Meet Our Managing Executive: Rudo Stoltenkamp

Meet Rudo Stoltenkamp. He started as an Admin Controller in 2013 and was appointed as Managing Executive in May 2023.

1. What three words would you use to describe yourself?
Honest, supportive, energetic.

2. How would you describe your day job to a child?
My son would always shout in the car when passing a Vector truck “Pappa, daar ry jou trok”. So, I would say that we put all the yummy things like chicken nuggets and fries in the big trucks, and the trucks take them to shops and restaurants for you to buy them.

3. What does a typical day look like for you?
I enjoy operations, as not every day is the same. I like forward planning and a structured approach, but have learned over time that you need to be able to adapt to changing circumstances.

4. What makes you proud to be part of the Vector Logistics’ team?
We have a great bunch of people, who daily make sure that our execution is of world-class standards. Our people go out of their way to ensure we support our principals and customers as best we can.

5. How would you describe a high-performance organisation?
An organisation of paddlers that have the same end goal in mind. One where people support each other to ensure the best performance is achieved for the task at hand.

6. What does safety mean to you?
It means looking after one another and ensuring that we all create a safe and healthy workplace to operate. It means equipment management, education and training, to ensure our people are equipped with the best tools possible to apply in their daily tasks.

7. How do you keep yourself/your team motivated?
Through continuous communication and engagement. I believe that if everyone knows what the end goal is and what is expected of them, the task becomes much easier to achieve. Once all is moving in the same direction, success becomes easier, and success drives motivation.

8. What do you like most about your job?
I enjoy the different dynamics the role brings. I am exposed to various aspects of business management, whether it be people, execution, finance, HR, etc. Every aspect has a very important role to play in ensuring success, and I enjoy being part of the full circle.

9. Do you have a mentor/coach?
I do not have a mentor or coach, but have been exposed to many great leaders throughout my career in various aspects.

10. Given a chance, who would you like to be for a day?
In the days of load shedding, I wanted to be the person that decides who has lights and who doesn’t.

11. If you were the CEO for a day, what would you change or introduce?
Information-sharing platforms. A place where new developments are shared with the business and also a platform for employees to ask questions.

On a lighter note …

12. What is your most memorable facepalm (embarrassing) moment?
At Vector; it was slipping in the Coega freezer some years ago. The CCTV footage was an interesting conversation topic for many months.

13. When was the last time you laughed so hard?
I try to laugh as much as possible. Even when things are tough, one always needs to look at the brighter side of things.

14. What is your guilty pleasure?
This gets determined by the guilty pleasures of my kids 😊.

15. What is one thing people do not know about you?
The meaning of my name Rudo is “love” in Shona.

16. If you could invite one famous person (dead or alive) to dinner, who would it be and why?
Rassie Erasmus. I believe his approach of playing for the people of South Africa and not the individuals or the Team has resulted in the remarkable success of the Springbok Team over the last few years. He has great vision in not only the physical requirements of the game, but also the strategic approach, people management and analysis.