Santam, KFC, Multichoice and RCL Foods shine at new industry data awards

The fourth annual GESHIDOCON, hosted by iqbusiness, recently took place in Johannesburg. The sold-out event brought together more than 500 C-suite leaders, executives, technology leaders and transformation teams driving change in modern organisations.

This year, iqbusiness also launched its inaugural GESHIDO Insights Awards, recognising organisations that are moving beyond simply collecting data and producing research to using customer and consumer insight to influence decisions, drive action and create meaningful business impact.

“GESHIDO means to get $#!t done, and across all four winning organisations - operating in different sectors and facing very different business challenges - one pattern was clear: they made insight matter,” said Tshepo Moila, Partner at iqbusiness.

“We saw the same journey play out in different ways: from insight to decision, from decision to action, and from action to impact. Evidence helped reveal what mattered, leaders used it to make clearer decisions, teams changed what they did and the organisations were able to create outcomes that the business and its customers could feel. That is GESHIDO in action,” reflected Moila.

Financial Services & Insurance winner: Santam

Data-led listening earns Santam recognition

Santam has been recognised as the Financial Services & Insurance winner at the GESHESHIDO Insights Awards 2026, highlighting the strategic value of disciplined, data-led listening in strengthening customer experience, broker relationships and business performance.

As a market leader with strong broker loyalty and resilient financial performance, Santam recognised the need for a more integrated view of customer and broker experiences, one that could turn feedback into meaningful business action.

By drawing stakeholder feedback together with its wider data sets, Santam built an integrated listening capability. Priorities became clearer as a result, decisions were grounded in evidence, and interventions were directed to the areas where impact would be greatest. Santam’s 2024 and 2025 performance trajectory further strengthens this story, showing how data-led listening supports financial resilience and broker confidence.

Retail winner: KFC Africa

Turning an archive into a competitive asset

KFC Africa has tested more than 100 concepts annually for the past decade, building an asset of approximately 5.6 million customer evaluations and more than 100 million data points.

Together with the iqbusiness Insights team, KFC Africa unlocked new value from this wealth of historical research - turning what could have remained an archive into a living strategic asset that can inform decisions today.

“Instead of looking at each new concept afresh, this rich data was analysed to understand the consistent primary drivers of customer behaviour and choice over time. On this basis, we’re now able to prioritise stronger concepts earlier, screen out weaker ideas faster, invest research where it matters and ultimately make faster, smarter decisions,” said Mateena Naidoo, Head of Research at KFC Africa.

Telco & Media winner: MultiChoice Group

Multiple realities distilled into clear action for MultiChoice

Operating across diverse African markets means MultiChoice Group must navigate very different customer realities.

The work enabled MultiChoice to move beyond identifying where customer pain points existed to understanding where the business needed to act and what needed to change.

“We knew we needed to make changes and, leveraging the insights generated from our VoC framework supported by the Insights team from iqbusiness, we identified precisely where in the customer journey things needed to improve. Critically, the insights also told us exactly what needed to be done,” said Yanga Madikizela, VP: Customer Experience and Quality Assurance at MultiChoice Group.

Manufacturing & FMCG winner: RCL FOODS

Building a competitive edge through insights & consumer centricity

In a rapidly changing consumer environment, staying connected to evolving consumer and shopper needs is critical to long-term growth. In some categories, businesses are faced with knowledge gaps, limited visibility and increasing uncertainty, make building this understanding particularly challenging. RCL FOODS was recognised for establishing strong consumer and market intelligence capabilities that drive a deeper understanding, unlock growth and embed an insights-led approach to brand and business decision-making. The impact is reflected in the market through RCL’s innovation, strategic acquisitions and the strength of its brands, and was showcased in the pet category at the GESHIDO Awards.

“Too often we want to jump straight to the answers, but you first need to build the right foundations. By partnering with best-in-class research agencies such as iqbusiness, we systematically built on this knowledge, closed understanding gaps and reduced decision uncertainty. Every data point, insight and learning has strengthened our understanding of our categories and brands and over time these foundations became our competitive advantage and maintains our relevance with consumers” said Victoria Laval, Consumer Market Insights (CMI) Executive at RCL FOODS.

Insight-rich not the same as insight-led

For the inaugural awards, iqbusiness followed a curated, invitation-led process across its client portfolio, identifying organisations and stories that demonstrated how insight had genuinely influenced what the business did next.

Moila added that “these four winners demonstrate something we believe strongly: being insight-rich is not the same as being insight-led”.

“The value comes when customer and consumer understanding moves beyond the research team and starts influencing the decisions the organisation makes and the actions it takes. Congratulations to Santam, KFC Africa, MultiChoice Group and RCL FOODS for showing us what it means to listen, learn, act - and get $#!t done,” Moila concluded.

Details of the nomination and selection process for the 2027 GESHIDO Insights Awards will be announced in due course.

ENDS

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About iqbusiness

iqbusiness is a digital integrator that transforms businesses, public sector entities and other organisations as your go-to™ for consulting and technology. With more than 27 years of experience, and led by some of the continent’s best thinkers and doers, our purpose is simple: to grow people, business and Africa as one.

Our scale and unique capabilities unlock exponential value and global growth for our clients – from intent to impact. We deliver end-to-end solutions through five value streams:

Digital Experience and Strategy

Strategic Consulting and Innovation

Business Performance and Delivery

Intelligent Applications and Platforms, and

Technology Managed Services

iqbusiness, including technology division iqx, forms a key part of the ICT segment of JSE-listed industrial group Reunert Ltd. iqbusiness isa proud Level 1 B-BBEE contributor driven by a determination to deliver outcomes of excellence and meaning through our tenacious GESHIDO® energy*. We are consistently recognised as a top employer and leading consulting firm.

Established in South Africa in 1998, iqbusiness integrated into Reunert ICT in 2023 and merged with +OneX in 2024.

For more information, visit www.iqbusiness.net.

*GESHIDO® = we get $#!% done

About GESHIDOCON

Geshidocon is the iqbusiness conference for C-suite leaders, executives, technology leaders and transformation teams driving change in modern organisations. Designed for those focused on progress, performance and meaningful outcomes, it offers a high-energy platform for practical learning, fresh thinking and impactful conversation across business agility, leadership, product development, technology and organisational change. What sets Geshidocon apart is its focus on relevance, real-world insight and the calibre of conversations it creates. It brings together leaders and practitioners who are not just talking about transformation, but actively making it happen.