Jacob was appointed Chairman of NERSA in 2014. He spent nine years as a director on the board of Eskom beginning in 2001 and was also a director on the board of EDI Holdings. He spent the mid-90s as a full-time employee at Eskom heading up the corporate finance unit where he was involved in modelling and analysing strategic restructuring initiatives of the sector, major local and international capital investment projects, and international mergers and acquisition opportunities.
Jacob is also involved in associated industries, having been appointed in 2015 by the South African Ministry of Water and Sanitation as the Deputy Chairman of the Trans-Caledon Tunnel Authority (TCTA), a state-owned entity responsible for local and cross-border bulk water infrastructure, including water supply to energy utilities.
As an entrepreneur, Jacob has grown Batsomi Investment Holdings, a company he formed in 1998, from a small company holding hotel interests in South Africa into a well-diversified industrial group with interests in the industrial, technology, defence, motor, hospitality, power and healthcare industries. The group has partnered with some of the leading global companies in the various sectors in which it operates and has been able to add significant value to their local operations.
Earlier in his career, Jacob was for six years the Chief Executive Officer of the Road Accident Fund, a public entity providing statutory motor vehicle personal injury insurance. Prior to that he spent seven years at Johnnie Holdings Limited, a telecommunications, media and entertainment group listed on the JSE Securities Exchange, where he served initially as finance director and later as the Chief Executive Officer.
He has served on the boards of listed companies including MTN, Premier Foods, M-Net, SuperSport, Times Media Limited, Tsogo Sun and regulatory bodies including the Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA). His current board directorships include ArcelorMittal and Altron. He is also trustee of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
Jacob has a Bachelor of Commerce and a Bachelor of Accountancy from the University of the Witwatersrand, a Chartered Accountant professional qualification from the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants and the Public Accountants and Auditors Board and an MBA from Wits Business School.
Jacob is a speaker at the fifth annual Africa Investment Exchange: Power and Renewables meeting at RSA House, 14-15 November 2018.