The night's most moving moment was when Investec CEO Stephen Koseff accepted the Lifetime Achievement award, and it was heart-warming to see the banker, all teary eyed, thanking his family for their support
Forget Twitter - if you wanted to network with the lords of the local business world, the Sunday Times Business Times Top 100 companies awards on Tuesday night was the place to be.
I had barely set foot in the imposing Rand Club building in downtown Johannesburg when I bumped into one of those bigwigs, our soon-to-be unemployed Reserve Bank governor, Tito Mboweni, who was in his usual jocular mood.
The gov has a few rules: no snaps of him holding a glass of his favourite tipple or with a woman on his arm. I wonder if those rules will remain when he swaps signing our banknotes for fulfilling his dream of running a limestone quarry up north?
Someone who does not like having his photograph taken at all is possibly our most famous billionaire, Patrice Motsepe, who ditched his usual brocade suits for a suave dinner suit and white bow tie.
Patrice, of course, came with one of my favourite ladies - his wife, Dr Precious Motsepe, probably the classiest dresser on the night (nice white ruffled shirt and high-waisted black jersey knit skirt).
Then it was a climb up the stairs and a shuffle into the hall to attend the awards ceremony, to acknowledge those listed companies that have drummed up the most wealth for their shareholders (see this week's Top 100 supplement for more details about how the winners were picked).
Ably compered by e.tv news reader Nikiwe Bikitsha, the awards were breezed through in less than three-quarters of an hour (that's a good length to bear in mind for your next AGM, guys!) although the audio-visual presentation could have done with a bit of sprucing up; is it me, or did it feel like the old SABC's documentary team produced it?
The Rand Club was founded way back in 1887 by one of Johannesburg's earliest entrepreneurs, Cecil John Rhodes, and as I took my seat next to Business Times editor Phylicia Oppelt, with MTN's Phuthuma Nhleko on my right and Tito a couple of seats away, I could not help but think that just 20 years ago none of us would have been allowed inside those hallowed walls.
Times have changed.
The night shed light on which of our big companies have done well despite the economic storm.
You would have been wise to put your money on Basil Read; this was the second year in a row that the construction company came up tops. If you invested R10000 in shares in Basil Read in 2004, you would be sitting pretty with shares worth just shy of R200K today!
Mind you, I could not help but chuckle when chief executive Marius Heyns said: "We don't have politics in our company. There is no back-stabbing."
This, when businessman and former National Prosecuting Authority head Bulelani Ngcuka is chairman of the Basil Read board. Wonder what embattled former police chief Jackie Selebi would think of that statement?
The night's most moving moment was when Investec CEO Stephen Koseff accepted the Lifetime Achievement award, and it was heart-warming to see the banker all teary eyed, thanking his family for their support, particularly his son Brad, who flew in from London, and daughter Mandi, who came with husband Bradley Hill all the way from Sydney.
The night's big winner, though, was the MTN CEO who sat next to me, and I enjoyed meeting the man and his cute daughter, Nkuli, who is studying politics at the University of Cape Town.
Nkuli said her mom, Nontokoza, couldn't make it as she was in hospital - but her siblings (the Nhleko's have two other daughters, Thembi and Nosipho, and a son, Thomas) were out in full force to celebrate their dad.
You will read elsewhere about the irony of Phuthuma's award coming on the heels of the failed deal between MTN and India's Bharti Airtel, but the man of the moment was being circumspect about whether or not it would be looked at again - and he said he wasn't referring to the deal when he mentioned the need for governments of emerging countries to spur rather than hamper companies' opportunities for growth.
With the awards out of the way, we all hovered around food stations dotted around the room (this year the sit-down dinner was ditched for a more conversational feel), and I'm giving Ian Mancais of Rice Creations a thumbs-up for the hand-rolled duck spring rolls that saw him and his team stay up till 3.30am to make (foodies will be impressed that the Daffy was specially flown in from France).
While I did not try it, some guests felt the curried lamb was not up to scratch and I was devastated that the doughnuts, caramelised popcorn and biscuits were so popular, they were gone by the time I looked around for dessert.
Who turned up?
Cyril Ramaphosa (who seemed to be the man who most wanted to network with on the night), diminutive Moss Mashishi (with his wife Tsholo) and equally pint-sized Saki Macozoma.
Add Bertie Lubner, Pomodzi CEO Ndaba Ntsele (who was suggesting to Peotona's Thandi Orleyn that her daughter, who fancies a culinary career, should check out the chef's kitchens at Food Corp's innovation centre in Woodstock, Cape Town), Cheryl Carolus, Sandile Zungu and Arcelor Mittal's Nku Nyembezi-Heita.
Then there were Mango Airlines CEO Nico Bezuidenhout, Virgin Mobile's CEO Steve Bailey (is it me, or is Richard Branson's off-the-wall cellphone company trying not to be noticed of late?), the JSE's Russell Loubser, and Adrian Gore of Discovery.
Marketers and advertising bigwigs were headed by big guns like Derek Carstens, who heads up 2010 marketing (and came sans girlfriend Renee Silverstone), MTN's golden girl Santie Botha, FNB's head of strategic marketing Kim Thipe, ad guru Peter Vundla and snappy dresser Mohale Ralebitso.
Add a powerful rabbi (Chief Rabbi Dr Warren Goldstein) and a design guru (Design Indaba's Ravi Naidoo) and glamour in the form of Pulane Kingston (in ice-coloured plunging neckline sequined gown with a fur shrug) who was tagging along with her husband, Martin.
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