Making My Marc: Lessons from a Life in Property ( CEO of Redefine Properties)

A business-focused autobiography of Mark Wainer, self-made property maverick and CEO of Redefine Properties, one of South Africa's largest commercial property companies. Taking his Grandma Rubinsky's advice that "there's no university that can give a degree in common sense", Marc Wainer used his uncommon wealth of common sense, along with a good deal of hard work, to make his mark in the world of commercial property. Using skills he first acquired while working in his parent's grocer's store as a child and later developed in the army (a wonderful environment for deal-making), he was always going places. Today he is a captain of South African industry, CEO of a company that has grown from an initial market capitalisation of R400 million in 1999 to somewhere in the region of R30 billion today. In this insightful memoir, Wainer describes his old-school background and upbringing, and his successes and failures amid the intriguing landscape of high-end property negotiations - then he outlines the lessons distilled from his experiences. The story of Wainer's passion and perseverance, and his ability to learn from his mistakes, is aimed at general business- interest readers, and specifically those in the property world, who will take inspiration from his success.