Global E-commerce Market

How Bob Van Dijk Made His Mark in the Global E-commerce Market

Back in University, Bob Van Dijk was described as an average student. Not many people gave him a chance to scale great heights in his career, but over the years, he has dramatically turned his misfortunes around and now sits on top of the corporate ladder as one of the top CEOs in the world and the highest-paid executive in the Netherlands.

Van Dijk, a dutch national, is the CEO of Naspers Group, a multinational company headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa. The Group’s investment interests span but are not limited to technology and media.

He became the Group CEO of the organisation barely one year after he was appointed to run its e-commerce subsidiary.

How Bob Van Dijk became Naspers CEO

Before Van Dijk joined Naspers, he used to be an associate at Mckinsey and co. Inc. It was there that he honed his skills in management and corporate leadership. He rose fast in the company, contributing to its growth and expansion. Later he left to join the leadership team at Schibsted’s global Classifieds business.

While at Schibsted, where he was the Chief Operating Officer, Van Dijk began to carve a niche for himself in the e-commerce and digital media space. He brought innovation and executed core strategies that drove growth for the company. He also had a brief stint with e-commerce giant eBay.

His impact in the organisation and other places where he had worked distinguished him as a unique talent in his segment and paved the way for his appointment on October 8, 2013, as the chief executive officer of Allegro group.

Under his watch, Allegro Group, a subsidiary company of Naspers, grew its revenue to over $1 billion and staff strength skyrocketed to over 6500 across Central and Eastern Europe.

Barely one year after he pitched his tent with Allegro he was promoted to Group CEO of Naspers Company, putting him in overall charge of the multinational behemoth, which has footprints in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East.

Also, in 2019, he was named CEO of Prosus Group, a position he holds alongside that of Naspers.

The world’s best in e-commerce

By 2014, Van Dijk had pretty much conquered his industry. He was a champion in the global e-commerce space. So when Koos Bekker quit his role as CEO of Naspers later that year, they could not think of a better person to replace him. Bekker was confident that Van Dijk would do a better job than he did. He described Dijk as the best in e-commerce globally.

“They needed a capable man to lead them to prosperity and Dijk was qualified. His ability to effectively manage German eBay in his various capacities as the Vice President and Managing Director made Dijk the ideal candidate,” Bekker said.

Naspers growth

Since he was appointed Naspers Group CEO, Van Dijk has piloted the company to an extraordinary growth phase, positioning it as one of the key drivers of innovation and market leadership in various segments.

He has also made several strategic acquisitions to give the company a foothold in key markets with significant growth potential.

Acquisition of BillDesk

In 2021, in a bid to deepen its presence in the Indian market and expand market share, Prosus, the Dutch-listed arm of Naspers, concluded a $4.7-billion acquisition of BillDesk.

Following the acquisition, the combined entity of BillDesk and PayU, which is the global payments brand of the tech multinational, emerged as one of the top online payments providers — both globally and in India — with an annual total payment volume (TPV) of $147 billion.

The largest company in JSE

As a result of his efforts, Naspers is now the largest company listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange by market capitalisation. Prosus is also the largest listed consumer internet company by asset value.

Reward for job well done

For his hard work, Van Dijk received a handsome reward of $137 million in salary, pension, benefits and incentives, according to its 2019 remuneration report. He also got a 10 per cent increase in his salary in the coming financial year.

At just 49 years, Van Dijk’s extraordinary success as a CEO places him in the hall of fame of great business leaders of his generation.