I recently had the privilege to share the same space with two wonderful, intelligent black attorneys who are paving the way for future legal practitioners. Ronnie and Jennifer Bokwa need no introduction, they are pioneers.
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My world of work
Money unscripted is bringing you a series where you will be able to accrue more knowledge relating to different industries, and how those in the respective industries strive to become the best. The following segment will be focusing on the Law community, taking a closer look at Bokwa Law Incorporated.
Background of Bokwa Law
Bokwa Law Incorporated is a proudly black-owned law firm established in July 2002 by Mr. Ronnie Bokwa, the founder. It has two practices, in Pretoria and Bloemfontein. They specialize in Litigation, Property Law, Private and Family Law, Commercial and Corporate Law, and Criminal Law. They have a proven track record of 21 years of experience in the legal profession.
Bokwa Law Incorporated is a proudly black-owned law firm established in July 2002. They specialize in Litigation, Property Law, Private and Family Law, Commercial and Corporate Law, and Criminal Law.
The Bokwa’s background story
Bokwa Law is more than a Law firm, it is a family empire, Ronnie with the help of his wife Jennifer has conceptualized the African child’s dream of having representation, we had to find out what is the secret to achieving success in the law community.
Ronnie Bokwa
He is a well-rounded professional with excellent communication skills, he obtained his LLB and Bachelor of Arts from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg in 1996 and has ascended through the ranks ever since. Ronnie has been an Attorney of the High Court since 2000 and is a member of the Law Societies of the Northern Provinces and the Free State.
He has acted as a judge of the high court of the free state division for full terms for two consecutive years. He specializes in commercial banking law, gambling law, and corporate tax, he also served as the Chairperson of the Tax Board. During the period from 2013 until 2018, he was appointed by the Minister of Finance to adjudicate Income Tax.
When they say diamond comes in small packages they were referring to Mrs. Jennifer Bokwa, she’s the definition of Imbokodo. She is a mother of three beautiful daughters, and an Attorney, admitted in 1998, having over 20 years of experience in litigation, business management, compliance, and training. She has worked as Director and General Manager of various Government institutions and the Public and Private Sectors.
Jennifer Bokwa
Jennifer joined G&H in October 2015 and was appointed as Director in February 2016. Her experience assisted the Company in evolving and meeting the strenuous requirements required in compliance management. Jennifer is not only pushing the boundaries she is making them seamless, a turned businesswoman with a wealth of experience. She holds B. Luris and LLB Degrees from the University of the North West.
She has worked in various positions as law practice Director, Principal Attorney, Executive Officer, General Manager, and business owner for inter alia Law Society of the Free state, The legal; Aid Board, the Free State Gambling & Racing Board, Sun International and lastly but not the least Bokwa Incorporated.
With all the above she still holds a directorship at Poloko Holdings (Pty) Ltd, RDG Marketing (Pty) Ltd, Isuzu Drive Train (Pty) Ltd, G&H Projects (Pty) Ltd, and Capitis Equities (Pty) Ltd, a true force to be reckoned with. ‘
She began her journey at Bokwa Incorporated in May of 2014 as a practicing attorney specializing in litigation, and corporate governance and serving as a non-executive director in the both public and private sectors.
What qualifications do you hold?
Jennifer Bokwa
I have two qualifications in law, the first one is named B. Luris, a three-year junior degree in law, furthermore I studied LLB, which serves as an honour’s degree. I then served my articles, which would assist me in getting trained and qualified as an attorney in 1998.
Ronnie Bokwa
I am an attorney practicing in the Republic of South – Africa, I hold two known degrees to be an attorney or an advocate, which are a Bachelor of Arts and LLB from the University of Witwatersrand, I graduated in 1996 and qualified as an attorney in the year 2000. I have chosen to be on the site bare, which alternative profession.
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What does your job entail (day to-day-activities)?
Jennifer Bokwa
My special interest is in governance, assisting businesses to run efficiently. That is the long and short of it. My day-to-day activities at Bokwa Inc are not from practicing law, rather it is to running the company, and ensure that it remains profitable and successful. I ensure that the correct systems are in place and that they are implemented. Once the procedures have been implemented, I then ensure that the systems are efficient and effective. I am so happy to announce that in July of 2021, Bokwa Inc reached 20 years in the industry.
Ronnie Bokwa
Over the period it has changed, I was admitted in 2000 as an attorney, and I have done a lot of court work, most criminal cases in the Magistrate court in Bloemfontein, substituent there, we moved to Pretoria where we established a second branch of the practice. This is when we ventured into the corporate sector of the law. I manage corporate clients, which are Standard bank and many others. (You can visit their website to see more of their clients.) I also manage lawyers; I have a team in the Free State as well as in Pretoria. I also have article clerks that I guide daily.
What is the most challenging thing about your job?
Jennifer Bokwa
Let me begin by giving you the background to the reason why I chose to be in the management of the business, which is because I fell in love with what we call Corporate governance. Since 2005, my job is to ensure that the executive team of the business does what they are supposed to do, ensuring that the entire business run efficiently. When I joined Bokwa Inc, the whole idea was to corporatize the business.
As you can imagine being a lawyer and practicing law is more about professional services, rendering legal professional services. Thus, we find that most of the time, the professionals focus only on their space of practice, without necessarily looking at the corporate side of the business. When we refer to the corporate side of the business we are speaking about the whole spectrum of legislation, that governs businesses or companies.
I served in many companies, where I was a non-executive director, responsible for corporate governance. The most challenging aspect of my job, I would say it is always difficult for a small business to operate like a big business. In South Africa when we speak about SMEs, any business that employs 250 or fewer employees. Most of the time we focus on just making money, forgetting that this business/company is a juristic person.
Over and above us are natural persons working for this juristic person. The juristic person must also comply with the laws of the country, one of those laws being company law. That is what I find most challenging, for small businesses that offer professional services to comply with legislation that regulates a juristic person.
Ronnie Bokwa
Conceptualizing a business, and being its founder is challenging, because you do not know where it will end. You must trust the business as it grows and trust the people within the business. Try and strive to recruit the right people that will grow your business and business ideology, and for me, the challenge has been, to grow the right people in the business and to see them learn and master and then be recruited by other businesses.
The beauty of all of this is we continue to get new resources, grow them, and hope that they will stay, and if they choose not to stay you would have contributed to a greater pool of skilled people that are good for the economy of the country. If they choose to stay then you know you have the right people that understand the values of the business, and that will be able to take the business further.
Why did you choose this career path?
Jennifer Bokwa
As a young girl growing up, I wanted to be different. Therefore, I chose a career where one wouldn’t easily find women in it, especially black women. On top of that, I also wanted to contribute to others’ lives. Becoming a legal representative, practicing law, and later venturing into other areas of law.
Ronnie Bokwa
I grew up in the ’70s, an era that influenced most of us and our career paths because I come from that era it was easy for me to choose this path. I wanted social justice. The concept of social justice is a very broad one, it is about making society equal and functional, and correcting injustices. I believe I have added my share value in the past 22 years and will continue doing so for the remainder of my life to add my value to achieve social justice. I believe we are far, even with the challenges that we are currently facing, we have a lot to still do to improve the lives of people.
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How did Ronnie & Jennifer meet?
Jennifer Bokwa
We met in Bloemfontein.
I was born and bred in Thaba Nchu, a small town sixty kilometers east of Bloemfontein. After I had qualified as an attorney, I worked in Bloemfontein and he was five buildings away from where I was working on the same street. That is basically how we met, one thing led to the other, starting with breakfast after breakfast, then dinner after dinner and now we are here.
What would an outsider not know about your career?
Jennifer Bokwa
In my case I will focus on the business, what most people don’t know is that a successful business is not just successful because it has made money. It takes a whole lot of other processes and steps behind closed doors to get to that point.
Another thing people might not be aware off is that a business is its own person, one must be registered, in order to be recognized. You will get a shareholder whom just puts in the investments, then you will have directives, the one working for the shareholder. Reporting to the shareholder, through the different managers whom run the business.
The above was just half of the conversation we had, but with many great gems that would assist anyone who will want to build a successful business. It takes hard work and dedication, but most of all like Mr. Ronnie said it just takes luck! DON’T GIVE UP, implement those strategies to assist you in your business operative effectively.
Ronnie Bokwa
Well, a person in the public domain wouldn’t know that it is not easy to access the law. Because lawyers are expensive. Therefore, legal justice is not open to ordinary people. Private lawyers’ services are costly, and lawyers are used by cooperates.
What would you want to achieve this your career?
Jennifer Bokwa
I am looking forward to opening my own company, consulting, or venturing into the mining industry, supplying commodities, or rendering legal services.
Ronnie Bokwa
I have reached the ceiling in what I do, I have coached, and I have mentored. I am looking forward to doing something else, and I don’t know what it might be.
What is the one thing that surprised you when you came into your respective industries?
Jennifer Bokwa
The fact that we were only a few black females in our industry, most of the time, you would find that I was the only female amongst men. I’ve also noticed that in most cases the females were in junior positions or company secretary. This was surprising and disappointing at the same time, hence as a careerwoman by contributing and giving more females the platform to lead.
Ronnie Bokwa
You need to get a “Break-through”, you need a case that people will not forget. I was blessed to get cases that placed me on television. In any career you need to have something that place you apart.
What would you say are the most important principals applied in your career?
Jennifer Bokwa
My job is to assist businesses reach their full potential, with that said. My perspective is that as a businessperson, whether you run a small or big business, ensure that you understand the very basic principle of Finance, in other words bookkeeping and accounting.
This will assist you in understanding that when you reach your goal of R10 000.00 ten-thousand rand, instead of the R5000.00 five-thousand-rand that I had imaged. Ensure that before you take anything into my pocket there are curtain financial obligations that needs to be fulfilled.
Do not interfere with the finance department. As a businessperson do not leave everything in the hands of your bookkeeper, rather ask questions to understand.
Ronnie Bokwa
One must have strong financial controls; your finance department should know their story. Know that money in the business should be able to take care of the business. The business should be able to pay all its obligations and still have remains to grow. Being an article clerk in1998, I got paid R700.00 that had to keep me going through the month, that taught me how to budget and keep to my financial goals. I am still implementing till this day. We have goals and we keep to it.
Being an article clerk in 1998, I got paid R700.00 that had to keep me going through the month, that taught me how to budget and keep to my financial goals.
Ronnie Bokwa
Here are the courses:
1. How to master your money mindset
3. How to build an emergency fund
5. How to create multiple streams of income
6. Investment Guide: What’s your ‘Why’ in investing
