Uruguayan business man and entrepreneur Dr Gaston Savoi speaks candidly about his decision to immigrate to South Africa, his commitment to investing in the country and despite the legal battle he now faces, optimism about the future.
When an astute businessman sees opportunity in a boisterous and emerging economy, he is likely to explore his options for investment. When a man persuades his family, colleagues and friends to invest their lives and livelihoods in a country, it is no longer a cool, calculated risk but a matter of the heart. Dr Gaston Savoi has lived in France, Brazil and Argentina, due to his father being transferred to these countries for business and finally settled in Uruguay. Dr Savoi speaks fluent English, Portuguese, French, Italian and Spanish and considers himself a "proudly world citizen". What then drew him to South Africa?
The roots of his life-changing decision lie in what he sees as a bond between South America and South Africa that may be separated by the Atlantic, but on all other counts, are "blood brothers".
"There is a connection on a deep level" he says. "Africa loves colours, loves music. Africa speaks loudly. The people are friendly. They open the doors of their homes to you. We in South America are very similar to South Africa. We have a lot of influence from Africa in culture and in our genetic heritage. I believe this gives us a close understanding."
His gestures are open and expansive when he speaks. It is only part of his charisma. The rest is down to what, in old fashioned terms, might be called a "dapper" style; a combination of sartorial elegance, urbane manner and a deep voice that takes English and turns it into a rich, allegorical narrative. He grins under a slightly rakish moustache and there it is; the portrait of a man whose handshake and characteristic embrace signals the beginning of both a friendship and a business partnership.
This is the same Savoi who, back in 1973 at the age of 21 years old, boldly brokered a financial deal for a small company with great ideas but no capital. To this day, 37 years later, he remains close friends with the founders.
Dr Savoi obtained his degree in Sao Pablo, Brazil, married Gilda Brant de Carvalho and in the years to follow, would take the first steps in developing pharmaceutical factories that manufactured raw materials for human and veterinary use, making key breakthrough in research and development, and becoming a world player in the field. These ventures formed the initial basis to his growing wealth.
As a couple, he and Gilda also founded the first Arabian horse insemination laboratory in Uruguay. Life for the couple was about balance - the practical, the aesthetic and the emotional, which included starting a family. Their three sons, Philippe, Rodrigo and Guillermo and daughter Carolina ultimately joined the family business and by the mid 90s, South Africa was firmly on their radar as a frequent holiday destination. The bush, Cape Town and its people had begun to work its magic.
"When an aeroplane arrives in South Africa, you see this sun coming up and reflecting the clouds. Before you put a foot on the continent you are starting to fall in love with it," he says. The process, which he says begins as an "infatuation", turns to something deeper. Beyond the bush, animal life and the lure big-sky country, Dr Savoi was acutely aware that South Africa offered something much more.
"It's a country with a history and a fantastic infrastructure," he adds. "South Africa for me is a First World country but with everything that you can get from the wild. You are able to go anywhere in two hours," gesturing with his arms opened wide to reinforce the point. "A few kilometres and I am in the middle of the bush, the mountains, game reserves, rivers and deserts. There is no other country I know of that has the versatility and diversity in one place."
"I have an open mind to different cultures, to appreciate different roots, and made the decision to live here and not just be in transit."
At the same time, Dr Savoi was seeing the beginning of what he describes as "cracks" in the banking system in South America and a growing instability there. "What we are experiencing now as a result of what is happening in Europe and North America, South America felt in 2000." Dr Savoi felt that he was in what he calls a "poll" position and ahead was an open track that led, quite obviously, to an emerging economy with intriguing potential.
But no business decision is made in this family without consultation.
"You always need to think in terms of family," he says. The Savoi family is extremely close with major business and life decisions taken around a table not a boardroom. Dr Savoi felt that they were all turning a significant corner and that they needed to be pro-active about their futures. They had already experienced the inexorable pull of South Africa through their world traveller's eyes but he says, "sometimes, destiny shows the way to a move and chooses the moment. I considered the age of my daughter and my three sons. They would look to get married some day and that maybe it was the time for us to take what was not an easy decision but neither was it a tough one. After all, I was not going to mine gold in the Yukon! They saw the scenario through the same eyes and I proceeded to motivate the move to invest in South Africa."
Gaston Savoi did not come empty handed.
With 37 years working in the health industry in manufacturing pharmaceutical API's (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) Savoi's companies also manufactured water purification systems and mobile gas generating units. He saw the opportunity to set up a company in South Africa, attracting foreign investment and contribute to the national production of a vital product that had the potential to change the lives of millions of South Africans denied access to fresh water because of inaccessible or contaminated sources. There was another product that the Group had developed in South America that would save lives. One of the big problems faced by countries with an outlying rural population that relied on smaller hospitals and clinics for health care, was the ready availability of medical air and oxygen. Transporting cylinders to outlying areas in South America on poor roads and at the vagaries of frequent strikes left the rural population vulnerable. Units that generate medical oxygen and medical air on site meant avoiding the risks related to non-delivery of a vital resource. The system also has a positive impact on the environment (as shown in an European study) as CO2 is reduced by reducing the transportation of cylinders.
But these plans lay in the future.
First came the Savoi family's move here, one that puzzled many well heeled South Africans whose children were members of the white diaspora to the UK, Australia and the US. For here was a man with wealth and the privilege of choice, deciding to commit everything to a country with what had, at best an "uncertain future".
Savoi simply didn"t see the new South Africa this way.
"I took a decision and my immediate family supported the decision.
That has as a lot to do with his role within the family. "To be a father is naturally a result of biological process, but to be friend to your sons, and vice versa, that is something that needs to be cultivated. To keep the respect between the generations is not easy unless there are no fences and no walls. It is the same relationship that I have with my father. I am not embarrassed to say that it is about real love."
Although the plans were to bring his immediate family to a new continent and a new life, it was not without some pain. "You need to remember that it did not include my extended family - father, my mother, my mother in law, my father in law here, and my sister - therefore it was a tough decision - but less tough if you combine it with taking what you feel deep down, is the right decision. I am sure that I took it."
This growing set of ties to South Africa – including an application for permanent residence for his whole family - underpinned Savoi's first significant commitment in putting down roots. In 2001, the Group bought a 50% share (R150 million rand investment) in Shamwari Holdings through foreign investment, later to be known as the Mantis Collection of Boutique Hotels and Game Reserves, the world renowned hospitality group that included Shamwari Game Reserve established by Adrian Gardiner. The partnership with Gardiner also had financial implications. With no track record in South Africa, the Group had no credit line with local banks, making foreign investment crucial going forward. Although the family had farming in their blood, Savoi had no personal experience in the hospitality industry and running a game reserve. He saw the move as a chance to hand over his core business to his children and take up a personal challenge, moving not to a new career per se, but more of an active "retirement". "To have gypsy spirit, does not mean that you are gypsy. To say that you"re a world citizen that does not mean that you don"t have roots." In true Savoi style, the initial connection with Shamwari was indirect. On a flight to SA, he struck up a conversation with fellow passenger Peter Fleck (former rugby player Robbie Fleck's father).
In the conversation that ensued, one that ranged from family to business and Savoi's growing feelings for South Africa, was the subject of a game lodge. Peter became the catalyst to a series of meetings both in South Africa and South America, with amongst others Dr Ian Player. "I always think that it's very important when you intend to take a step like that, to know where people are coming from and how they do business. It's a matter of logic – and culture. But also the differences are important. I always say “what happens to the red if everybody likes the blue”?
A gentleman's agreement then led to a due diligence report, a formal partnership and a mounting excitement about potential new markets, resulting from one of his son's astute comment that South American tourism to SA, was largely neglected. There was much to be done to foster stronger ties.
Business ties established, and a future vision mapped out, the Group went on to further develop the historic Steenberg Estate in Constantia and the 54 000 hectare Sanbona Wildlife Reserve at the foot of the Warmwaterberg Mountains in the Little Karoo. The reserve's white lion project, was given world coverage through Animal planet and it's one which Savoi is justifiably proud of to this day.
The SA lifestyle proved an irresistible force. "We live a supposed 650 thousand hours," says Savoi, "that is our life. I am clear that some of these hours need to be enjoyed during our journey here."
It was a journey on many levels and not simply a destination.
Although the Group successfully sold their shares back to Adrian Gardiner in 2005, Dr Savoi continued to pursue the core business that he had established in South America; water purification, oxygen and health products.
"We brought our technology and our intellectual property through foreign investment to the country - and to the continent. With this, came the will and the effort to build a fantastic first world nutritional plant," says Dr Savoi. "Over the years with Mantis, I had the honour and the opportunity to meet many important players in the South African government and was guided by them on of how to deal with government as a supplier. We understood absolutely that we needed to go through a process. It is something we understand because we have had a similar scenario for decades in Brazil. We not only understand the system but respect what is a natural empowerment, because we believe in our culture there can not be no more colonialism. We are not an orange to be squeezed, to take the juice from the orange and take the seeds. If you want to come to enjoy a country and its benefits for today, tomorrow and the future you must have respect for the local owners of the country. I take my authority from South Africa but it stops in front of you," deferring to the laws and customs of the country.
"I am not a citizen. I can"t vote. Therefore, I must respect you, I must be diplomatic. I must respect the country's policy of Black Economic Empowerment. We needed to have South African partners who could add real value to the process but to get government work required networking."
There is no doubt that the government tender process, now under such intense scrutiny, is a complicated one. The right partners, the processes to follow, the legitmacy of commissions paid for work secured, is integral to Dr Savoi's current challenges. What happens now, and in the years it may take to untangle what Dr Savoi calls a "spagetti putanesca", must take his course. He contuines to appear in court at hearings with dignity, having endured what appeared to be a highly irregular decision to keep him jailed for several days in Kimberley, and despite having posted substantial bail.
"It is a "live and learn" scenario he believes. "What if I could have imagined that all our trust and effort would be challenged because we followed the created rules of the country." He lets the notion hang. "One thing I am deeply sure of is that we have not done anything wrong. I did not only bring my family here remember, but motivated other families and foreign investors to come here too. These families and investors came trusting me because some of them have been working for me for 10, 20 years. They came here to transfer skills and add value to the country, then married here and have South African babies. I myself have six Proudly South African grandchildren.
"If you ask me today where I think I failed, I say this; I am not a perfect man but I am a perfectionsit. I think that I failed as you fail when you are in love. When you are in love all that strong sentiment creates a weakness somewhere. There are two issues at play here; the first one is that I definitely underestimated the strong power of a monopoly, in the country."
Dr Savoi saw that there were major opportunities and alternatives to a single supplier of services and a commodity. "I did not ever see our company as a substitute monopoly. It's simply not in our culture, in our South American history. We are born as a nationalist people. I saw the opportunity then to produce our equipment here instead of importing it from South America. We empowered many people in this country and directly employed 150. Sadly, we have recently had to retrench 60% of our staff.
"Suddenly," says Dr Savoi, "we appear to have crossed a road that is not allowed to be crossed, but nobody warned us."
Dr Savoi's second caveat has to do with not knowing enough about a local network to do business.
"I am sure that if you were to invest in Brazil, because you love the country, its people, its spirit, the friendship, the music - you love everything - and you decide that by using your skills, you could reduce poverty … but that you have to have a "national power" base to do so, you would take advice. "The advice would be to find strategic partners, and offer strategic shares in your company. You would ask what key people to be introduced to and someone – because you do not know yourself – would choose the right people you should know. You would be reliant on this strategic advice. And obviously one conducts business strictly in accordance with the law and on advice of the professional advisers of the company:- lawyers and auditors."
By all accounts, this is the pattern that Dr Savoi followed on advice from those "in the know" and which is now the subject of his pending court case. "I am a businessman but it seems to me that I have become part of a witch hunt."
The docket that started the ball rolling happened to be from one of Dr Savoi's direct competitors. "How is it, "he asks, "that you can be part of a national tender for business when you are the sole supplier of the goods and services?"
Despite the fight Dr Savoi still has to face over the coming months he remains optimistic about his future here.
"We intend to stay here, to contribute to what we can. We have other projects in the pipeline besides water purification plants and gas generation units. We have our work to carry out bringing skills and intellectual property to help factories reduce the relience on importations. The goal is self dependence."
"I have immense respect for South Africans and what they have achieved but sometimes I feel that perhaps people cannot see what they have, what they have built. One day, the whole world will understand what we (South Africa) have. Perhaps you cannot see what you have until you lose it. You need to take stock. I did. And what I understood, what I saw - and still do - is a deep synergy with my vision of things and what can be achieved in this country."
Please direct all questions in writing to Lynn Giles - lynng@draftfcb.co.za. Dr Savoi is currently not available for comment or interviews.
For further information regarding the current court case, please forward your requests in writing to Rachelle Bricout of Edward Nathan Sonnenbergs - rachelle@create-a-stir.co.za
Source: Intaka
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