Can South Africa ever grow again? – the burning platform

Adam Craker, IQ business CEO Opens the Growth event

New report identifies constructive steps for business in South Africa.
At IQ businesses annual conference more than 200 partners and customer organisations shared a discussion focusing on the challenges and opportunities for South Africa over the next few years. 


Underpinned by excellent research now published at www.growth.co.za delegates welcomed sessions from Allon Raiz – Business Incubator Tzar, Alan Hosking – management thinking guru, Ivor Chipkin – Academic thought leader, Steve Towers – Customer Experience Champion, Adam Craker – CEO IQ business (and host), Bruce Whitfield – TV journalist and personality, Alon Lits – GM Uber South Africa.

Alon Lits, GM of UBER, South Africa

Alon Lits held the delegates attention with the groundbreaking and thrilling story of Uber’s South African adventure over the last two years. Transforming the lives of over 2,000 new drivers and more especially providing a remarkable service to citizens across Johannesburg and Cape Town. As with every innovator and disruptor the road hasn’t always been a smooth one however one by one the road blocks have been shifted and some exciting complementary innovations lie just around the corner.

Inada Club is a great networking location in the heat of Joburg

Adam Craker shared his recent discussions with government and business leaders from across the continent, underlining a conference sentiment that it was time ‘to get on with it’ despite red tape and governments mixed support.

Delegates appreciated the leadership of IQ business and the fantastic venue (Inanda Club) which encouraged networking during the brunch.

Allon Raiz was introduced via his recent video and through the use of language born of frustration with government apathy caught everyone’s attention. Interviewed by award winning financial journalist Bruce Whitfield he encouraged action rather than words, and doing rather than saying. As one of Africa’s leading entrepreneurs his call to action rings true for so many.


Academic Ivor Chipkin offered a perverse and interesting perspective suggesting that rather than sweeping away regulation and red tape we should instead standardise towards a common approach. It is futile trying to fix the seeming duplication of so many government functions. He also stressed that government is there to do that – govern, and we shouldn’t expect that to be necessarily business friendly. Food for thought there.

Changing our perspective is encouraged by Alan Hosking. If we became more Outcome focused then perhaps we can see our way to a more positive future. His talk centred around his research and findings published in his new book, and was a refreshing balance of optimism coupled with suggested approaches.

Steve Towers then suggested a pragmatic ‘go back and do it’ call to arms. By creating better Customer Experiences and moving Outside-In growth focused companies consistently win the triple crown – reducing costs, growing revenues and improving service simultaneously. By way of examples BMW, Jaguar Rover, Emirates, Indigo and Apple (of course) were reviewed, finishing with an example of a banks onboarding process, that achieved 90% cost reduction, 70% year on year growth and top ranking for customer service (from 5th).

The conference was a quick fire enjoyable meeting of minds with Adam Craker receiving a well deserved delegate pat on the back for the efforts of IQ business to get the theme of Growth front and centre in the quest for South Africa’s future success.

You can request the report Activate growth.co.za from info@iqbusiness.net or the website www.iqbusiness.net

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