Gauteng businesses wanting to take control of the growing digital disruption in their markets will be headed for “Own The Future” on Aril 8th. Led by digital strategy veteran Godfrey Parkin, Own The Future is a strategy workshop where participants will rethink their business models in the light of emerging scenarios for the immediate future.

According to Parkin, “In the past few years we have seen unprecedented numbers of established businesses suddenly going under. Most of them have no idea what happened. At the same time, new businesses or industries have come from nowhere to total domination almost overnight. Mastering disruption is not about digital transformation, or even about technology. It is about reading the trends in customer behaviour, seeing the emergent opportunities for improving customer experience, and being ready and willing to own them. Your business has to be where the ball is going to drop, instead of chasing after it when it is already too late.”

The workshop apparently can be a little uncomfortable, as change does not come without letting go of the past, or challenging wishful thinking about the future. The structured approaches used in the workshop make it easier to question established assumptions, become inspired and to move forward with confidence.

“People today are more easily manipulated, and more ready to try something new, than ever before,” says Parkin. “Privacy no longer exists. Technologies change exponentially, and customer behavior follows; most businesses change much slower, so their hold on customer loyalty erodes quickly. The gaps between what people want and what is delivered become expanding worlds of opportunity, or risk.”

Participants in the Own the Future workshop learn how to cut through the chaos of unpredictable change to build clearly focused strategies for success. They will gain a profound understanding of the most important digital and social trends, and will learn how to stay strategically competitive. They will also discover the tools and resources that can help them stay ahead of accelerating disruption.

Britefire, the producers of the workshop, assert that every industry and sector will change more in the next three years than in the past thirty. The conjunction of coming social, political, educational and technological changes creates an immediate future which has to be confronted realistically, with strategy and conviction. “You cannot succeed over the coming three years with the business models and customer experiences that sustained you till now. Own The Future will put you back in control of disruption, so it works for you rather than against you.”

Intriguing workshop topics include:

• World on the brink: societal and digital revolutions
• Innovation, disruption, hype and reality 
• Methodologies for business model disruption 
• Identifying your opportunities to differentiate 
• Optimising the radical: from fragile to agile 
• Creating and implementing your disruption strategy

The workshop is being held in the Sandton area on 8th April, and places are limited. Contact Britefire for details.

Part I: Gender and BEE

By Devan Moonsamy, CEO of The ICHAF Training Institute

A sound policy structure in the workplace is an insurance blanket against many common problems. It protects both employer and employee. But having a great policy will make no difference if personnel are not aware of it. They should be expected to know, understand and follow its guidelines and rules.

Not all employees have the time to go through policy documents, however, and it can be tedious reading. The best thing to do is to give employees a summary of the policy. They can be asked to sign in agreement with the policy, which will encourage them to get to know its provisions well.

What works even better is to train employees on the policy, for example, by putting them through a workshop. This need not be a dreary affair. In fact, it can be really fun if approached in the right way and if it focusses on how the policy benefits the employee. The right facilitator can ensure staff understand, but don’t feel overburdened by the new policy provisions.

This is a very effective preventative measure which ensures employees know exactly what is expected of them and what their rights are.

People often focus a lot on what went wrong, especially reactively after a problem arises, such as a nasty incident between co-workers. But telling staff what they can and should be doing at work beforehand is more effective than just giving them a long list of what they can’t do. This helps them focus on being productive and getting along rather than worrying about how they might slip up.

Teaching and emulating good behaviour is also vital. Management sets the standard of behaviour. Employees never know everything they need to when starting a new job. There’s always things to learn, and it is extremely effective when one is taught the right behaviour as early on as possible.

The policy document itself is a critical backup. Staff members trained on key organisational policies can more firmly be held to account. If it’s in writing and it’s the company’s official stance on the matter, it makes it easier to handle problems in a mature, organised way. Risk Management planning has already been conducted and communicated by means of drafting and disseminating the policy, and training staff on it.

When staff are properly educated and trained, it greatly eases management’s concerns over their behaviour. What kinds of policies are important to have in place for South African businesses? In this first article we will look at two critical policies to create and train your employees and co-workers on.

Gender Equity Policy
The plight of women and girls in South African is an open secret. Everyone knows it is happening, but it remains well hidden. Nevertheless, the facts speak for themselves: women and girls are often in a difficult and subordinate position. They may have little say over their salaries, which jobs are open to them, and even over their very bodies.

Google recently got into serious trouble over pay inequities between male and female employees. The problem is severe enough that the US Department of Labour filed a lawsuit. Google tried to gloss over the problem, but experts quickly identified weaknesses in its approach, particularly in that it left out 11% of employees in an official gender-pay analysis.

PR Risk Management must not wait for disaster to strike. It can happen now by having good provisions in place which prevent these kinds of injustices. South African companies likewise must practice equal pay and benefits for equal work to redress the wrongs of the past.

Women also need to have an equal chance of being hired, promoted and trained. Women should not be seen as only fit for and kept in positions of ‘admin lady’ or ‘maid’. They must be invested in because they make great workers and very strong, effective and just leaders.

Women need to be heard in meetings, and they shouldn’t be expected to work harder than men just to be noticed or stuck under a glass ceiling. All this must be addressed in a gender equity policy document which HR and other staff members are well versed in and follow closely.

BEE Policy
This one goes without saying in South Africa, but staff do still need to understand what the company stance is with regard to BEE and why, and they must be monitored in following it. As Brand South Africa explains, ‘Black economic empowerment (BEE) is not simply a moral imperative... It is a pragmatic growth strategy to realise the country’s full potential by bringing the black majority into the economic mainstream.’

Various BEE provisions should be contained in the HR and recruitment policy, and the procurement policy. These include prioritising people of colour as much as possible in hiring, promotions, and buying decisions. A whole lot of black workers and a few white managers is still seen in some businesses. This must be addressed in binding policy to commit the company to equity measures. What specific BEE provisions do South African organisations have in place? A few helpful examples are given below.

Ithala Development Finance Corporation has in its BEE policy the provision that some contracts be sub-divided. This opens opportunities for black-owned SMMEs which may not yet have sufficient resources and staff to offer the most comprehensive services.

The Department of Trade and Industry emphasises that there must be active participation by black people in an enterprise for it to be considered as really following BEE principles.

Barclays Africa explains that it actively invites black-owned suppliers to participate in sourcing procedures. This has successfully helped the company to engage in business with more BEE companies.

NMMU’s policy makes BEE a key function of all managers. The University also measures the successful implementation of BEE in its employee performance assessments.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi from Bowman Gilfillan notes that there is ‘No empowerment without skills.’ Skills development for all staff should be included in policy to meet BEE requirements.

The Shoprite Group/Checkers takes a very proactive approach by assisting new suppliers with creating barcodes and packaging so their products can be sold in stores. Every five years the employment equity plan is reviewed, and new targets are set to guide progress.

As a public company, Murray & Roberts has worked on its shareholder diversity, which now includes 59.53% black shareholders and 17.13% black women shareholders.

 

Besides these two key policies, companies should draft a disability policy, harassment and abuse policy, and have a training policy in place as well. We will look at these policies in detail in my next article on this topic. The organisational values, mission and goals are also commonly found in the first policy documents drafted, but don’t stop there. Draft additional policies with management input so as to protect the company and its employees. Proactively disseminate the most important policy messages using posters, emails, awareness drives, workshops, and training.

ICHAF is a training provider with years of experience in upskilling staff. We are ideally placed to conduct workshops and educate your staff on policies that will benefit all involved and protect the company from many PR and labour-related risks. Let us show your staff the way to boost their career and the company’s image through best practice policies.

For more information about training your staff:
Website - http://www.ichaftraining.co.za/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/TheICHAFTrainingInstitute/?ref=br_rs
Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheIchaf

For further comment from Devan Moonsamy you can email him on This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or contact him on 083 303 9159

Approximately 15% of the world’s population has some degree of hearing loss, as recognized by the World Health Organisation, WHO. In Sub-Saharan Africa, slight impairment (defined a 26-40 dB) tracked at just over 14% (1). Fostering a corporate climate which promotes the inclusion of differently-abled workers into the workplace, which can include the right environment and equipment to support workers considered hard of hearing, is not only a compliance requirement in many countries across the world, but in some circumstances can also help to improve productivity.

Noise has always had the potential to distract people from the task at hand. Today, changes in the workplace have introduced new levels of noise that were absent just a few years ago. Effective noise management is now a business imperative that extends from inside the office walls to anywhere work happens.

Noise management in the office begins with acoustics. The first step is to look over the workplace to determine what can be done acoustically to improve the environment. Consider where different groups of workers are located, and assess whether each group’s communications needs are helped or hindered by their specific location. Where noise is a problem, the following best practices has the potential to enhance acoustic performance, whatever the office environment:

Best Practices to Consider:

• Specialized materials on floors, walls and ceilings minimize noise. For example, covering bare floors with carpeting is an essential step for reducing noise.
• Vertical barriers limit sound travel across an open-plan office. Consider placing divider panels between affected areas.
• Computer-generated sounds mask unwanted noise. Many companies pipe in background noise, or allow people to listen to music to block sound.
• Introduce headsets to block out background noise wherever it occurs and help users enjoy higher quality communications.

Plantronics headset technologies build on the noise protection provided by other acoustic best practices and our headsets are backed by extensive development and testing facilities, plus over 50 years of audio engineering experience. The Plantronics range offers a variety of headset technologies, including:

• Noise cancellation: Plantronics achieves optimum results using active and passive noise cancellation at both the transmission point (what you hear) and reception point (how you sound).
• Digital signal processing (DSP): DSP in Plantronics headsets produces a more natural voice sound by applying specialized algorithms to digitized voice signals.
• Sidetone: This feature provides out-of-band feedback in real time to let people know how they sound to the listener or listeners on a call.
• Microphone array: Using multiple microphones in a single device delivers exceptional sound clarity.
• Hearing protection: Plantronics SoundGuard technology helps to ensure that loud tones are quickly reduced to more comfortable levels, using a sophisticated three-stage process to protect users from sudden increases in sound levels.

Current industry trends are driving the need for improved noise management. Covering calls from desk phones, PCs and mobile devices, Plantronics offers a range of corded and wireless audio solutions that enhance the audio experience for business customers. To find out more about different solutions available in South Africa, please get in touch with a local authorized distributor at www.plantronics.com/za

Plantronics is an audio pioneer and a global leader in the communications industry. We create intelligent and adaptive solutions that support our customers’ most important needs: experiencing and facilitating simple and clear communications while enjoying distraction-free environments. Our solutions are used worldwide by consumers and businesses alike, and are an optimal choice for open office environments. From Unified Communications and customer service ecosystems, to data analytics and Bluetooth headsets, Plantronics delivers high-quality communications solutions that our customers count on today, while relentlessly innovating on behalf of their future. For more information visit www.plantronics.com/za

© 2018 Plantronics, Inc. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

(1) MBD, WHO, 2011 DHL estimates as reported within, WHO global estimates on prevalence of hearing loss Mortality and Burden of Diseases and Prevention of Blindness and Deafness, WHO, 2012

Global leader and innovator in mobile device security and Enterprise Mobile Management (EMM) technology, AirWatch® by VMware is returning to the 6th IT Leaders Africa Summit as a Silver Sponsor.  

A diversified senior executive with global CRM technology applications and services experience, MD Ian Evans, has been successful in helping companies achieve their forecast goals by structuring sales and operation processes. 

  “Enterprises including Merck KGaA, a leading pharmaceutical, chemical and life science company, have launched private app stores for two reasons, to maintain control of compliance and security risks by providing only corporate sanctioned apps for employee use and to increase productivity by allowing employees to choose the apps they need, thereby reducing IT costs.”  

Ian will explore Merck’s mobility story during their workshop at the IT Leaders Africa Summit and share best practices on implementing an engaging internal enterprise app program, which will soon be a necessity to enabling a productive mobile workforce.  

AirWatch® executives, including Ian, will be available throughout the two day summit to interact with, and offer help to attending CIOs.   Q&A sessions during this workshop will give attendees the opportunity to discuss their challenges and opportunities in the workplace.

Airwatch will also showcase their solutions at the innovation display area with experts on hand to discuss and exchange ideas with attendees.  

Join us to hear the experts at the 6th edition of IT Leaders Africa Summit on the 18-19 March 2015 at the Maslow hotel in Sandton, Johannesburg.  

Contact Marcia van Jaarsveld on 021 180 4700 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.  

Plans also unveiled for 147-room hotel in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 

JOHANNESBURG, August 15, 2014….. In another major step forward in its ongoing African expansion initiative, the City Lodge Hotel Group through its wholly owned Kenyan subsidiary, Fairview Hotel Limited, has reached an agreement to develop a 170-room City Lodge Hotel within the upmarket Two Rivers mixed use development that is currently under construction in Nairobi, Kenya.

The group, which already owns the Fairview Hotel and the Country Lodge (to be rebranded to Town Lodge) in Nairobi, has acquired the land for the new hotel on a 99-year long term lease basis and will design, develop, fund and operate the 170-key City Lodge branded hotel. The total cost is expected to be US$23 million. Construction of the hotel is expected to begin in January 2015 with completion scheduled for October 2016. The Two Rivers Mall is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in October 2015. The Two Rivers Mall, when complete, will be the largest mall in Sub-Saharan Africa (excluding South Africa).

Situated in Nairobi’s diplomatic blue zone, the Two Rivers development is the brainchild of Centum, which is East Africa’s largest investment company and is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. Spread across 40 hectares of prime land adjacent to the upmarket residential suburbs of Runda and Rosslyn Estate, it is being designed to become East Africa’s premier destination to meet, do business, live and shop within a master planned urban lifestyle environment.

The Two Rivers development will, once fully developed, comprise 850,000 square metres of office, residential, retail, hotel and entertainment facilities. The building of the City Lodge Hotel will create employment during the construction phase and a number of permanent positions for staff members when the hotel opens to the public.

“We are very excited about this new hotel as it signifies the confidence that we have in expanding our presence in Kenya and East Africa to meet the accommodation needs of business and leisure travellers. This will be the first time that we are developing a green-field hotel in the region, also illustrating our optimism about the prospects for the Two Rivers development and the high profile status and draw-card potential it will have in Nairobi and further afield,” said Clifford Ross, chief executive of the City Lodge Hotel Group.

“Our international business development team has been examining growth opportunities in East Africa for the past couple of years and we believe that this investment will act as a catalyst for other hotel developments we are considering in the region.” Commenting on behalf of Centum, CEO James Mworia said:  “Centum is proud and excited to welcome the City Lodge Hotel Group to its Two Rivers Development. It is notable that this will be the first City Lodge branded hotel outside Southern Africa, and this marks a great achievement not only for Centum but for Nairobi and Kenya.”  Mworia added that the entry of the City Lodge Hotel Group into the Two Rivers Development is further testament to the ability of Centum to attract international investors into the region. He noted that the vision of the Two Rivers development was for it to be a world class destination and attract leading global retail brands. To this end, in addition to City Lodge Hotel Group, Centum had attracted Carrefour, the 4th largest retail chain in the world, to be an anchor tenant in the Two Rivers Mall.

Negotiations are at advanced stages with other international retailers who have expressed an interest in building their presence in this region with the Two Rivers development being their entry point. Centum seeks to be Africa's foremost investment channel providing investors with access to a portfolio of otherwise inaccessible, quality and diversified investments in Financial Services,  Real Estate, FMCG,  Agriculture,  Energy,  Healthcare,  Education and ICT sectors.  As at March 31, 2014, Centum had KES 30 Billion (US$ 340 million) of its own assets under management and KES 120 Billion (US$ 1.36 billion) of third party assets under management.

Meanwhile, the City Lodge Hotel Group has also reached a land-lease agreement in the Ilala Municipal District of Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania, on which it plans to develop, at its own cost, a 147-room City Lodge Hotel. This development, which is subject to the issue of regulatory permits and approvals, is expected to cost around $22 million, with ground-breaking anticipated to take place in the first quarter of 2015.     

The City Lodge Hotel Group acquired a 50% stake in the Fairview Hotel and the Country Lodge in 2012 and in May this year gained full ownership of the two Nairobi hotels as a springboard for further expansion across the East African region. The group’s other non-South African hotel is Town Lodge Gaborone in Botswana which was developed from scratch and opened in early 2013. With 51 hotels in South Africa across the Courtyard Hotel, City Lodge Hotel, Town Lodge and Road Lodge brands, and three hotels in Kenya and Botswana, the group is expanding its footprint into selected parts of East and Southern Africa. It is currently investigating opportunities in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Mauritius and South Africa. 

Leading South African Payment Gateway, Setcom Payment Solutions, today announced their partnership with innovative e-commerce solution provider, Digital Planet. This partnership will enable Setcom to introduce a wider range of e-commerce services to their existing portfolio of online credit card processing, SID Instant EFT and mobile payment solutions.

“We feel that Digital Planet’s services would be of great value to our client base, as they have a proven track record in terms of optimising efficiencies across the entire e-commerce value chain. We look forward to collaborating with Digital Planet to provide our clients with holistic e-commerce solutions that will have a positive impact on their business performance,” said Setcom CEO, Kumalan Naidoo.

Digital Planet has been assisting some of South Africa’s biggest businesses and brands for over 15 years by enabling e-commerce efficiencies and helping their clients realise e-commerce goals. Running a successful e-commerce business can be very challenging, as it requires efficiencies in a number of areas, such as website design and development, payment integration, digital marketing, fulfilment, customer service and logistics. This is where Digital Planet’s expertise can help improve and streamline competencies across the board.

“Digital Planet continually strives to add value to our clients, and working with Setcom has allowed us to offer more flexibility to our clients when it comes to online payments. This is very important to us because secure payment methods are one of the most important consideration factors for online shoppers in South Africa,” added Cassie van Wyk, Head of E-commerce at Digital Planet.

Setcom facilitates secure credit card and SID Instant EFT transactions across multiple channels, making them a one-stop payment solution partner. Setcom’s payment infrastructure paired with Digital Planet’s e-commerce expertise will surely make for a winning combination for years to come.

About Setcom:

Setcom has been one of South Africa’s most trusted Payment Gateways since 1998. They offer secure online and mobile credit card payment processing, SID instant EFT and fraud prevention services to entrepreneurs looking for a reliable, affordable payment solutions partner.

Part of the Setcom methodology is to offer traditional and non-traditional payment types across multiple channels, partnered with an effective reporting and reconciliation platform that enables efficient processing of payments. The offering is further enhanced by a fraud and risk management system that operates across multiple channels to ensure optimal business performance.

As payments evolved through traditional retail environments and the Internet, Setcom has been at the forefront of developing products that not only differentiate, but allows business to partner with technology to expedite growth and revenues. For more information, visit www.setcom.com.

About Digital Planet:

For more than a decade, Digital Planet has helped companies build and manage profitable online businesses. They offer a complete solution: world-class e-commerce websites, back-end order management systems, e-commerce expertise, online marketing, call centre services and fulfillment services.

Digital Planet was founded in September 1999 when they launched the Digital Planet online electronics store. It was early days for the e-commerce industry in South Africa and there weren’t many skills available, so they built our own end-to-end solution for the business. This solution included the front end marketing, merchandising and technology, as well as the back-end logistics and customer services. They mastered all the nuances of a virtual business in South Africa.

They soon had customers knocking on their door to help them build and run their own online businesses. Digital Planet quickly won clients including the major brands Hewlett-Packard and Discovery Vitality, both of which are still with Digital Planet today, more than a decade later. For more information, visit www.digitalplanet.co.za.

{pp}The future “will not belong to the conglomerates or global institutions alone. It will belong to entrepreneurs - individuals who have the courage to dream and develop compelling visions - individuals who can see opportunity and match it to an idea - who can ultimately turn their dreams into reality.” - Janssen Davies (then CEO - SAGE)