (1986 - )
My work at the WBS has provided me with invaluable experience which has broadened and built on that which I gained while working in industry. During my time at the business school it has been a great privilege for me to have interaction with a wide variety of people from all sectors of commerce and industry both at a senior management level and also with hundreds of ‘new’ managers. It certainly has been a busy time for me. During some weeks at the WBS I had up to four programmes running simultaneously. Of course, none of this would have been possible without the support and input of a great team of lecturers. I have in fact been involved in a great variety of work and I am thankful for the fact that I have had twenty years of valuable experience and certainly not, as the saying goes, 20 times 1 year’s experience.
While the latter 10 years at the WBS have been deeply enriching, the first ten years were spent in the wonderful learning ground that was the Centre for Developing Business (CDB). This was a small business development unit based within the Faculty of Management (Wits Business School). The Centre was started in 1978 and received seed funding from S A Breweries and later from the Department of Trade and Industries which funded a number of posts. It also received funding from a number of other large businesses while generating its own funding from the programmes it offered to the SMME and corporate sector. The Centre for Developing Business was regarded as having played a leadership role in the small business development sector.
The Centre offered advice/counselling/consulting services to members of the public who were either considering starting businesses or who had started businesses and required business information and advice. Its staff was actively involved as consultants in the industrial parks started in what were in those days regarded as ‘black’ areas.
A number of training programmes were offered and attended by thousands of participants. Some examples of these were:
Running a Business from Home – aimed at the micro/informal sector. Business Basics - aimed at the same sector. Start your own business – designed for small businesses which would operate in the formal sector. Managing the Growing Firm – developed for established formal sector businesses with growth potential. Retail Development Programme – catering for small township retailers.
The Centre also carried out training for the Small Business Development Corporation.
Apart from its small business activities the Centre ran other programmes the most notable of which were: The Management Advancement Programme (MAP). Started by Dr Steven Black in the late 70s, it was run at the CDB until the late 80s when it was moved to the WBS. The New Managers Programme (NMP) was started by me at the CDB in 1991 and was moved to the WBS in 1997. Two business-journalist development programmes (each consisted of six one-week blocks) were run by me with the guidance of Mr. Raymond Louw, a past editor of the Rand Daily Mail. A number of introductory workshops in finance were run for journalists from the business media. Workshops on ‘How to Consult to Small Business Owners’ were also offered The ‘Professional Practice as a Small Business’ workshops I developed were attended by a wide range of professionals.
A number of publications were produced by the Centre which offered information and business techniques to the SMME sector. Centre staff also hosted TV programmes on the old SABC TV 2 & 3. There was also a regular weekly radio programme I hosted which was broadcast on the English service of Radio South Africa during a period of a year and I wrote business columns for The Sowetan on a weekly basis for a period of four years. The Centre published the ‘SMME Development Monitor’ and an annual directory of SMME service-providing organisations – although last published in 1995 I still get letters requesting this publication. On the personal front, I co-authored with John Bradshaw in writing Business Accounting & Finance for Managers and Business Students (Juta) which is still prescribed today.
Another very successful initiative of the Centre was the founding of Junior Achievement (JA) in South Africa. Based on the US JA model this highly successful initiative exposed thousands of school going teenagers to entrepreneurship. JA outgrew the Centre because its large number of participants could no longer be accommodated at the Centre. It also required more space for the staff to manage what had become a national operation. There were JA operations in Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, East London, Durban, Witbank and Pretoria. JA is still in operation as an independent entity.
The Centre stopped operating at the end of 1996. I was then asked to move across to the main WBS where I have developed and run many programmes including the New Managers Programme which has grown significantly in terms of the number of programmes both in-company and public.
This is a brief and by no means comprehensive summary of my activities over the past 20 years.
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