Edwin Hewitt is a shareholder’s dream. At 39, he has already transformed two struggling businesses into world class successes with a mix of entrepreneurial, technical and leadership flair normally reserved for more seasoned businessmen.  Currently MD of Murray & Roberts Foundries, Edwin has been appointed a director of Murray & Roberts Limited and tasked with a broader role of building engineering leadership and project implementation capacity in the specialist fields of energy, oil and gas.

One of the first challenges in his new role has been to partner Malose Chaba in the development of Murray & Roberts’ bid for the PBMR power project.

From July, Edwin will become actively involved in the development of what has been identified as one of Murray & Roberts’ key future markets – oil and gas.

Within the Group, Murray & Roberts MEI and Marine have the capabilities best suited to a partnership with newly acquired Clough which operates in global oil and gas markets. MEI and Marine will be separated from Murray & Roberts Construction and Engineering Solutions, respectively, and Edwin will work with their executive teams to develop a strategy for their engagement with domestic and global oil and gas markets.

Edwin’s career at Murray & Roberts started in 2000 with a review of Rocla, the concrete piping business. Six months later he was appointed MD of Main Industries with the task of consolidating it with the Group’s other non-core piping activities. Within 18 months, he had transformed the operations into one sustainable business offering an attractive proposition to potential buyers.

When Petzetakis of Greece acquired Main Industries in 2001, it factored Edwin into the purchase agreement, recognising as Murray & Roberts already had that he was a most valuable asset.

In 2002, Edwin accepted an offer to return to Murray & Roberts as MD of the struggling Foundries Group. Within 18 months, he had turned the business around with a top class management team capable of delivering world class products into a highly competitive market. Although Foundries now has an order book that will sustain it for many years, Edwin will remain at its helm to ensure ongoing sustainability.

The process Edwin follows when he is transforming a business is not unique but the personal qualities he brings to it are. He conducts a business review of the company and its strategy and assesses the management and people capacity. He then assembles an appropriate executive team and develops a strategy in consultation with the team, based on a clear understanding of the people, processes, technology and markets that drive the business.

“The key to all of this is building a great team, finding the best capacity, setting a challenge and empowering them to achieve their best. At Foundries, we have established a performance culture by encouraging growth and development and identifying and addressing problems. My executives know where they stand with me. I am brutally – but constructively – honest.”

Edwin always gets a head start by doing his initial reviews and assessments before he takes up a position and he often undergoes specialised training and conducts research if he is entering a new sector. He allows himself 18 months to turn a business around and three years to make it sustainable.

A qualified metallurgist and current MBA student, Edwin has a sound technical foundation and a wealth of experience. As a bursar at the Atomic Energy Corporation, he was handpicked to work on high-tech government projects. At Afrox, he was exposed to 300 local factories where process improvement audits were conducted to maximise the effectiveness of manufacturing processes. His next employer, Tridelta, a magnet manufacturing group, withdrew from South Africa leaving Edwin with the difficult task of closing a business.

At Petzetakis, he served as a director of the group’s international business, gaining invaluable experience. While his early work experience first instilled in him an understanding of the complexity, risk and opportunity of business, Murray & Roberts recognised his potential.

Edwin’s calm exterior belies a bristling energy, a passion to fix things and a refreshing sense of humour, as demonstrated in this anecdote he relates. One day as he drove from the airport to Port Elizabeth on a routine visit to the foundries, he saw smoke billowing from an old church in a graveyard. He “went ballistic”, calling the fire station, galvanising them into action and feeling immense relief as two fire engines raced past him towards the fire, sirens blaring. Later, when he told his colleagues that he had averted a disaster, they informed him that the church was a crematorium going about its normal business.

Edwin attributes much of his success to the stabilising force of his relationships and a balance between work and family. At work, he is liked and respected by his colleagues and has established a strong professional relationship with Keith Smith whom he considers to be one of his mentors.

He lives far from the madding crowd at Hartebeespoortdam with his wife Susan, whose support he values highly, and his son Edwin, with whom he has a close friendship. Leisure time is spent cycling with Susan (they have competed in three Argus Races), trout fishing, reading technical or business magazines and playing with state-of-the-art gadgets. By Lesley Lambert