The power of teamwork

(MENAFN- The Post) MASERU -Watching an accomplished tennis player do her thing on the pitch can be thoroughly entertaining.
Some players appear as if they want to hypnotise their opponent, only to crush them with devastating power. The idea is to use one's immense power to whip opponents into submission.

But when playing the doubles, we are able to see the power of collaboration and team-work.
The lessons: Nothing gets accomplished unless the team pulls in the same direction.
There is no room for egos. The will of the individual should be subordinated to that of the team.

But as for surgeons, they rely on almost military precision to get it right and save lives. They are also taught to be empathetic.
It is no surprise that surgeons end up forming close bonds with the patients they treat.
For Dr Lebohang Khomari, a retired veterinary surgeon who has been serving on the Sekhametsi board of directors since 2007, the two experiences cited above have been equally true.

She has used her wealth of experience garnered over the decades in sports, first as an accomplished tennis player and secondly as an administrator, to good effect.
Dr Khomari was a Lesotho tennis national champion at the age of 16. She represented Lesotho at the All-Africa Games in Lagos, Nigeria, in 1973.
Five decades later, it is the important lessons she picked in her formative years as a sports personality and later in veterinary medicine that are coming in handy in the corporate boardrooms in Lesotho.
That has been particularly true at Sekhametsi Consortium.

'As a veterinary doctor you have to have compassion for your patients,' she says. 'But since our patients can't talk, you have to talk to the owner who might exaggerate things somehow.'
And when tempers rise, as they often do with farmers who have a deep attachment to their animals, she stays cool, defusing what could be a potentially a tricky situation.

Over the years, she has learnt to cultivate very good interpersonal relationships with her clients.
She has worked closely with Basotho farmers, solving their problems at the most basic of levels.
It is those same interpersonal skills that she has cultivated as a veterinary doctor that she has now transferred to the Sekhametsi board.

'We have to make quick decisions,' she says. 'Some come with proposals for joint ventures and we have to make quick decisions that are well thought-out. We have to be very careful that we don't get involved in ventures that might not work having used shareholders' monies.'
'You have to make the right decisions because this is people's money that you are dealing with.'

At 69, Dr Khomari, who is a pensioner, is at the tail-end of what has been a very successful and exciting career.
She thinks now is the time to start putting in place a 'succession plan' pegged on the young people of Lesotho.
Her dream is to pass on the torch to the upcoming 'digital' generation that understands new technologies.
Having grown Sekhametsi Consortium to where it is now, we need 'younger blood to take it forward'.

'We are now in the digital era and the young people understand these things better,' she says.
'I see young people coming in and growing Sekhametsi further. The future lies with the younger generation.'
Dr Khomari says an organisation can only grow if it stays relevant and 'I believe young people can only make Sekhametsi relevant to other young people'.

She wants to see the company diversifying into other projects to increase value for shareholders.
As a director, Dr Khomari says she has not forgotten why she is in that position.
'My objective is to increase shareholders' worth and make the company sustainable in the future.'
'The money has to go to shareholders; we are there to serve them and not to serve ourselves.'

Dr Khomari bought her first shares in Sekhametsi in 1999. Her motivation then was to secure the future of her two children.
She was at one point a member of the Sports Council now known as the Lesotho Sports and Recreation Commission. She was also a member of the National Olympic Committee.
Like most girls growing up in the 1970s, Dr Khomari's dream was to become a medical doctor. She left Lesotho for Iran in 1974 hoping to study medicine only for her dream to be dashed when she was told all places were meant for locals.

When asked to choose between dentistry and veterinary medicine, she chose the latter, a decision she has never regretted.
She soon fell in love with that branch of medicine.
Dr Khomari completed her studies and came back home in 1980 and worked in the Ministry of Agriculture for two years. She later went to Sweden where she did a Diploma in Veterinary Pathology. She later did a Masters in Biomedical Research in Amsterdam.

Around 1993, Dr Khomari was nominated to serve in the Commonwealth Veterinary Committee specifically representing the southern, eastern and central Africa region.
The committee's main agenda is to promote the interests of veterinary medical practitioners and come up with policies that promote the welfare of animals in the Commonwealth region.

Dr Khomari is currently serving as the chairperson of the remuneration committee at Vodacom Lesotho. The committee advises the board on matters related to remuneration of senior management.

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