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What do you currently identify as
the major areas of investment in
your industry? What are the region-specific
challenges when implementing new
technologies in Africa?
For distribution, the major investment is
around the digitisation of our business. From
platforms to run our business, to automation
of how we deal with our customers and
partners. Fundamentally it’s about investing
in models that assist us to do business
simpler and quicker, as well as providing
more transparency of the supply chain. Reliability of communications and
infrastructure remains the biggest
challenge; however there have been great
strides in improvement in these areas over
the last decade.
Nevertheless, the non-technology challenges
are still the biggest hindrance for investment.
What changes to your job role have
you seen in the last year and how do
you see these developing in the next
12 months?
I have had to become much more
knowledgeable around systems and
processes at a more detailed level. These
are the strategic enablers of our business,
and they can’t be expected to happen
without executive support for them. It’s
the challenge of identifying true business
improvements that can come about with
such investments versus chasing the latest
shiny thing.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain C-level
position in your industry?
You need to have a passion for all aspects
of the business. C-level roles are no longer
focussed on silos and a broad understanding
of all the components that make up the
whole business is necessary. Finance needs
to understand IT and IT needs to understand
sales. HR needs to understand marketing and
so on. A business is like an orchestra, while
each individual may be an expert with their
instrument, if they don’t know how it all works
together, it won’t be a success. n
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