FEATURES
53
2000s
If you speak to the people at Burgess and Partners for
long enough, it quickly emerges that many of them got
their jobs at Burgess and Partners or partnered with
Burgess through a casual chat and a personal offer from
Burgess. Now a supervisor, Wiseman Nxumalo’s journey
into plumbing started when he spent a year working as
a security guard near Burgess’s house. “He came and
said, ‘Do you enjoy doing this job?’. I said, ‘No, it’s just
standing. I need something more practical.’ The next
month, I was working at Burgess, being trained as a
plumber,” laughs Nxumalo.
Burgess’s talent for spotting good people and bringing them
into the Burgess and Partners circle have stood him in good
www.plumbingafrica.co.za
stead. “In light of this, we were able to grow the business
collectively through great people. We had our people failures
and challenges like anyone else, but continued to develop
and build on each other,” Burgess says.
The year 1989 also heralded the creation of PASA
(Plumbing Association of South Africa), which
later became IOPSA, and Burgess quickly realised
that learning from other plumbers, both local and
international, would be a cornerstone of a good
business. As president of IOPSA on three separate
occasions, he travelled to numerous international
conferences and fully took advantage of the
opportunities on offer.
November 2018 Volume 24 I Number 9