I started 54TwentyFour in 2018 out of necessity. Up to this point, I had spent ten years in the Knowledge Economy, splitting my time between start-ups, corporate multinationals and medium-sized firms. Yet in all my years, I had never experienced inclusivity.
Sure, companies talked a good game and trumpeted their commitment to diversity - but real equity and inclusion? These seemed a long way off.
The only way to really make strides towards solving the issue, it seemed, was to take matters into my own hands. This is my story, then. A story of how I battled casual misogyny and toxic corporatism. A story of how I rejected a cushy life in Cape Town to stick to my principles. A story of how I came to found a company which lives and breathes diversity, equity and inclusion. For many of you, it will resonate. For all of you, I hope it will illuminate.
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I GOT MY start in 2008 and at the time, was so desperate for experience - and future success - that I didn’t rock the boat. When colleagues said something biased or derogatory towards me or another member of staff, I kept quiet and rolled with the punches.
Slowly but surely I built experience and after seven years in Johannesburg I was headhunted by a Cape Town corporate. In the midst of digital transformation, they wanted a young ambitious talent to help facilitate this change.
The corporate, which will remain unnamed, flew me out to Cape Town, paying for all my expenses in the process, and rolling out the red carpet when I arrived. I was blown away by the welcome - and also by the offer. The salary was great and it was buttressed by benefits and bonuses. What’s more, if I stayed two years I’d receive a hefty lump sum - money I wanted to use to buy my mom a house. (My mom raised me in a small three-roomed house in Soweto; the rooms were a kitchen, a TV room and a bedroom. It was house number 5424, something I’d take inspiration from later).
I packed my bags and after a celebratory send-off, headed for the Mother City. But three months in, I was unhappy.
There were exclusionary practices everywhere I looked. If I walked into a meeting with Afrikaans-speaking colleagues, they’d decline to revert to English, despite knowing that I didn’t understand Afrikaans. If I was the only woman in the meeting I’d be asked to take notes or order lunch. Day to day, seniors would often make casual sexual comments about my appearance. Colleagues would hoard information and hope to see co-workers fail. It was a toxic environment all round.
At night I’d go home and, with time on my hands, research what happened in South Africa from ‘94 onwards. The release of Mandela had meant that organisations needed to become more diverse, but what I was experiencing didn’t dovetail with my expectations, and all of that hope and euphoria that my community had experienced in ‘94 seemed to have evaporated.
I read articles on Google Scholar, reams of academic literature in fact, and started seeing interviews with people who were verbalising exactly what I was seeing: a diversity in staffing, but a complete lack of inclusion.
Diversity alone, I realised, was pointless if it was only one group at the table.
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MUCH TO THE SURPRISE of my employers, I promptly quit and flew back to Johannesburg. Turning down such a good opportunity? It made no sense to my superiors, who were of the mind that if you were paid well enough you’d put up with anything. These were people who had grown up in this world; were shaped by it; and helped shape future generations too. They were used to acting a certain way and didn’t know that they were doing anything wrong. They didn’t see the environment as toxic. It was just the way they worked.
But I had to follow my gut and I was not prepared to sacrifice my principles in service of a salary. I had strong expectations of how people should be treated, and back in Johannesburg, I took up another job - my final stint as an employee. Walking the stairs to the building on my very first day, I noticed that there was no wheelchair ramp and no way for anyone with a disability to access the office. I was beginning to realise that it was not just the policies and practices that rubbed up against DEI, but the very spaces we work in too.
There were major systemic failings everywhere you looked. I suppose, in a sense, I had had an awakening.
I soon became friendly with the HR team at my new firm and started asking questions: “Why are so many women leaving, especially those with young children? Why are people of colour leaving with regularity?”
HR were aware of the problems and were trying to solve them. To do my bit, I joined the Learning and Development Department at the company and became a coach and facilitator. I was also now an Operations Director, and heavily involved in client delivery and operations. What I realised here was that the managers that were inclusive in their approach with their teams produced the best work - most timeously. Teams that knew how to collaborate, regardless of their differences, came up with good ideas and executed on time.
I thought, “Wow, not only is this ideal - it makes business sense.”
That realisation gave me the impetus to start 54TwentyFour, named after the street address of my family home. Since 2018, my team and I have worked tirelessly to help companies across the country to become better employers and creative spaces to excel in.
In addition to our Employee Experience and Leadership Development programmes, we coach decision-makers on the importance of creating a culture of transparency and fairness.
Here are some key points to end with; points that come up regularly in my work.
Everyone is different: be it personalities, circumstances and background. Someone who needs to get a taxi to and from work should not be expected to work after dark. New mothers similarly will need flexibility.
Work appraisal should be constructive: simply writing something off as “bad” does no good whatsoever, and only serves to erode that person’s confidence.
Employees are your biggest advocates or biggest critics: get them onside and you’ll flourish.
A diversity of ideas is good. The best ideas bubble to the top, but that only happens when there are lots of ideas in the pot to begin with.
Diversity is great - but it’s meaningless without inclusion. That means everyone gets a seat at the table.
Ultimately, diversity on its own is not enough: people need to be in an environment that sets them up for success. This is one of the fundamental principles that underpins the work I now do.
But while South Africa is diverse, each and every one of us yearns to belong and self-actualize.
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