At a recent function sponsored by FNB and the Property Professional magazine held at the Montecasino Ballroom in Johannesburg, Bill Rawson, chairman of Rawson Properties, was honoured with the esteemed FNB/Property Professional Lifetime Achievement Award. Rawson has had over 40 years in property and Rawson Properties has been in existence since 1982.
Tony Clarke, MD of Rawson Properties, said that the award recognises not just the achievements of the Rawson Group (which now operates in all nine provinces and has over 150 franchises, and which has diversified into residential development, construction, and franchise divisions for auctions, commercial property and letting), but also Bill Rawsons ongoing totally committed work on behalf of the property sector as a whole '“ and numerous welfare causes.
Rawson, said Clarke, had been finance director and then chairman of the Western Cape Institute of Estate Agents for two terms and is credited with restructuring it and saving it from financial collapse. He then took on the position of president of the National Estate Agents Institute for four and a half years and he continues to serve here in an advisory capacity.
Rawson, says Clarke, was a prime mover in getting the industry as a whole to recognise the need for intensive, comprehensive and ongoing training. This stemmed from his own group where training of all staff was always a top priority.
Rawson was one the industry leaders who campaigned successfully for the introduction of the compulsory educational qualifications which all agents now have to achieve.
He was, too, a member of the triumvirate responsible for founding the property publishing company that produces the Cape Property Guide (in the Cape Argus) and the Property Times (in the Cape Times). These media today print some 200 pages of advertising copy each week.
Believing strongly in bond origination services, Rawson was a founding member of ooba.
Since 1995 Rawson, said Clarke, has been a trustee to the Woodside special care centre for severely disabled children and young adults (most of whom have been in that condition since birth) and he has supported many other causes.
Rawson has four children and his hobbies include cycling, running, mountain walking, squash and swimming. He completed his tenth Argus Cycle Tour this year.
Clarke said that these 'bare facts' cannot, however, tell the full story.
'If you were to ask me what Bill Rawsons legacy to the property industry will be apart from establishing a national property group, I would say that he is known as one of the few top executives in SA who genuinely operates on, and inculcates in his staff, a service attitude which is characterised by striving to satisfy the client first and only secondly by earning a living for oneself.
'He has consistently placed the emphasis on transparency, integrity and trust and this attitude has had a huge influence on almost all the people with whom he has dealt. His fundamental belief has always been in the value of entrepreneurship and in helping people found sustainable businesses and create wealth'
