You should all know by now that the freshly-opened Zeitz MOCAA in Cape Town is the world’s largest museum devoted to contemporary art from Africa.

Yay, finally! If you don’t know much, then read all about it here.

But did you know this isn’t the first investment its namesake has made in Africa?

The art museum was jointly developed by the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront and German businessman Jochen Zeitz.

Zeitz not only owns a considerable amount of the collection that will be housed in the MOCAA until his death, but is also considered by many “to be the leading collector of contemporary art from Africa and its Diaspora”, suggests Larry’s List.

And, besides his art collection, Zeitz is known as a formidable force in the business sector, too.

It all started going right for him back in 1993 when, at the age of just 30, he was made CEO of PUMA after “joining the ailing German sportswear company in 1990”, reports The Telegraph:

Why did the owners, a Swedish investment firm, take such a gamble?

“They’d been through three conventional CEOs in a year,” says Zeitz. “I gave them a more radical vision of how to turn the brand around.”

He dramatically reduced staff numbers, took production to Asia, made English the corporate language, and started sponsoring African football teams.

The last decision was in part economic (Cameroon, as you can imagine, is rather cheaper and more grateful than, say, Italy), but also, says Zeitz, they “suggested the adventurous nature of the brand”.

PUMA became one of the first major brands to sponsor African football players in the German Bundesliga, as well as national teams from the continent. The partnership went further when PUMA began asking artists to create some of their products.

Thus, during his 18 years as CEO at PUMA, Zeitz oversaw a 4 000% increase in the company’s share price as he pushed it to became one of the most successful brands in in the sporting goods industry.

Zeitz’s interest in Africa actually began before his PUMA days, after he travelled to the continent for the first time in 1989:

He bought a 50,000-acre ranch in Kenya, and acquired the 1929 Gipsy Moth biplane used in Out of Africa to fly around it.

When he decided to focus on sustainability, and make business leaders pay attention, he set up an organisation – The B Team – with Sir Richard Branson and rounded up 13 founder members including Irish politician Mary Robinson and CEO of luxury global group Kering, François-Henri Pinault.

Just as Zeitz managed to turn PUMA into one of the most stylin’ brands on the market today, so has his magic touch extended to African contemporary art in the form of the MOCAA.

Although he has left his building, he still rocks a PUMA holdall, and his influence still shines through as collaborations between PUMA and African artists continue.

You can find the collabs at either of the two PUMA SELECT stores in South Africa – Bree Street here at home and Braamfontein – and follow their blog, here, to keep up to date with the latest information.

[source:telegraph&larryslist]