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INTERVIEW April 13-18 2022 Weekly Digest 16

Livingstone Gwata:

Why I retired early

ormer top banker Livingstone It was very easy then to decide that
Gwata has spoken of why he this was the time to retire because then I
retired early, saying he need- could realise all the terminal benefits and
ed to give young managers so on in real money.
F he was a grooming a chance. With a bit of hindsight it was a fortu-
Gwata (LG), who retired at 60 while itous decision because things did not
he was group chief executive officer of work very well in the environment after
FBC Holdings limited, was speaking to that.
Alpha Media Holdings chairman Trevor TN: Could the financial consideration
Ncube (TN) on the platform In Conver- have been the biggest? Or you were feel-
sation with Trevor. ing you had had your time?
He spoke about how he started off as LG: I really felt I had had my time, close
a factory worker in Bulawayo to lead to 38 years in banking. I felt like I need-
one of Zimbabwe’s top banks. Below ed a change.
are excerpts from the interview. The children or offspring had grown
TN: Livingstone Gwata, welcome to In up, they had finished whatever they were
Conversation With Trevor. doing so the motivation to go on with an
LG: Thank you Trevor. I am happy to be 8am-5pm kind of job was not there.
here. How time flies, I can see you refer to They were also a lot of young people
me as former chief executive... that needed to get into that space.
TN: Hahahahaha. TN: It is fascinating for me Livingstone, en of us. as where I came from, I registered with
LG: ...of FBC Holdings Limited. It is now because it is not all of us who find it easy So we took the train and went down to what was called Rapid Results College,
more than 10 years since I retired. That is to let go? Am I right? Bulawayo and that was our first exposure for Geography, English Literature and
how time flies. LG: Yes, it is a big problem, in the cor- to factory working life. History.
TN: That is how time flies. porate world, on the political world, in TN: How was it like? I took those three subjects over a pe-
LG: But it still feels like yesterday. public service. LG: It was a shock! It was a bit of a riod of seven months. I wrote all my ex-
TN: You know you have just taken me shock. ams. The grades were not fantastic but
back. You are retired.And you retired at We were staying in a men’s hostel. I passed.
60 years old. What does retirement feel Men’s hostel like they are these days, very TN: You passed them, that is what
like? crowded, very rowdy, not safe. matters. I am always interested in
I ask this because as I was trying to Even a piece of soap could be stolen knowing where the inspiration came
get you on this show, I think your dia- while you were taking a shower! from?
ry sounded busier than mine. Talk to me TN: Hahahahaha! Where did the motivation come
about what retirement feels like? LG: We found a room and we thought from? I must do my ‘A’ Levels, by dis-
LG: Well, retirement is a totally differ- we were very lucky, eight of us with bunk tance education?
ent space. beds on the sides. Had you seen an example? Where did
I grew up in the corporate world where You know change sounds threatening We thought wow we were very lucky, the motivation come from?
you get all the support systems. to a lot of people. here was a room that was empty. We put LG: Well a lot of it came from my par-
You have got a human resources man- When people are holding the reins and our blankets and whatever... ents.
ager, you have got an accountant, you they are driving they really do not want TN: On the floor? My father was an agricultural exten-
have got a driver, you have a cook, a to realise they have reached their desti- LG: On the bunk beds. sion officer. What they call Madumane.
sweeper, you have got a gardener and nation and it is time to get off. TN: On the bunk beds sorry. My mother was a nurse. As a couple
you have a caddie on the golf course. TN: They do not want to be passen- LG: We went to work, Monday. Come they were the leading lights in their own
You have got all these things that are gers? Friday, we went to the local pubs, had a communities.
surrounding you. In retirement, you are LG: No! Hahahaha. drink or two, came back. My father always had this dream, I
on your own. TN: Hahahahaha. Livingstone, I find We did not realise that this particular let him down I guess because he want-
So now I am all those things together, your career path for me, unusual and in- room was the gambling centre for the ed me to take education seriously up to
I am my own investment manager, I am spirational in many respects. men’s hostel! doctorate level.
everything so that really keeps me busy. Let us start with your first job, 1968 TN: Hahahahaha. He was always speaking about Dr.
TN: What does it feel like? Are you en- at 18 years old in a factory in Bulawayo LG: So, people started trooping in with Kwame Nkrumah, he was always speak-
joying it? ending up staying at a men’s hostel. buckets of local brew, in readiness for the ing about Booker T...
LG: It is fantastic. I wish it would have You do not have kind words for stay- gambling all night. It was a bit of a shock. TN: He did ‘O’ Level? Or he did JC?
come earlier. ing at the men’s hostel! TN: Wow. Real world isn’t it? LG: He did JC. He was always talk-
Obviously, it was exciting in the cor- I tell you what, my first job was as a LG: Yes, so we had to join the gambling ing about Booker T Washington. He was
porate world, but in retirement you do gardener. I think I was doing Form 4. at the beginning, but felt sleepy. talking about these things.
things at your own pace. My father said his boss wanted help TN: You cannot sleep because these To him, it was as if achieving a cer-
The rewards are almost instant be- and so come in to be a gardener and guys want to go on? tain level of education would bring in-
cause there is immediate feedback. that was fascinating. LG: They were just going on. And of stant success.
TN: Talk to me about the decision to Talk to us about you, 1968, you find course, productivity in the factory, the I doubted that because after Bula-
retire. yourself in a factory in Bulawayo? manufacturing and repairing of radiators wayo I came back to Marondera and I
I found that fascinating, that when LG: Yes. Very interesting. I was coming for the mines, for big trucks and so on. was an unqualified teacher.
you turned 60 you deliberately and in- out of Goromonzi High School. We were young people, hands would I was beginning to enjoy myself as a
tentionally said to yourself I am going We had done our ‘O’ Levels. get cut. teacher, but my father would come all
to do this and retire. During that time, they were only three TN: Radiator & Tinning, I remember it. the time and say you are going to uni-
There are a lot of people watching us schools that were accessible to black The good old days. versity, you are the first child.
out there right now trying to figure out, people who wanted to do Form 5 and You raise a number of very important TN: You are the first child? Out of
I am 50 years, I am 60 years , I am 70 Form 6. issues that we now forget Livingstone. four, hey?
years, when do I retire? That was Goromonzi, Fletcher and St. That is your generation made it in a LG: Out of six of us. You are the first
Talk to us about your decision-mak- Ignatius. country where there were three high child he would say, you have to lead by
ing process. What were the things that So, there was a bottleneck. schools that took ‘A’ Levels for black example.
you were looking at as you were retir- A lot of us that wanted to go to high people. You are that product. Look at So, there was a lot of pressure. I was
ing? school could not do it. you now. enjoying myself teaching. It was a bit
LG: Well, a lot of things went through Goromonzi was the school where I was LG: Well, certainly it is always some- frustrating.
my mind. at, but they had to cater for the whole thing to be sucrose about, but what TN: 1969-1970?
I had been with a multinational bank country, it was a government school. taught us was to persevere. LG: Being a teacher. I then eventually
before, 24 years up to executive director Out of two classes (streams) for ‘O’ Lev- So I did not go to Form 5 and Form 6, went to the university and it was a total-
level. el they were going to take just a handful, but the experience at Radiator & Tinning ly different ball game.
When I went into FBC, which was then probably 10 or 15 and then take the rest Works was so tough. TN: Talk to me about the pressure
called First Banking Corporation, it was a from the rest of the country. TN: What did it teach you? coming from your father? What about
new bank and I was chief executive for 14 Some of us were having fun, Form 1 to LG: That I needed to do something dif- your mother, where was she in terms of
years on the trot. Form 4, others were pretty serious about ferent. the pressure? Was there pressure com-
Now, there is succession planning that what they were doing... TN: Really hahaha, like this is not for ing from your mother? Or is your moth-
takes place, so theoretically for 14 years I TN: Hahahaha I like that! me? er where you ran to hide?
had some young turks that were wanting LG: I had pretty good grades, but with LG: I needed to do something different. LG: My mother was always supportive
to come into this position. only three high schools in the country This was not going to be rewarding. of our father.
We were going through strategy pro- the choice was we had to go work some- What we call healthy and safety the- TN: Right.
cesses every year, year in and year out where. ses days, it was not observed a lot dur- LG: But she was easier going you
and sometimes after 10 years you would The principal at Goromonzi at that ing that time. know. She was quite happy for her off-
have done it all so you need a new pair of time had a friend whose name was Tre- There were injuries and so on. So after spring to find their level.
hands to come with new ideas. vor Hawkskin in Bulawayo that was run- three months I saved a bit of money, sur-
I was so happy that I had a team of ning Radiator & Tinning Works. prisingly, to buy a train ticket to go back
young managers that had been prepared So the principal who was Peter Darwin, home.  “In Conversation With Trevor” is
for a long time, but also, I was thinking probably got on the phone and said well But more importantly to buy a set of a weekly show broadcast on YouTube.
about retirement. I have got a bunch of young pupils that lecture notes to do my ‘A’ Levels through com//InConversationWithTrevor. Please
2011 was the year that we had a more are pretty good but could not go into distance education. get your free YouTube subscription to this
stable currency, it was a foreign currency high school, could he take them on? On my way back from Bulawayo going channel. The conversations are sponsored
but it was more stable. He (Trevor Hawkskin) took about a doz- back to Marondera, the communal are- by Nyaradzo Group.