Can a new frontier boost your career?

GLAMOUR, ADVENTURE AND A SENSE OF THE exotic come with the opening of any frontier--but pitfalls and risks also come with the new territory.

With apartheid dead and economic sanctions lifted, American companies are beating a path into South Africa. In fact, as of January, 183 American companies had located there. While many African-Americans are at the helm of these South African affiliates, going to South Africa is not necessarily an idealistic return to the "motherland."

Despite abundant opportunities and the relatively high number of African-Americans in senior-level corporate posts there, South Africa does not offer a permanent escape from the glass ceiling. With the adventure and privileges come cultural differences and conflicts--and a different kind of prejudice for the unwary.

These expatriates, or "expats" as they are known in South Africa, are in the country on two- to five-year contracts; although the contracts can be renewed, most expats expect to return home when their terms expire.

In the meantime, African-American expats, charged with securing a foothold in an emerging market in which the competition is keen, face enormous challenges. Their management skills and organizational expertise are being watched by white South Africans, who dominate the executive suites, as well as by black South Africans knocking at the corporate door. If that door doesn't open wide enough, the Americans know they'll face resentment from black South African professionals. These pressures are felt even more acutely by female expats, who face the challenges of working in a highly male-chauvinistic culture.

And if these challenges were not enough, the government demands that American corporations contribute directly to the nation's socioeconomic health. These companies and their representatives are empowered to help build a new generation of managers for this society in transition.

But life can be glamorous. Often, an American who heads the South African subsidiary of a major U.S. company is treated like an ambassador. Take the Colemans. Frank, 50, is president and managing director of AT&T, South Africa, while his wife, Roberta, 49, is in charge of international public affairs and public relations for sub-Sahara Africa. Their social calendar is jam-packed: one evening, it's dinner at the American Chamber of Commerce; the next day, a cocktail party with heads of various corporations; and the next, a special performance of the London Philharmonic. And they're often given seats of honor. For instance, Thanksgiving dinner was held at the American Embassy, where Roberta sat to the right of the ambassador and Frank to the right of the ambassador's wife.

The Coleman's home in Bryanston, a predominately white suburb north of Johannesburg, also reflects their privileged lifestyle. During apartheid, fear of violence from blacks spawned walls and iron gates around hoods like Bryanston and nearby Sandton. But behind the barriers are lavish homes, sporting tennis courts, swimming ming pools and multiple living rooms--a testament to the South African love of entertaining. Homes once owned by whites are now being bought by blacks. Although their neighborhood was formerly all white, the Colemans say they have had no problems with their neighbors.

But despite the glamour, life is not easy. Frank Coleman must establish AT&T's presence in South Africa amid fierce competition from foreign companies like Siemens, which is based in Germany. By the end of his five-year assignment, Coleman must set the groundwork for improving the telecommunications infrastructure structure that will link all the countries of southern Africa. This involving connecting 100 million southern African consumers with one another and the rest of the world. Coleman, a former vice president for AT&T's network wireless system's business unit, also supports the Africa-ONE project, the underseas cable system that will circle the continent.

Coleman and his wife also worry about South Africa's political stability, and a rate so high that one South African photographer refused to take pictures around Johannesburg without a bodyguard.

Meanwhile, they face high expenses: Housing and food costs are reasonable, but clothing, cars and electronics, which are imported, cost twice as much as they do back home.

THE NEED FOR SOPHISTICATED MANAGEMENT SKILLS

Companies won't send anyone on an overseas assignment if they don't possess the skills. But often, African-Americans, like the Colemans, are seen as trump cards. Firms considering entry or re-entry into South Africa first send over teams to study the South African market. African-Americans almost always lead these teams. If not at the top, the African-Americans are certainly within the team ranks, says John Sims, a former Digital Equipment Corp. executive who is now a consultant to corporations and executives entering South Africa. "White American companies believe a black heading their team in South Africa gives them an advantage because of the political structure," he explains.

The expats have a big responsibility since they are expected to create a managerial structure for South Africa. While most black South African managers are college educated, many lack managerial skills and experience, says Sims. The expats' challenge is to establish their companies firmly in the local economy and to train South Africans, both black and white.

Finding South Africans to succeed the Americans is difficult for managers accustomed to the aggressiveness of American job candidates. South Africans tend to be less assertive and more indirect. "An average interview takes me an hour and forty-five minutes," says Neil McGowan, the 36-year-old managing director of Silicon Graphics, sub-Sahara Africa. It usually takes half that time, he says, to interview American candidates. "Most South African candidates will only answer the specific question you ask. If you don't dig, you may eliminate a talented individual," explains McGowan, a New York native and former head of the multimedia division of Tandem Computers Inc.

While today's South Africa is concentrating on racial equality, it has overlooked gender equality. "It's like the '60s and '70s in America when women first broke into the corporate structure," says F. Dianne Young, 41, industry vertical executive for IBM. As the first woman on the IBM South Africa executive management team, she is expected to recoup the share of the utilities market IBM lost after divesting in 1986. Young, an avid skier, says her job is like skiing down a mogul field. "You plot your course, but you have to be able to react to the unexpected sharp turns and bumps."

Those bumps can be especially rough for women. "This is still a very chauvinistic, male-dominated society," notes AT&T's Roberta Coleman. Although white men hold the great majority of executive positions, "black South African men are just as chauvinistic, if not more so." And worse, she adds, South African women "accept it."

Unlike the United States, South Africa has no laws to protect women against discrimination. For example, when dealing with placement firms run by women, Coleman has been asked, "Do you want a man or a woman for the position? Someone young or old?" Still, she advises women not to wear their umbrage on their sleeve. "You have to tactfully call the person on it, tell them you were offended and then move on."

Another African-American female executive tells of subordinates who questioned her expertise and of a boss who ignored her suggestions. "Because many white South Africans are receptive to blacks in corporate South Africa, the bias has to be because I'm a woman," she says.

In addition to chauvinism, there are financial pressures. American companies are considering cut-backs on cost-of-living allowances that let foreign workers maintain the same standard of living they had at home. Some employees use them to send their children to private school, others to purchase American goods, says Leon Potgieter, a principal with Towers Perrin, a compensation and human resources strategies consulting firm in New York. Nonetheless, when corporate clients ask Potgieter about giving out allowances, he advises them to cut back. By eliminating these allowances, expats will live on the same level as their South African counterparts.

CHALLENGES FOR THE EXPATS

Although the expats interviewed say they have not experienced negative reactions from black South African professionals, they still sense an underlying resentment. Most black South Africans deny holding such grudges themselves, but many say that "others" do.

Clearly, Americans should not go to South Africa to escape the glass ceiling. "This is the day of the black South African," says Leyland Hazlewood, chairman of Dimpex Inc., a Maryland-based management consulting firm. "Expats must not come to compete with South Africans but to help them," he says, warning African-Americans against taking a paternalistic attitude toward black South Africans. Resentment against Americans does exist. But they are not alone. Black African professionals from Nigeria, Kenya and Zimbabwe who are filling corporate South Africa's ranks are also targets.

This resentment can be mitigated if Americans show that they are helping to train South Africans for managerial positions, says Nomsa Daniels, director of the Professional Development Program, a New York-based organization that trains black South African managers. South African companies participating in the program are sending their black executives to managerial classes in New York while continuing to pay their salaries. The managers get on-the-job training from such companies as J.P. Morgan and Citicorp.

South Africa can use all the black managers it can get. Black South Africans, who make up only 3% of the country's corporate managers, are in great demand. Thirty-year-old Mutle Mogase has been dodging South African headhunters for a year. "I get a call a week," says Mogase, general manager for commercial lending at the Amalgamated Bank of South Africa. "Headhunters are not concerned about your career; they are just interested in plugging that hole with someone black," he says. A Professional Development Program candidate in 1992, Mogase was offered a senior-level position in the food industry by a zealous recruiter. The position offered him a 40% increase in salary, but he refused it, preferring to advance in his banking career. "They figure if they dangle a big enough carrot, then I would move."

But many others are grabbing the carrot. Job-hopping has become very popular with highly sought-after black South African professionals. Companies are so eager to have blacks in visible positions that they are accepting underqualified candidates, Mogase warns. Many are paid the same as, or more than, their white counterparts, he adds.

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

Training is only one "social responsibility" the government requires of foreign companies. Under the Gove National Unity's Reconstruction and Development Program (RDP), foreign companies must support at least one of five key programs: meeting basic needs, developing human resources, building the economy, democratizing the state or implementing the RDP.

Most companies support the first two initiatives. For example, IBM has begun an education initiative, "Reach & Teach." which offers mentorships and job-training, with accelerated technical training for all age groups. Silicon Graphics has adopted ed a similar scholarship and co-op program gram for grade schoot and college students.

Despite the difficulties, most African-Americans find more pluses than minuses in their South African experience. "You feel special and privileged as a black American in South Africa, says Sims. Most who go there don't want to come home."