PROFILE: This is my story - Abongile Dyawire

Abongile Dyawire founder of a Consulting firm  that specialises in portfolio, programme and project management advisory services shares THIS IS MY STORY when he joined Transnet where he was exposed to a lot of strategic projects which required him to apply business project management principles

Please give us a brief summary on your career.

I am the first black South African professional to obtain the Portfolio Management Professional (PfMP) certification with the Project Management Institute (PMI).

I am a Built Environment Professional and founder of Myirha Consulting, specialists in portfolio, programme and project management advisory services.

I hold a Masters degree in Built Environment from Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, a Bachelor of Technology (BTech) in Civil Engineering and a National Diploma in Civil Engineering from Cape Peninsula University of Technology.

I am registered with the South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions (SACPCMP) as a Construction Project Manager (PrCPM).

My industry knowledge spans from working in freight logistics, utilities and public sector infrastructural investments and that has better positioned him to lead Myirha Consulting to success and to positively contribute to the successes of many clients.

Give us details of a situation that made an impact in your career. 

When I joined Transnet, I was exposed to a lot of strategic projects which required me to apply business project management principles. This enabled me to manage projects with a business focus and to be customer centric in my approach. This also comes with culture shock as I was now expected to wear a business thinking cap, and that was a challenge at the time because I was not exposed to the business project management environment. 

This then presented an opportunity for me to challenge myself and learn more about the Transnet businesses, core services and operations just to understand how projects fit into the bigger picture. This approach was very powerful because my focus changed from just viewing myself as a project manager, I started developing a strong interest in programme and portfolio management. I realised that projects have a positive contribution to the successes of many businesses and they enable them to successfully implement their strategies to achieve the expected business results.

What was your position and duties in this situation? 

Programme and Portfolio Management roles at Transnet leading and directing large infrastructure programmes and portfolios within the freight logistics space, specifically in the Transnet Port Terminals environment.

ALSO READ PROFILE: This is my story - Pierre van der Spuy

Why does this project situation stand out to you? 

This situation opened my mind and exposed me to a lot of business approaches to solve business problems using projects, programmes and portfolios. I was part of the entire business problem solving journey, starting from strategy development, business case development, project/programme or portfolio implementation plans up until the desired end state was achieved.

What were the important lessons you learnt from this situation? 

The biggest lesson was more around the importance of developing a benefits management plan to supplement the investment case and to validate the need for each and every investment pursued/prioritised by the Client.

What were career mistakes or regrets you experienced with this situation?

Some of the approaches used to implement programmes were new and the programme framework was not well understood by many stakeholders, as a result, there was a lot of misalignment in some instances and that affected decision making. As much as onboarding workshops were held to sensitive the stakeholders about the programme governance framework adopted for programme initiatives, it was still a change and took time to embed.

Change management could have been done differently when introducing a new methodology so that it can be supported and understood by all the parties involved in the value creation chain

How did you overcome your mistakes? 

I always reflected on some of the lessons on the programmes/portfolios and humbled myself to take motivational criticism. Even though  in some instances, I knew that there were other external factors that contributed to the mistakes, I still reflected and challenged myself to identify creative ways to address such a situation for future purposes. 

I always saw mistakes as opportunities to improve the way I do things and it helped me to apply robust risk management approaches to protect the portfolio/programme or strategic projects from any negative influences that threatened to undermine the targeted objectives.

What has been the most satisfying thing for you personally/career wise about this situation? 

I enjoyed seeing benefits being realised by the clients after completion of any of the strategic projects or initiatives. When developing a business case, the factors that validate the economic feasibility of the investment and targeted benefits can always change due to environmental factors, so it is satisfying when you see the benefits being realised and the customer satisfied.

This industry is said to be one of the toughest industries , how did you manage to stay in for so long?

I have learnt to be comfortable being uncomfortable due to the rewards of learning new challenges everyday and being involved in unfamiliar situations. This environment continued to test me everyday and I am enjoying the discoveries about myself.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges facing the industry currently and how can they be overcome? 

The biggest challenge now in the country is unethical behavior and it is flourishing regardless of the corruption prevention systems put in place to combat these malpractices. Corruption reporting platforms are not protected and can compromise whistleblowers and hence it is difficult to fight it using the energy that it deserves.

To fight corruption, hefty penalties need to be introduced and what also needs to be interrogated is corruption using internal processes to sabotage (e.g. positional power) each other (employees/coworkers). 

Awareness campaigns and tightening organisational systems (governance framework, processes and procedures) would also add value and reduce the rate.

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