Meet the Members: In Conversation with Darryl Mayers

Our GBCSA board member Darryl Mayers is the joint-CEO at Investec Property Fund. He answered our questions to give us a better idea of his work, the environment and what inspires him.

Where do you get your inspiration from? 

To unwind and clear my head there are two environments I must get to – not in any order or preference – the bush and the sea. My best bush experience has been in the Okavango Delta, but I’d caution you not to underrate the Kruger National Park. It may be less exotic, but you cannot beat its simplicity, value for money or the variety and abundance of game and birds. The sea always works. Mozambique for its raw natural beauty.

For inspiration I spend time tracking various forms of media to gauge trends and market activity that could impact or improve our business. Nothing beats spending time on the road looking at the assets. Checking on the assets includes assessing the ease of access, market activity, the customer experience such as the sense of arrival, operating environment, and then thinking of ways to unlock the potential of the space.

What is the best part of your workday?

When everyone is together in the office, which is why I believe that we will see a return to work in a big way. I particularly love the energy on the floor – it’s so palpable. Our people are normally so engaged and pumped. I do believe that we have created an environment where we do things differently – the way we interact and operate. It’s   incredibly robust and a great place to work.

What achievement are you most proud of?

Being appointed as joint CEO of Investec Property Fund

What do you think is the most urgent global environmental challenge facing us?

The environment is a huge issue globally and I suspect that implementing the range of solutions feels quite daunting to business leaders who don’t really know enough about where to deploy impactful spending and so they freeze. It should not be complicated, but it does feel that way.  I suspect that there is a disconnect between the environmentalists as forerunners and big business. Somehow that has to change.

What do you feel is the biggest issue in the green building industry that we have to overcome, and any ideas on where to start in tackling it?

It leads on from my point above. Keep it simple to ensure that it gets adopted by industry and money gets deployed. Don’t try and perfect the spend, deploy and learn as you go.

Darryl Mayers has been involved in various roles in the property industry since the late 1980’s. After having spent eight years at Investec, four years of which were with Investec Property (Pty) Ltd (IP), Darryl acquired Vered Estates in 2002 and fulfilled the role of managing director until 2008 when he re-joined IP. Darryl has since held various leadership roles within Investec Property, including Head of Retail Developments and Head of South African Trading and Development, until his appointment as joint chief executive officer of the Fund on 1 December 2018.