David Jarvis
INTERIM CEO: Industrial Development Corporation
‘We couldn’t be prouder after posting historic funding and investment activity’
WITH the departure of TP Nchocho as CEO at the end of 2023, it fell to Jarvis to commandeer the wheel at the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC). As the longest-serving member of the IDC’s executive team, Jarvis was an obvious choice. Nchocho left the IDC on good terms in a year in which the development funder approved a record number of funding requests. It also recorded a profit for the second year in a row after a poor performance in 2020.
The IDC has also managed to increase its involvement in South Africa’s clean energy space. Along with international and regional financiers, the IDC agreed to contribute to South Africa’s special green hydrogen fund to finance hydrogen-related projects. Following the Brics summit in August, an agreement was signed with the Bank of China to fund projects in energy and mining, among others. The IDC also clinched funding and cooperation deals with Spanish state-owned enterprise COFIDES and Saudi Arabian Power Company ACWA for clean energy investments in the coming years.
As for current investments and loans, the IDC’s involvement with the non-performing Northern Cape manganese mine of Kalagadi Resources is still problematic. The IDC’s application to have it placed in business rescue is legally contested, with no solution in sight, at least not for the foreseeable future. On the upside, the fortunes of Foskor – another one of the IDC’s chronic non-performing assets – improved when the Phalaborwa-based phosphate miner reported a R2.8bn profit for the first time since 2012. This reignited hopes that Foskor could list on the JSE, which would attract much-needed investor capital though, to be honest, is there anyone who thinks this will ever really happen?
LIFE OF DAVID
Jarvis holds a Master’s degree in Industrial, Organisational and Labour Studies from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. He started his career as a researcher for the Trade Union Research Project in 1993. In 2000 he joined the National Labour and Economic Development Institute, heading up the strategies unit. In 2005, he accepted a position at the Department of Trade and Industry in the office of the director-general and later headed the economic research and policy coordination unit. In 2009, Jarvis became head of research at the Development Bank of Southern Africa. He joined the IDC in 2013 as head of corporate strategy and portfolio management – a position he still holds while also acting as interim CEO.
