The CEO magazine Zimbabwe August/ September issue

CEO

THE SPECIAL EDITION

EXECUTIVE MOVERS AND SHAKERS IN ZIMBABWE

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING THE DELTA BEVERAGES WAY

THE STATE OF ZIMBABWE MANUFACTURING

The Role of CFOs in Business Transformation

CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION STARTS FROM THE TOP ROBIN VELA CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY AUTHORITY

FIVE OF THE BEST DIETS FOR HEALTH & WEIGHT LOSS

DOING WELL

BY DOING GOOD INTERVIEW WITH

UNILEVER CEO

The Rand Debate, To Adopt or Not To Adopt

SHOPRITE BETS ON AFRICA'S MIDDLE CLASS AND WINS

NOT FOR SALE

[ TABLE OF CONTENTS ] [ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

[ EXECUTIVEREVIEW ]

CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION: STARTS FROM THE TOP

WHAT PICK N PAY'S RESULTS TELL US ABOUT RETAIL IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

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WHY CHIEF FINANCE OFFICERS NEED A BIGGER ROLE IN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATIONS

THE STATE OF ZIMBABWE MANUFACTURING

THE RAND DEBATE: TO ADOPT OR NOT TO ADOPT

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PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING: THE DELTA WAY

BUILDING A LOYALTY PROGRAM THAT IS UNFORGETTABLE

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p16 WE NEED PEOPLE TO LEAN INTO THE FUTURE

p22 DOING WELL

BY DOING GOOD

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5 of the best diets to lose weight fast, ward off disease, and live healthier in 2017

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[ EXECUTIVEGADGETS ]

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3 Best SUV of 2017

p62 SHOPRITE; THE GROCERY CHAIN THAT BECAME AFRICA'S BIGGEST RETAILER BY BETTING ON ITS MIDDLE CLASS

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HOW TO WIN IN ONLINE GROCERY: ADVICE FROM A PIONEER

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12 Business Lessons To Learn from Amazon Founder & CEO, Jeff Bezos

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[ EXECUTIVELIFESTYLE ]

5 WAYS INSIGHTFUL LEADERS KEEP THEIR TEAMS WORKING CALMLY DURING TUMULTUOUS CHANGE

How new CEOs can boost their odds of success

Kevin Martin Communication Livingstone/9th Avenue The Avenues Harare

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+263 778 70 2051 +263 8544 142 525 +263 712 156 936 theceomagazinezw@outlook.com

What is the Best Phone for your SELFIE?

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[ EXECUTIVETRAVEL ] What to do In & Around Harare

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Layout & Design by: JabulaniDouglas Brothers +263 775 064 698 Printed by: Multiprint Litho South Africa Photography by: Kumbiarai Mandengu Fresh Twigs Media +263 777 499 090

[ CONTRIBUTORS ]

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12 Busisa Moyo

Robin Vela

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22 Doug McMillian

Max Karombo

36 Paul Polman

46 Christian Wanner

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[ WELCOMENOTE ]

Dear Readers

by Chipo Sibongile Mapungwana

WE are so excited to be able to bring you another issue of the CEO magazine. With the way that the economy is at the moment, it is a privilege to be able to go to print and produce another edition of the magazine. This issue is focusing on food retailing and manufacturing , with particular emphasis on the local and global trends in these sectors. Grocery retail in this country is becoming more cut-throat and undergoing dramatic shifts driven by changing consumer needs and expectations, technology advancements and a fierce competitive environment.

More changes can be expected as this year unfolds.

Progressive grocers will continue to transform business models and tap new ways to attract and retain shoppers as they transition to compete in an ever-evolving grocery landscape.

While online grocery shopping continues to lag behind in Zimbabwe , and in many other countries, across the world online shopping for general merchandise, home and apparel, is growing steadily. We shall examine key trends impacting the retail sectors in Africa and learn from global brands that have succeeded in creating international online retail businesses .

While they grapple with many other macro/micro challenges in the economy, food manufacturers have to contend with the advent of the Internet and pricing transparency for consumers. Pressures are rising for food

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manufacturers to be low cost, while finding ways to drive more value, looking for Innovations that can help maintain profitability new products to bring to market and modifications to product categories.

Food manufacturers are also on the hunt for more costeffective means of manufacturing, standardizing equipment and exploring automation to minimize labor costs. Food processors in the country must rethink their manufacturing strategies, optimizing what makes sense and developing a new cost model. In the long run, they need to have the flexibility to run products with higher margins without taking away from their companies' “bread and butter.�

I am so thankful to all our contributors for this issue, who have made this edition a must read for all executive. Thank you once again to all our advertisers for your support. We would not be able to produce this magazine without your support.

Stay Blessed

Chipo

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

CORPORATE TRANSFORMATION: STARTS FROM THE TOP INTERVIEW with ROBIN VELA BOARD CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL SOCIAL SECURITY AUTHORITY

NSSA is a leading and major institutional investor in Zimbabwe, which should be at the forefront of cor porate transfor mation in the country. Given that we should be the leading cor porate investor in Zimbabwe, we should also be driving corporate change. When I joined NSSA, the news about the Authority was consistently and understandably negative. There was news concerning bad investments, purported corruption, and bad governance. NSSA with 900 plus staff members (of which some 160 were on fully paid and sponsored study leave),was heavy on employees and light on service delivery, with an ingrained internal culture of entitlement.

What I am trying to achieve as the NSSA Board Chairman is to take NSSA back to being a boring but consistent and predictable long term investment fund and management entity. Anyone who has a basic understanding of investment management will comprehend how that works. NSSA has numerous stakeholders: employees, employers, government, pensioners and the NSSA Staff who depend on it. For NSSA to deliver a meaningful living

pension, the standard fund management model must be understood, be in place and be made to work. NSSA not only has to religiously collect contributions, ensure minimum dilution of these contributions through efficient operations and service delivery but also invest prudently and wisely, and ultimately, ensure that the capital contributed is preserved and grown.

NSSA also has to ensure that acceptable current investment income is derived to meet the current and future pension payment liabilities. This standard format of the company will also ensure the sustainability of the Fund, whose sole shareholders are the pensioners, and will ultimately give the pensioner, a meaningful living pension.

NSSA itself needs to manage and operate at a more efficient level. If for example ,the Authority receives contributions of $250m, then its operational costs should not cost more than 10% of the fund. And this is fairly generous considering that the norm in the private sector is no more than 2.5% at this level of fund size. $225m would then be invested. If the fund size was $1.2bn and a 10% investment income

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

was expected, then $120m of investment income would be generated.

Lets' say that NSSA had a monthly pension liability of $8m, that would equate to $96m of liability per annum.

With this simple model, and if it worked, the fund would grow by some $120m whereas liability could be met and surplus funds would be available for pensioners bonus or for an increase in pension considerations. The growth in the fund is important as the potential beneficiaries are increasing over time.

When we at NSSA , as custodians, collectively understand that we have to collect contributions, and also invest wisely while minimizing costs, then we are on the right path to giving our pensioners a pension that they can live on and a Fund that is ultimately sustainable.

Over the years, many things were wrong at NSSA ,which contributed to the situation we found ourselves in upon taking office in July 2015. The Authority was seen as a captive fund and there was no consideration of what

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would happen if the economics of the country changed or the compulsory nature of contributions was removed.

So in essence, the Authority was not being run as a typical investment fund with long-term sustainability in mind.

NSSA managers believed that the contributions would never end, so it did not matter how they invested or how much they spent on internal operations.

No one cared about the investment income and retur ns. Ultimately, pensioners are the ones who are now prejudiced.

As Chairman, I have been blessed with a Board that understands what needs to be done to turnaround the fortunes of NSSA. The Board understood the issues we had and what decisions had to be made. One of these major decisions was restructuring the management of t h e Au t h o r i t y. W h e n yo u h ave managers who have been working for any entity for 20 years plus, they will not change overnight, if at all. We therefore had to take the tough decision to reset NSSA by recruiting and seeking to start again.

Sometimes to fix something, you have to break it.

We realized very quickly that we had to put in new executive leadership, and introduce a new culture. NSSA needed managers with professional training, qualifications, expertise in social security and investment management and people who would deliver on the results expected by stakeholders. The retrenchment of incumbent management at NSSA, was not taken lightly, was certainly painful for all involved and resulted in a lot of skullduggery from those who remained within NSSA but had a vested interest in the retention of the old managers.

Corporate transformation is difficult, it is painful, it is unpopular and it does not happen overnight. It reminds me of a phrase I learnt at university which referred to leadership – “If you want to make everyone happy…. Don't be a leader…. Sell ice-cream”.

That said, the Board and I do not say that we got or will get everything right.

Even some of the new people who were

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] recruited were not right for the job and had to be moved on as well. We did not shirk that responsibility, and with our hands up in admittance, we took corrective action. One thing we succeeded in doing was to make and own the decisions that we have made.

This can often be very difficult for leaders to do. As a Board, we know that if we get it wrong, we will do so with a clear conscience that we got it wrong in order to achieve something for the good of pensioners and other stakeholders.

During this change process, we still had a lot of issues with middle management, because of some of the changes that we

put in place. For example, of the then 900 employees, 160 staff were doing studies overseas and still getting paid Per Diems and their monthly salaries.

Added to that cost, was the acting allowance given to the employees who were in acting capacity, for the staff members studying. This is illustrative of the then NSSA culture.

“NSSA staff would study overseas for 2 to 3 years, knowing that that “study” escapade would afford them money to buy a house in Borrowdale when they came back home. It was that good a deal!”

So taking that away from middle management was never going to be easy and the Board had to make a collective but difficult decision. My role as Chairman and that of the Board is to co-ordinate and face the members.

What we have managed to do is to work as a team, which is critical in any substantial and sustainable corporate transformation. I understand that the role of the Chairman is not to be dictatorial, but to guide the team so as to achieve the right outcomes, while ensuring that everyone contributes and participates so that decisions are made and owned collectively. For the avoidance of doubt, the Board is also very clear, on the separation of responsibilities and also clear on the role of the Board and management.

The culture at NSSA is evolving. We have new managerial leadership and a new ethos which is best illustrated by the General Manager's inspired working mantra of “NSSA by choice and not

by Statute”.NSSA's Board and new management wants to evolve into an organization which is universally respected and trusted with delivering a living safety net to its beneficiaries.

However, we are equally miffed that NSSA does not get enough credit for the things it does get right and delivers on.

One case in point is that for a long time now NSSA continues to pays its benefits (albeit minimal) on time, every time.

The full effects of the Board implemented changes will take time to flow through, but I am excited that these changes are taking place and we are at the beginning of a transformational period in the Authority.

My vision is for NSSA to have enhanced credibility and credence such that when an investor such as Nigeria's Aliko Dankote comes to Zimbabwe to invest in a cement plant (definitively good for country), he should walk into NSSA and want to both seek our advice and participation in validating his investment. And for that, with a respected Authority, he should be willing to afford NSSA free carry in his /her entity. NSSA should not have to be fighting for such deals. In order to have these relationships, NSSA should be credible, and seen as both professional and non-toxic. No investor of any substance would want to invest

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] alongside a partner who brings negative publicly or energy to an investment following a simple internet search.

NSSA's narrative has to therefore change to that of an entity that is transfor med and on an upward trajectory.

Investors want to know that their partners are credible.

Our investee companies also need to start to deliver. The challenge we have in our investee companies is that many of them have a corporate culture which is management centric and driven at the c o s t o f a l l o t h e r s t a k e h o l d e r s.

Personality businesses are an issue amongst many Zimbabwean companies. This can only be to the detriment of shareholders. It is NSSA's view that Institutional Investors need to move away from personality driven businesses that exist for the benefit of incumbent management and not the shareholders. Many of the companies that NSSA invests in do not give a dividend to NSSA and yet NSSA has been long invested in them. Why should the management teams in our investee companies earn handsomely and yet deliver zero dividend to the investor?

or believing they owe their existence to management.

Compromised boards, given attractive perks and fees by management, tend to give zero oversight. Because of this, Managers are then empowered to make decisions that the boards, if not the shareholders, should be questioning. There are many Managerdriven companies in this country, where the Board and Chairpersons are rubberstamping management decisions, that later on come back to haunt those same Boards.

In many of these companies, one would actually think that the manager is the company.

This negative culture of greed is also reflected in how some company managers treat potential investors. They discourage investors by blocking any investment that will lead to change, particularly if it will lead to management changes. As long as these Managers have their perks, they will run these companies to the ground. In other countries, it is not the Manager's call to make such decisions. This takes us back to the question, “Does the shareholder have oversight of his / her company?

A lot of companies in Zimbabwe should

We would like a win-win situation with our investee companies, where both parties reap dividends from the business.

NSSA needs to deliver to its pensioners a living and sustainable pension. This can only be delivered sustainably if NSSA's investee companies (and investments) deliver to NSSA acceptable and sustainable investment income. The contributions that the Authority receives are meant to be protected, to build and g row a sustainable Fund and as the pension population grows, so the fund should grow with this population, to make sure that we will cater for more pensioners in future.

Many managers in a lot of our investee companies and in the country tend to have elusions of entitlement and hold the false believe that, regardless of performance, they hold their jobs and positions forever. In these entities there tends to be no succession planning with many of the boards then compromised

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I am trying to create a g rouping of activist i n s t i t u t i o n a l shareholders because the shareholder in Zimbabwe has suffered spectacularly.

not be failing, but they are. One of the biggest challenges leading to the lack of change in our companies is the passivity of shareholders who are very often sleeping at the wheel, leaving companies in the hands of inattentive Board members and management with vested interest.

I am trying to create a grouping of activist institutional shareholders because the shareholder in Zimbabwe has suffered spectacularly.

In order to create greater accountability NSSA has appointed new nonexecutive directors to push for a new culture in our investee companies.

While these directors are ultimately accountable and have a fiduciary duty to the companies on whose Boards they sit, it is NSSA's view and insistence that these NEDs need to promote and deliver on, inter alia, the following in such companies: Good corporate governance C o n s c i o n a bl e re m u n e rat i o n policies Payment of dividends Transparency and full disclosure No Related Party Transactions Every non-executive Director representing NSSA understands that they will be measured by these five deliverables. They are appointed b e c a u s e we b e l i eve t h ey h ave professional judgment and are capable of positively impacting the Boards of organizations they have been appointed to. The new NSSA is an organization in which we are recruiting Board members that will deliver for all shareholders but in particular for NSSA and ultimately for the pensioner. We would also like to transform the organizations we invest in, into companies that create value for all stakeholders.

Since my appointment at NSSA, I have learnt a number of really invaluable leadership lessons and I believe that these are pertinent for any leader in civic or the corporate sector. Leaders need to believe in themselves. You need to believe that you are doing the right thing and also have the guts to follow through.

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] You also need to have the conviction to make decisions and to be ready to take responsibility for the outcomes. When you make decisions with a clear conscience, even if you make a mistake, you still sleep at night. I also make decisions based on facts and solid information. And the facts come from experience and concrete data and information. During the recruitment

process, we looked for integrity and honesty and the right qualifications. We were guided by the things that we could see and past perfor mance of candidates, rather than gut feel.

NSSA is a billion dollar company and we can no longer afford to employ staff whose work and results do not reflect that status. Our pensioners and contributors expect to receive value for their contributions, IT systems that work, applications that are up-to-date and online when contributors need information. We don't have these systems, because of the history of incompetence in the Authority. We found a culture of nepotism, where people were recruited because of who they knew or were related to rather than their qualification or gravitas.

If we want organizations to work properly, we need to put the right people in place.

In Zimbabwe, customers should also become more vocal, in order to bring about the change that they want to see in organizations. If customers start demanding for conscionable prices, this will encourage companies to drive efficiency through the organization, which in turn, will benefit customers.

T h e d i f f e re n c e s i n p r i c i n g i n Zimbabwe is often so large that it is cheaper to travel to South Africa to purchase what were need than to buy locally.

To transform into regional and global organizations, Zimbabwe companies need to first look at their internal cultures and make changes that will reflect in the way they operate and do business. To be competitive, Zimbabwe companies should aim to do what they can realistically do and deliver on, at a competitive price, delivering products , whose quality is comparable to companies in the region and beyond. \\\ THECEO

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

T H E S TAT E O F Z I M B A B W E MANUFACTURING W I T H CEO

BUSISA MOYO

URL AND RECENT PAST PRESIDENT OF CZI

WHAT is the current capacity utilization of industries in the country?

Can you comment on the current state of FDI Inflows into the country.

BM) Our last manufacturing sector survey issued in October 2016 showed an increase in capacity utilization from 34.1% to 47.4%.

BM) FDI into the country is very low at below US$300m per annum. Three things: Firstly, the Indigenisation Act has to be clarified in line with His Excellency R.G. Mugabe's statements made in April 2016, secondly Zimbabwe has to complete its re-engagement efforts with multi-lateral creditors with a view to regularizing its arrears position and finally Government & private sector have to quickly resolve the issue of ease of doing business and cost of doing business to make the country attractive for mining, manufacturing and tourism investors.

What has been the impact of the Statutory instrument 64 of 2016, on capacity utilization and exports?

BM) The impact has been immensely positive given the increased capacity utilization, new companies that have set up factories in Zimbabwe and renewed interest in investing the manufacturing sector.

How has URL benefited from this Statutory Instrument?

BM) URL and other oil expressers and refiners have benefited from Statutory instrument 138 of 2007, which restricted the importation of cooking oil. Enforcement of import restrictions on cooking oil however increased with the advent of SI64. The company has risen from 10% capacity utilization in 2011 to above 60% on its soap and cooking oil lines.

Can you explain what effect the Payment Priority List put in place by RBZ has had?

BM) This has assisted prioritizing raw materials for value addition within the country and discouraged the importation of finished goods.

The banking sector has not always played ball with respect to following this priority list as agreed between Government and Business. We continue to engage the banking sector on the importance of supporting home grown sustainable solutions such as export generation and import substitution.

How is the current cash shortages affecting investor perception?

BM) Investors are somewhat nervous about the cash shortages as they foresee problems with repartriation of returns including dividends and proceeds on sale of investment assets.

What is the CZI, Regulators and Business leaders doing to address the impact of Cash shortages?

BM) We have called for the increased circulation of Rands in the economy and benchmarking to Rand costs as means of re-gaining competitiveness. The authorities are starting to warm up to the idea but still struggle to see the connection between a soft currency and productivity. We have cited China and the weak Yuan and Zambia and a weak Kwacha being the reason why Zambian imports are much cheaper in Zimbabwe than local products. Institutionally these two countries are not much better operationally than Zimbabwe but a soft currency is a big source of export earnings and attracts investment into productive sectors.

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

You have previously advocated for the adoption of the South Africa Rand, of what economic benefit would this be?

BM) The main benefits would be a medium of exchange that would “stick� and not have a high risk of flight like the United States Dollar where banks and the RBZ have imported in excess of US$1bn in the last 36 months in notes and coins. The second benefit would be a clearer economic benchmarking mechanism to our biggest competitor in the domestic market & export markets being South Africa. The Cost Driver Study conducted by ZEPARU and USAID showed then that Zimbabwe is 45%55% more expensive than its regional peers on average. This is primarily because of Dollar based cost model.

How is the continued preference of the US Dollar affecting production, imports and exports?

BM) It has made us somewhat expensive in all spheres in manufacturing, mining, tourism and services What is your outlook for the Manufacturing sector, over the next 1 to 2 years?

BM) We must continue to work on policies, strategies and enablers that will see capacity utilization exceed 65% so that we have the benefit of economies of scale and can reach export competitiveness. Industry should contribute 20% of export instead of the current 10-11%.

What needs to change, to get industries opening again and operating at a maximum?

BM) Firstly,we need access to properly structured low cost funding for re-tooling 6-8 year money at 4-6% interest per annum, secondly we need to remove all binding constraints that impede efficiency and increase bureaucracy on business activity like export permits and import permits for established entities with a track record (ease and cost of doing business for existing businesses not just new businesses) and finally we need to introduce a soft currency that the public trusts. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING: THE DELTA WAY INTERVIEW WITH MAXEN PHILLIP KAROMBO MARKETING DIRECTOR DELTA BEVERAGES

“ Tastes are dynamic and yet as varied as there are the nearly seven and half billion people in the world.

Just like culture, taste has so m a n y i n fl u e n c e s a n d contributing factors that help build its form and shape. With each new generation comes a different need scope.”

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

CEO Mag: How are the changing customer d e m o g r a p h i c s a n d ex p e c t at i o n s impacting developments in global beverage industry new products and performance of the industry ?

MK: Tastes are dynamic and yet as varied as there are the nearly seven and half billion people in the world. Just like culture, taste has so many influences and contributing factors that help build its form and shape. With each new generation comes a different need scope. Young adults' consumption choices are shaped more by the need for high energy and group connectedness or belonging while the older generations prefer idyllic relaxation and “good-foryou� products in any category.

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] The global beverages industry is not spared any impact of these driving forces, whether positive or negative. In the beer world, the emerging growth of craft beers driven by the need for provenance and authenticity is shaping the industry in new ways. But the large established brewers are well invested in consumer closeness programs that turn out very rich sources of growth around various need scope psychographics such as but not limited to: Ÿ National pride or pride in origins Ÿ Relaxation and refreshment Ÿ Male bonding/friendship Ÿ Progress Ÿ Success and Ambition Ÿ High energy colloquially called “Lust for life” Combine these psychographic factors with socioeconomic strata and you get a maze looking matrix that just throws the infinitely long list of trends that impact on consumer choice.

CEO MAG: What can marketers and business leaders learn from the Delta beverages marketing strategies? Can you give examples of the different marketing strategies that you use for your different brands?

MK: Ÿ Putting consumers first: - there is no substitute for being first in a consumer's mind. As Al Ries and Jack Trout argue in their long-established book originally published in 1981 and reworked in 2000, Positioning: The Battle of the Mind, a brand is a sumtotal of what exists in the consumer's mind. Positioning as Al Ries proudly states, should be around an idea that people cannot question.

At Delta Beverages, we aim to position our brands around either a fundamental human truth(Male Bonding)or unrivalled product truth(Somewhat bitter, somewhat dry, but never sweet), or a combination of both as in “It all comes together with a Castle”to lay a strong foundation in building unshakeable bonds with our consumers.

Embrace Consumer Passion Points: - As I stated before, there are seven and half billion hearts pounding every second and each comes with a myriad of passions. A passion for football is not a kilojoule more important than a passion for fishing, or for fine dining, music and dance. Each passion may find their space in one heart depending on the occasion. Our brands' role is to bring to the fore these passion points and provide our consumers with moments and occasions for happiness as they embrace their passions. Ÿ “Head in the clouds….Feet on the ground”: - we are passionate brand builders, we are owners of our business, we are dreamers and yet very grounded realists…. We dream big of what our brands can do for our consumers but are real on what they love to buy and consume. Ÿ Moment of Truth: - I borrow from the legendary former Chairman, President and CEO of Procter and Gamble, AG Lafley who in 2005, defined Moments of Truth(MOT) in marketing, as “the moment when a customer/user interacts with a brand, product or service to form or change an impression about that particular brand, product or service.” Mr Lafley defined two MOT's - the first is“when a customer is confronted with the Ÿ

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Ÿ

product in-store or in real life, and secondly - when a customer purchases a product and experiences its quality as per the promise of the brand.”

Delta Beverages takes pride in developing a look of success in each store our brands are merchandised and/or consumed. Our measure of success is when a consumer votes with their wallet to buy our brands and enjoy them as an extension of their own passion point. Having invested nearly half a billion US dollars in various capital projects since dollarization, our commitment to quality products is unquestionable. The repeat purchase of our products is a sure mark of exceptional quality delivered to our consumers. The oversight role played by our key shareholder and technical partner ABInBev on our beer brands and The Coca-Cola Company on our sparkling beverages provide quality assurance through various quality gate keeping processes.

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] CEO MAG: How important and effective is social media and online advertising in the company's marketing initiatives?

CEO MAG: Where and how does the company collect data on consumption trends, preferences and success of the various types of marketing strategies?

MK: We understand the basic tenets of consumer communication platforms. Although mainstream advertising, is a brilliant platform to broadcast our brand messages across the market, it tends to talk to consumers rather than talk with consumers. Social media and other online platforms provide limitless conversations with consumers daily. The online platforms are arenas where marketers are faced with the brutal truth of how consumers and society view their brands. For marketers in love with control, these platfor ms are simply unapologetic!!! Anything that goes viral can either be a beautiful crown or burdensome cross for both experienced and budding brand builders. But love it or hate it, social media in particular, gets to the point.

MK: I have always directed my team to treat brands as a doctor would treat patients. Therefore, we need to do regular brand health checks, monitor forward share in all retail channels and be vigilant in collecting market intelligence on the coal face. We contract specialist agencies from Zimbabwe and South Africa to carry out various market research projects on both continuous and ad hoc bases.

We have heard our fair share of crosses and crowns from social media. Our Castle Lager Ultimate Braai Day was built around the hunger and unquenchable thirst of a Harare crowd that longed to give back to the community.

And social media was their platform to show-off their presence and participation to the whole world. Castle Lite Block Parties in Bulawayo and Harare saw social media platform compete to provide rave reviews of how enjoyable the activities were‌.then we got our cross from the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League Man of the match tradition where we provide Castle Lager as a refreshment token for the player and his mates.

Unfortunately, most people viewed it as the full and only compensation and that's where the issue became viral.

Fortunately, the research outputs show that our brands remain first choice in consumers' repertoire with Castle Lager leading the market share table followed by Carling Black Label, Golden Pilsener, Castle Lite and Zambezi Lager in that order. In the sorghum beer category, Chibuku is the number one brand, and frankly speaking, there is no comparable number two...probably the rest of the players I the market start at number 10!!! And in soft drinks Coca Cola rules the roost, with Fanta Sprite and Sparletta brands in tow. ShumbaMaheu is the king of the maheu category with a commanding lead in a fiercely competitive and sometimes over traded segment.

CEO MAG: What are the current trends in consumption and preferences of your products? What are the reasons for these trends and how does the company aim to change and influence greater profitability?

MK:As noted above, tastes and trends are dynamic with no clear distinction between cause and effect. In some instances, tastes drive trends in others, trends develop new tastes. All in all, the driving forces of beverage consumption tend to come from the consumers' need to authenticate, premiumize, shop smart, keep in touch with international trends, keep healthy and energetic.

Each trend represents a quantifiable profit pool but we are always mindful of passing fads. Humanity will always seek to progress, improve and develop in each stage of life. Our portfolio provides a wide-ranging set of product formats that will always be there to satisfy the current and emerging trends.

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] CEO MAG: Delta has frequently used Sports and Music sponsorships as channels to promote its beer brands; Can you explain what impact this has had on brand perception and product performance ?

MK: Music brings joy to the soul while transporting the listener beyond any time set boundaries. Sport embodies the champion in every one of us. Art is our definitive description of self. These are human passion points. Our brand role is to be there in every occasion at an arm's length reach. Our brands are either necessary accompaniments or key accessories in the journey of life for every consumer who interacts with them. Delta Beverages will always be Zimbabwe's number one fan of our music, sport and arts sectors.

These sectors have positively impacted on our brand equities. Football's best friend is Castle Lager, junior soccer is refreshed by the Coca-Cola COPA finals, our friends dance the night away in ChibukuNeshamwari Dance Festival and Chibuku Road To Fame provides budding artists to showcase their talents in a gripping fashion. The future is in our brands for sure….

CEO MAG: How does the company increase consumer engagement and product consumption during these sponsorships?

MK: All worthy brands have fans... When we develop various sponsorship platforms, we put the consumer first.

We need to know what drives their motivation and enjoyment. In football for example, we have a programme for Super Fans where fans of each team in the Castle Lager Premier Soccer League compete in showcasing their passion and pride in the colours of their team.

Outstanding fans enjoy a wide range of benefits including but not limited to VIP tickets at matches, travel to international tournaments and headlining our advertising campaigns.

Nothing beats a very cold Zambezi Lager on one hand the biting of a tiger fish on the other hand holding a tight line.

The Kariba Invitational Tiger Fish Tournament held in the searing heat of Kariba in October is probably the best place in the world to savour a rich golden liquid we proudly call Zimbabwe's Own Lager – Zambezi.

The 19th hole is the one where every golf player has a “Hole-in-one” Through Zimbabwe Open Golf Tournament, Golden Pilsener has provided all local golfers with a unique opportunity to enjoy competing and rubbing shoulders with international players. Fans enjoy the 19th Hole activations held in most bars dotted across the country when the Zim Open strolls into town.

CEO MAG: Delta Beverages has developed a number of new products in the last few years; What is driving the company to explore new products? What steps do you take to develop new beverages?

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MK: The need to keep up with consumer trends is the major driving force behind our innovation strategy. With each innovation project, we either solving a nagging problem or providing consumers with more convenience and choice.

We employ a proprietary process developed by SABMiller that helps us push innovation projects through various decision gate before launch onto the market. The process provides a framework for rigour and stealth in execution of projects.

CEO MAG: What can marketers learn about :Creating sustainable brands MK: Sustainable brands are those built over an unquestionable insight based on fundamental human truths or unrivalled product truth. Do not change brand ideas at the same rate you change your under garments, but by all means, innovate. Ÿ Sustaining Product quality There is no finishing line to product quality enhancement.

Technology and new ways of doing things will always give marketers the edge. No marketing glossy language can ever cover up for poor product quality. Another Moment of Truth proponent, Jan Carlzon, the former CEO of Scandinavian Airlines, shows how to adapt to the new customer-driven economy by treasuring those moments of truth when a customer/consumer comes into contact with a product or service. For Jan, the simple moment when a passenger on one of his flights flips the tray in front of them and finds it clean or dirty communicates how much attention to quality an organization gives.

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] MK: Whereas in the past, marketers could afford an 8 to 5 Day, the marketer of today, especially in beverages is a 24/7/365 brand builder. You Analyze, Plan, Execute and Monitor brand strategies in one go. All these four tasks have to be done in a single day. Insight generation is a competitive tool that will help any company win in the market place. Those who sleep with one eye open will grab the scarce opportunities on offer.

Competition in any sector is intense. Access to capital either locally or internationally breaks down any competitive entry barriers. No business in the world is shielded from competition in either direct or substitute products and services. To gain the fitness to compete marketers must exercise and simulate competition for their own categories and brands daily.

We live in a highly regulated world whose rules can only be broken by the unwise. As society develops rules also embark on some revolution or evolution. Keeping pace with the change and proactive engagement in the discourse on rules and regulations equips marketer with foreknowledge on how their industry is shaped.

Responsible marketing All entities within the ABInBev Africa Zone of which Delta Beverages is a key member, are governed by strict laws, regulations, as well as public national and international commitments. In addition the company has developed smart drinking goals, company policies and codes of conduct (“rules”), which are in place to ensure that sound principles of marketing and sales are upheld for both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. We strive to ensure that consumers are well-informed as to the various attributes of our products, as well as responsible consumption behaviour, and avoid consumption by persons under the legal drinking age. Ÿ

Delta Beverages' Sales and Marketing Compliance Committee (SMCC) is the authorized Delta/ABInBev Africa committee that is mandated to vet, approve and disapprove all commercial communications. It is formally constituted in terms of a charter, has an independent chairman, and comprises members representing the Corporate Affairs, Legal, Channel Marketing, Brand Marketing and Sales business functions.

We firmly believe that we do well by doing good in the communities we do business in. And every time our consumers raise their glasses, the cheer goes well beyond the beer in touching the lives of all our stakeholders in a sustainable way that creates a “Better World” for all.

CEO MAG:How are the evolutions in marketing changing the way that Marketers work?

Marketing expenditure is no longer viewed as a cost but an investment. Therefore, for every investment, an investor expects a competitive return for their money. Marketers can no longer wantonly spend scarce resources in time, money, labour and material without recourse to the benefits sought by the company.

Technology influences the way we all live. Marketers and consumers are united by various technology platforms to inform, educate and entertain.

CEO MAG: What key performance skills do you look for and also advise what marketers need to do to success in their profession?

MK: Talented marketers are individuals who generate value to make the organisation successful. They are people who help the company achieve its strategies not only due to the skills and knowledge of the work itself, but also because they know 'how to make things happen' in the organisation.

Every brand builder must know that they are a brand and therefore their net worth (equity) to a company is summed up by the core skills they provide. Marketers on this side of the millennium need the following skills: Ÿ Insight generation Ÿ Lead innovation Ÿ Develop insight led brand ideas Ÿ Digital marketing capabilities Ÿ Development of strategy, execution and monitoring Ÿ Commercial acumen Ultimately a worthy marketer is one who represents the voice of the consumer in the company as well as builds value for the business. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

WE NEED PEOPLE TO LEAN INTO THE FUTURE INTERVIEW WITH DOUG MCMILLION WALMART CEO

By Adi Ignatius

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] FOR years, Walmart seemed to understand exactly what its customers wanted. It developed complicated consumer analytics and used that data, along with relentless pressure on suppliers, to become a retail powerhouse that sold practically everything at the lowest possible prices. Then along came the internet. Suddenly upstart rivals figured out how to track and forecast like Walmart. And the rapid success of Amazon and other e-commerce pioneers called into question whether a brick-and-mortar giant, especially one with 4,600 stores in the United States alone, could survive, let alone thrive.

As Walmart's sales growth began to stall, the board in 2014 tapped Doug McMillon to take over as CEO. The imperative was clear: Bring Walmart into the future without blowing the franchise. McMillon, 50, has embraced the challenge. Boyish and soft-spoken, he is pushing hard for change while also showing a clear respect for tradition. McMillon is a company lifer whose first job was unloading trucks at a neighborhood Walmart in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He rose steadily through theranks, eventually running Sam's Club, the company's warehouse retail chain, and then Walmart's international operations.

These days his task is nothing less than leading the transformation of America's largest company.

HBR: When you became CEO of Walmart, what was your top priority?

McMillon: Walmart is more than 50 years old, and it was built with a purpose. But the world is changing quickly.

When I moved into this role, it seemed clear that the board wanted me to have the mindset that I might be in the job for a while. They said: “The company needs to go through quite a bit of change. So don't just run it. Don't just maintain it. Get it prepared for the future.” That's what we've been trying to do.

Does that primarily mean going digital?

E-commerce and going digital are definitely near the top of our list. But there are other imperatives: Are we positioned right geographically in the 28 global markets we're in? Culturally, do we have the behaviors we need to deal with the future? And what has to change in our brickand-mortarenvironment?

Are you certain that physical stores are part of your future?

Our goal is to be able to serve our future customers. To do that, we need to build a strong and capable e-commerce business—but also to strengthen what we're doing in stores. Customers want to save money and time and have the broadest assortment of items, and we think that by bringing ecommerce and digital capabilities together with the stores, we can do things that a pure e-commerceplayer can't.

Is it possible you're adapting your strategy to conform to the reality that you already maintain thousands of stores? Or are you confident that integration is the best approach?

The reality is that customers want everything. They want to go online to see hundreds of millions of items and to find anything they're looking for. But many also want to have a delightful experience in a physical store environment.

Walmart is all about low prices. But is the convenience of online shopping becoming more criticalthan price?

Low prices at Walmart are a given. Customers almost take that for granted. But they also want to save time, and that goal is increasing in importance relative to just saving money. You can't build a business today that's successful purely on price. The old trade-off of service versus low prices no longer makes sense.

Walmart was late getting into e-commerce. Why did it take so long? Was it simply that the old modelwas so profitable that there was no urgency to change?

We wish we had been more aggressive early on, no doubt.

In some ways we experienced what Clay Christensen calls the “innovator's dilemma.” We hired talent, invested, and just kind of meandered along rather than hammering down, being aggressive, and making it a must-win aspect of our business. That's partly because we had a bird in hand. We knew that if we continued to open Walmart Super centers, they would do well. Traffic in the United States is still going up. But digital conversion for us has to be about more than just serving the customer on the front end. It's about more than e-commerce. We need to introduce digitization across all our functions and jobs so thatwe can be faster and more efficient. There is still too much paper pushing in our business.

Customers want everything. You can't build a successful business purely on price.

Walmart was always the leader in analytics and customer understanding. Now, in the big data era,that level of understanding is almost table stakes for retailers. How do you maintain a competitive advantage?

The challenge is figuring out how to get people to work together in the right ways. We have a big team in Silicon Valley now. We have a big tech team here in Bentonville and another in India. We have a Jet.com office in New Jersey. How do we design the company to create the seamless experience that customers want? When do we work together? When do we not work together? Who's responsible for what?

How do you ensure that the people leading your core business remain motivated as attention andresources go to the newer, digital operations?

The people who run the older parts of our business must also become digital. We can't have some people live in yesterday while others live in tomorrow. And given the effects of inertia, we need people to lean into the future

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] even more than other companies might. We're trying to move large numbers of people to change their established habits.

How do you communicate that urgency across the company?

We're in a constant educational process. We set goals, we meet face-to-face in groups and individually. We give people things to read, including HBR pieces. People learn in different ways. Some say they really get it when you show them a case study. For others, it's more conceptual.

Are you finding that some employees lack the skills and attributes to make this journey?

Yes, it's logical that as you lead change like this, you'll get

different responses. You'll have some people at “hello,� but others will take more time or won't want to change. We've seen some departures, and we'll see more. But we have a lot of well-educated, bright people in the company, and I'm confident that as a group we'll be able to move forward.

Walmart faces competition from below on price and from above on quality. And then there's Amazon, the giant in online retail. What does winning mean for you in this environment?

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We try to focus on the customer more than on the competition. Of course, we have competitors in our peripheral vision, and we try to learn from them. We're trying to hire great talent in the digital area. We've made acquisitions, and I'm sure we'll do more. We're also more open to partnering than we were in the past. We don't need to build everything on our own.

Let's talk more about Amazon. How does Walmart stack up against it?

Let me try to answer that question by showing you a couple of things. When I first took this job, I gave this book, The Everything Store [Brad Stone's in-depth look at Amazon], to all my officers. I told them to read it and understand it, and then we discussed it together in

meetings. And this book is a replica of the 1908 Sears, Roebuck catalog. Look at the assortment: They've got beds, plates, pianos, food. There's a fireplace, a shotgun, and, what's that, feathers? There are bridal hats. In other words, breadth of assortment existed in 1908. Back then people were getting deliveries over the newly established railroad system. And then this innovative company called Sears, Roebuck came up with the idea of setting up outlets and became a combined store-andcatalogbusiness, focusing on assortment, value, and service. The stores

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

were close to customers, who could get what they wanted immediately and we know that humans like instant gratification.

And you think Walmart's version of a dual model can beat Amazon's?

As a retailer, we've had fun watching what Amazon has built. The site is really cool. It's an innovative marketplace: Customers save time and get an assortment. So how do we continue what we've been doing yet also create these things ourselves? Our goal is to copy what we should copy, invent what we should invent, and end up winning by changing what we do and how we do it—without changing who we are. We've done a lot of introspection in the past few years, and we feel that our purpose, values, and culture are timeless. History shows that most retailers don't survive disruptive change, but we're confident that we can make it.

How is the digital transformation going so far?

What's the biggest challenge?

Speed. If you compare our e-commerce business with almost anybody else's, you'd say it's a pretty good business.

In fiscal 2016, our global e-commerce sales increased about 12%, to $13.7 billion. But when you look at what the leader is doing, we're far short of where we should be. And that's just in e-commerce; there's a lot of other digital conversion that needs to happen. We're thinking in the right way, and we're moving but not fast enough. I'm frustrated by that.

What's the ultimate value of the Jet.com purchase? Why did you pay $3 billion for Jet instead of building that kind of platform internally?

We were making progress with Walmart.com without Jet, but it just wasn't enough. The transparent customer experience that [CEO] Marc Lore and the rest of Jet had built was attractive. Jet's “smartbasket” experience lets customers be actively involved in what price they pay, depending on how they buy things—with a debit card instead of a credit card, giving up return privileges, and so on. When we saw Jet, we saw a strong tech platform and a team that was culturally aligned with how we think about the world.

Is the goal to merge the platforms and brands?

We'll share a lot of back-end stuff and eventually have a common tech platform and fulfillment business. But we'll operate two separate brands with two separate identities.

Why keep the brands separate?

Jet has appealed to more urban, Millennial, and higherincome customers than Walmart has. And it has relationships with some brands that might not want to sell through Walmart.

Although Walmart recently raised wages, the company still faces reputational issues. How are you dealing with that?

We start with reality and try to focus on what we can do to make Walmart an even better company. And after that, we'll talk about reputation. I'm really proud of our work in environmental and social sustainability including the commitments we're making on greenhouse gas. If the world knew what we've done for the past 10 years and what we're doing to make things better holistically, I think our reputation would be dramatically better.

How do you respond to the lingering charges that Walmart mistreats its workers?

My first job with Walmart was unloading trucks in a warehouse. Then I worked as an assistant manager in a store, and I was lucky enough to get into our buyertraining program. I loved merchandising and had a career path that led me through Sam's Club and Walmart International. I've had more opportunities in this company than I could have dreamed of. There are hundreds of thousands of people like me who have had that experience. But we haven't been perfect. We're trying some fairly dramatic changes to make the ladder of opportunity more real for everybody and to really create the meritocracy that we've aspired to have all along.

How do you do that?

You have to set the bottom rung, that place where workers get started, at the right level so that a college kid or someone who wants to build a career has an entry point.

And then you have to space the rungs appropriately, with the right kind of support, so that people can climb as high as they want to go. We have invested in wages, in training,

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

and elsewhere to create a system that can help you go as far as your capability and work ethic will take you.

Are you looking for a different kind of employee these days?

The future of retail will include more technology. We already have handheld units on the floor, and today more data is available for people to use. We need store associates and managers who can operate handheld devices, do analysis, ask questions, receive data, and basically run a store within a store. Imagine you're trying to run a great toy department within a Walmart store. Your success depends on forecasting. How do you think about the weather? What's going on in the community? What other variables do you look at? To attract the right kind of talent, we need to make some investments. And that will result in better stores.

Let's talk about your role as CEO. What is it that you most need to focus on?

I've worked for the company for a long time, so it's important for me to develop an outside-in view. If I were married to the things we've always done and, consciously or subconsciously, tried to protect them too much, I'd hold the company back. So I've tried to spend a lot of time outside it and to learn from other CEOs. I still visit our stores and clubs—don't get me wrong. But I go to Silicon Valley frequently, and I meet with people from start-ups as well as larger companies that in some cases we do business

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with. I ask questions, trying to learn what it means to be digital. I also travel the world to learn what it means to be global. And then I try to use all of that to create the right strategy and the right level of paranoia to speed up change. I'm trying to leverage the collective perspective, wisdom, and experience of everyone I've been talking to and to lead Walmart as if it were a brand-new company on day one.

How do you know if you're on the right path?

Well, first, I'm not doing this all by myself. But sure, there's a risk associated with change. It might not work. But I would rather have us take a shot and reach for the future, so we can be here in 50years, than just make the most out of the old system.

What's your advice for other executives whose companies are going through disruptive change?

Act like a student and surround yourself with people who “get it.” Digital natives need to be part of your management team as well as your board. Walmart's board has included people like [Instagram cofounder and CEO] Kevin Systrom and [Yahoo CEO] Marissa Mayer.

How do you keep learning?

I'm a curious person. You're talking to a guy who was one of the first to have a Newton and a Palm Pilot. I've got a Google Home in my kitchen, and I'm playing around with AI. I like learning new things, and so do a lot of Walmart's leaders, and that gives us a shot.

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] Is Walmart experimenting with things like speech recognition platforms, augmented reality, and virtual reality?

We have some work going on, but we're behind in those areas.

Virtual reality is going to happen. Machine learning is happening as we speak. We can't afford to get too far behind on those things.

In some of those areas we need to build our own capabilities. And in others we can partner.

Do you ever feel that the pace of change is out of control?

Once upon a time a company like ours might have made big strategic choices on an annual or quarterly cycle. Today strategy is daily. I speak from time to time with [former Procter & Gamble CEO] A.G. Lafley, and we had a chuckle not long ago over the idea that strategy is hourly now. As a CEO, you need to have a framework in your mind, but strategic thinking is much more fluid.

That sounds challenging.

It can be frustrating for your team. You don't want to create an environment where they feel like they're trying to hit a moving target every day. While you're learning, you have to also be thoughtful about what you share with everyone else and how deliberate you are with the masses of people that work in your company. But, like it or not, strategy is happening on a much faster cycle time.

Can you give an example of a quick strategic shift you've had to make?

Once, companies made big strategic choices annually. Today strategy is daily. One example is our online grocery business. If you look at e-commerce penetration by category, fresh food has tended to lag. But we have a fresh-food supply chain, and we have stores near the vast majority of America. So we want to use that advantage and combine it with mobile, which means people can order groceries on their phones and pick up their order when they want in the store parking lot. We also have a test going on with Uber, Lyft, and others to handle “last mile”delivery. These are things that we launched very quickly.

How would you describe the balance between taking advantage of global scale and the need to differentiate each local market?

Our philosophy is to lean local first and to look for synergies and the benefits of scale second. Speed trumps size. Our markets, I believe without exception, all sell the majority of their merchandise from local suppliers. With fresh food and even canned merchandise, you don't want to move things very far. With general merchandise and apparel, there is more of a global aspect. And in those areas we work together.

Do you worry, given what's happening around the world politically, that we may be entering a phase of deglobalization?

The world is a global marketplace. You could choose to participate less, but other countries are still going to trade with each other. And the math says that over time trade is good for the United States—in terms of total GDP growth, in terms of saving people money, in terms of people living the life they want to live.

We're in favor of trade, but we realize that it has had a negative impact on isolated pockets.

What's the role of the private sector in helping people cope with global change?

We haven't done everything that we can as a country—and I'm talking about both the public and private sector—to prepare people to transition into the jobs of today and tomorrow. The world is not going to stop automating, so we have to upgrade our jobs and train people to be able to do them. Because if you have a job, you have everything. You have an opportunity to own a home, to make sure your kids get educated. All these things are related to each other.

If the United States were to slip into a trade war with China, what would that mean for Walmart?

There are many dimensions to that issue. Do Americans want U.S. manufacturing to grow and be successful? Yes. Do we want to export more? Yes. Do we also want to save money on, say, bicycles? Yes. So these tensions need to be worked out by government leaders as well as the private sector. At Walmart we engage in these discussions and try to make sure that people are informed.

What will the Walmart experience look like 10 years from now?

It will be more seamless, it will be underpinned by both digital and physical capabilities, and it will have

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] sustainability components woven in. Our AI and logistics capability will make sure you have those items you always want in your pantry or refrigerator. For products that you want to explore, both digitally and physically, we'll create environments where you can find something you might not have tried before.

What is your vision for sustainability?

Our hypothesis is that transparency is only going to increase, and customers will want companies and brands to make good decisions about how products are produced and sourced. That means that when you shop with us you know that you're having a positive impact, socially and environmentally, on the world. By educating and informing our own people, we try to ensure that social and environmental sustainability thinking permeates the entire system.

Do customers care enough about that? Do these issues rise to the level of price and convenience?

Everything is a pecking order. If you have to pick between oxygen and water, you'll take oxygen first. But do you also want water? You bet. Would you also like to eat? Uh-huh.

Customers are similar. Do they want low prices? Yes. But they also expect us to make decisions that are good for the planet and good for the people that make the products in our supply chain. They want all of that. And the companies that provide it better than others will win.

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Sustainability doesn't seem to be a priority for the new U.S. administration. Is that a concern for you?

Sustainability is a part of who we are. It's in our culture now. We don't want to take it out and probably couldn't.

Putting in LED lighting has turned out to have a better ROI than the alternative, and the next new technology probably will, too. It might be that the payback period is longer, and you have to have the right time horizon in mind. But we began our sustainability efforts under a Republican administration, carried on with them during the past eight years, and are now accelerating them further. It's good business, and our customers want us to do these things, regardless of which way the political winds may blow.

Are your shareholders patient with your efforts to pursue initiatives with longer-term payouts?

We have the benefit of having a family own half the company. In some cases that makes it easier for us to take a balanced approach. The board and the Walton family care about short-term results, but they also care about long-term results. More than anything else, they want Walmart to be a well-run,quality business that does good in the world. My management team and I are in a situation where we can balance short- and long-term thinking. I'm thankful for that. \\\ THECEO

Food and Manufacturing Safety Time to consider Product Recall Insurance?

The Zimbabwean consumer has generally not been litigious in years gone by. However, over the past 4 years of less, that trend has been shifting as consumers become more aware of their rights, aware of global trends and are more connected via social media.

These and similar incidents indicate the need for local food and manufacturing companies to consider product recall insurance to cover expenses related with actual product recall, lost gross profit, Rehabilitation costs, Consultancy costs, Adverse publicity (optional), costs to inspect, withdraw, or destroy the product.

Just earlier this year, there was a viral message on the Whats app concerning possible contamination to a cough syrup supplied by a local pharmaceutical and more recently, in June 2017 there was a contained influenza outbreak at a local poultry company which led to reports that one of Zimbabwe's neighboring countries temporarily suspended imports of our poultry products.

Late 2016, there was a facebook and whats app campaign against the size of meat in a locally produced pie.

Linked to product recall insurance cover is the product recall risk management internal strategy which if can help minimize the impact of possible recalls. When reviewing internal risk management plans consider:

Internationally, in 2016 frozen vegetables were recalled after Listeria monocytogenes genetically linked to frozen vegetables. Approximately 358 lines of consumer products sold under 42 separate brands were recalled.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones recalled 1.9 million units due to overheating of batteries. Ultimately they were banned from airplanes. Loss estimates have exceeded $5 billion.

1. Understand the risk environment: Build strong risk assessment and identification systems and allow them to evolve as the landscape changes.

2. Risk avoidance (contractual): Strengthen your supplier contracts with key clauses on communication obligations around critical control points and a responsibility to share information. Also include audit-specific responsibilities.

Risk minimisation: Recognise early warning signals and capture products before they leave your control. Have good systems in place for monitoring the quality and safety of products. Decentralise decision making, for example giving shift managers the ability to stop production if problems occur.

3.

Crisis management: People often say that recalls only ever happen on Friday afternoons, leaving no time to react. You may be in a situation where 100% of the information isn't available so be preparedto improvise.

4.

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

WHY CHIEF FINANCE OFFICERS NEED A BIGGER ROLE IN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATIONS

By Ryan Davies And Douglas Huey

CFO involvement can lead to better outcomes for organization-wide performance improvements.

When managers decide that a step change in performance is desirable and achievable, they'll often undertake a business transformation. Such transformations are largescale efforts that run the full span of a company, challenging the fundamentals of every organizational layer. That includes the most basic processes in everything from R&D, purchasing, and production, to sales, marketing, and HR. And the effect on earnings can be substantial—as much as 25 percent or more.

Given the degree of change such endeavors require, this would seem to be an ideal opportunity for CFOs to play a major role. They are, after all, already familiar with the many activities and initiatives that underlie a transformation. And they often have an organizationwide credibility for measuring value creation. The way it usually works, though, is that CEOs sponsor transformations. A full-time executive—often a chief transformation officer—assumes operational control, and individual business units take the lead on their own performance. That often leaves CFOs on the sidelines, providing transaction support and auditing the transformation's results.

This is unfortunate. In our experience, without the CFO's leadership certain key elements of the transformation are likely to receive short shrift: performance efforts will lack a meaningful benchmark to gauge success, managers will be

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] tempted to focus on the biggest or most visible projects instead of those that promise the highest value, and expected transformation benefits won't make it to the bottom line. That is why when transformations are planned, it's important that CFOs step up to play a broader role, one that includes modeling of desired mindsets and behaviors in transforming the finance function itself. Ÿ Establishing a clear financial baseline The value of a transformation is only measurable relative to a meaningful baseline, a natural part of the process for the finance function to manage. An effort that improves a company's earnings by $200 million might appear successful, if you didn't know that the market grew at the same rate. Similarly, a transformation where earnings fell by 5 percent might seem to have failed, if you didn't know that earnings would have fallen by 20 percent without the effort. And performance can be affected by any number of events and activities unrelated to a transformation under way, such as M&A, openings or closures of plants, fluctuations of commodity prices, and even unplanned business disruptions or large restructuring charges. It sounds like a simple dynamic, but it's often misunderstood and poorly communicated.

Many companies simply use last year's reported financials as a simple baseline. That's preferable to using forecasts or budgets, which can include suspect assumptions, but a meaningful baseline is usually more complicated. Last year's performance might reflect one-time adjustments or may not accurately reflect the momentum of the business—which is the true baseline of performance. And next year's performance could depend, instead, on industry-wide trends. For example, for an equipment manufacturer in an industry facing rapid price declines, the prior year's performance wouldn't work as a baseline for setting transformation goals. Instead, managers would need a baseline that reflects forecasts for how much prices would deteriorate, both overall and by region.

This is a natural part of the process for the finance function to own, since baselines are necessary for valuing both individual initiatives and overall transformation performance. That said, there is no cookie-cutter formula that applies to every company—and adjusting a baseline often involves a lot of moving parts. In one manufacturing

company, for example, managers had to set a baseline that reflected changes in commodity prices, an expected decline in sales volume and prices in one market, and the effects of additional plants and facilities in another. CFOs must ultimately use their technical skills and judgment to define which assumptions to include in their projections of how a business is likely to perform in the absence of a major transformation. That, then, becomes the baseline against which the company measures its success—and how it communicates that performance internally and to investors. Ÿ Clarifying which initiatives create value Given the volume of initiatives and limited time and resources available in a transformation, managers often find it challenging to set priorities for the ones that promise the most impact. We've often seen good ideas languish because they were undervalued while managers directed resources to overvalued initiatives instead.

Take, for example, the experience of managers at one consumer-retail company. They were convinced that the company's lagging performance was due to a year-on-year decline in sales and promoted an effort to boost them.

Increasing sales would have been good, certainly, but product margins were so low that improving sales could add little to the bottom line. Meanwhile, managers had overlooked a dramatic increase in operating costs. Cutting them offered a much richer target for bottom-line improvement. The finance function was better equipped to provide such analysis and focus management on this bigger opportunity.

Valuing such initiatives often requires nuanced thinking.

Although some transformations include radical changes, most create significant improvements on the margin of existing operations. That requires an understanding of the organization's marginal economics—that is, the costs and benefits of producing one additional unit of product or service. When managers have a clear understanding of the marginal value of improving each of the activities that contribute to performance, they have the potential to redirect an entire transformation. For example, when the CFO at a natural-resource company examined the value of marginal production, he found it to be much less than front-line managers expected. Finance analysis revealed that swings in commodity prices had changed the relationship between variable costs, fixed costs, and revenue, with profound implications for trade-offs and decision making on-site. Guided by this insight, the CFO's coaching helped the company shift its transformation priorities from increasing production at a less-profitable location to creating operating flexibility that supported more profitable areas of the business. While this part of the value chain would itself generate lower profits, managers understood that the company overall would benefit.

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] the business are offset by expenses in another. At one manufacturing company, for example, procurement managers successfully negotiated savings on a contractor's hourly rate. But since the overall plant budget wasn't adjusted, the plant manager ended up just using more hours on discretionary projects, and the overall contractor cost did not decrease. Managers at another manufacturing company managed to reduce production costs but neglected to update the margin targets for the sales department. As a result, some sales managers lowered their minimum price to maintain their margin—effectively giving away the savings in the form of sales incentives and lower prices.

At many companies, an emphasis on accounting profits can lead managers to focus on actions that drive annual or quarterly earnings even when they have a negative effect on cash f low. A high-pressure transfor mation environment, where managers are suddenly held accountable for delivering stretch targets, can exacerbate this tendency. Finance forms an important line of defense.

CFOs can verify that improvement initiatives aren't simply cutting investments in tomorrow's performance in order to boost today's numbers. They can also check for noncash improvements that show up on the profit and loss (P&L) statement but don't actually create value.

Conversely, they can highlight cash improvements, such as reducing working capital, that add real value but don't affect the P&L. One cautionary note: identifying initiatives that create the most value doesn't mean differentiating their valuations down to the last dollar. Transformations need to be fastpaced, with a bias for getting things done, because the time lost to over-analysis often represents lost value to the business. Ÿ Ensuring that benefits fall to the bottom line All too often, turnaround initiatives that could create great value never get to a company's bottom line. Sometimes, the problem is just poor execution. At one mining company, for example, an initiative owner successfully negotiated lower rates on rental equipment with a new vendor, but then neglected to return the incumbent vendor's equipment. Fortunately, the finance function discovered the duplicate rentals in its detailed reporting of monthly cost performance, and the company was able to quickly return the equipment before accruing further costs.

But often the problem is a lack of visibility into what's expected and too little coordination between units or functions. As a result, the savings accrued in one part of

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Finance specialists can help by reviewing how a company reports progress and ensuring that objectives are clear organization-wide. This can include, for example, ensuring that transformation priorities are translated into formal budget commitments. It also includes translating traditional P&L accounts, such as cost of goods sold and overheads, into the underlying measures that affect their value, such as volume, foreign exchange rates, head count, and productivity. That offers managers a much clearer understanding of how value is created.

Creating insightful management reporting for companies with integrated value chains can be especially challenging.

Since performance across such businesses isn't readily apparent from their consolidated accounting statements, it's all the more difficult to understand whether a transformation is effective. To help, the CFO at one metals company completely changed the reporting structure, disaggregating the business into multiple enterprises, each with its own CEO and P&L, based on transfer pricing between enterprises. The company continued to produce consolidated reports for external stakeholders. But the CFO used internal reports to help the various parts of the organization understand how they created value, enabling them to identify more opportunities to turn a profit.

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] Leading By Example Helping managers clarify the value of initiatives is just the start of the CFO's and finance function's contribution. Just as important is how the finance function performs internally. A finance function that innovates and stretches toward the same level of aspirational goals as the rest of the organization adds to its credibility and influence. Ÿ

Leading by example is partly about modeling desired behavior. By taking a pragmatic view of the level of detail and rigor needed to make good decisions in the finance function itself, the CFO can set an example of good behavior for the rest of the company. For example, at one refinery operation, the CFO role-modeled a bias for action by drastically simplifying the valuation assumptions for initiatives. That enabled the operation's leaders to focus on execution. Even though the value of these initiatives was potentially overstated by 10 to 20 percent, it was clear the leaders were focused on the right improvement areas.

But leading in this way is also about reducing costs while increasing efficiency and effectiveness. Initiatives that streamline activities and cut costs inside finance also radiate throughout the organization. Simplifying processes, making access to accounting systems easier, and eliminating layers of approval or redundant reports also eliminates waste elsewhere. The experience of one financial company is typical. After reviewing its accounting-journal entries, the finance function concluded that more than half the processes were unnecessary and introduced new guidelines to reduce the workload. The CFO also discovered that managers were

using two different reports to assess the performance of what was essentially a single business unit. Not only did different layers of the organization have a different view on how to measure performance, but certain business units were also using entirely different reports to explain their results and manage their activities. After leading a healthy debate on how to define a consistent view of assessing performance, the CFO set up a common and cohesive approach for the entire organization, cutting reporting activity by 40 percent in the process.

Finally, stronger financial controls inside the function can help quickly reduce costs organization-wide, particularly where cash is short. Finance might, for example, lower the threshold at which purchases require approval, cancel company credit cards, or even close open purchase orders.

Such moves can be unpopular, and managers can spend weeks, if not months, debating whether they'll improve performance or hurt productivity and employee morale.

But how successful they are often comes down to the ability and conviction of leaders to strike a balance between control and empowerment. The finance function is well placed to address organizational resistance, given its practical knowledge of financial systems and controls. It can also provide a credible independent perspective in setting an appropriate level of control.

CFOs and the finance function can help companies successfully deliver on the full potential of a transformation. To do so, they must be judicious about which activities truly add value and embrace their roles in leading the improvement in both performance and organizational health. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEREVIEW ]

WHAT PICK N PAY'S RESULTS TELL US ABOUT RETAIL IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

By Justin Probyn

SOUTH African supermarket chain Pick n Pay released its year end results in April 2017. Headline earnings per share rose 18%, while turnover growth of 7% reflects the tough consumer environment in South Africa, Pick n Pay's largest market. Outside South Africa, the retailer has stores in Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe .

How we made it in Africa's Justin Probyn looks at what Pick n Pay's results and associated commentary tell us about the state of retail in sub-Saharan Africa.

1. Online retail gaining traction Online retail in South Africa seems to be gaining traction. Pick n Pay's e-commerce turnover in the Western Cape province grew 30% year-on-year, driven by the success of a dedicated online picking warehouse situated close to Cape Town. As a result of the performance of this warehouse, the group opened a second one outside Johannesburg at the end of 2016.

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Despite low profit margins in online retail, the group still views it as a growth engine. “Customers definitely like it, and you definitely have to be in it,” said CEO Richard Brasher. “You can't ignore the future, so you better be involved in it.”

2. Strained consumers seek value South African customers across all socio-economic groups are seeking lower prices and better value for their money. The South African economy grew by only 0.3% last year, and the rand came under significant pressure. Consumers had less money for more expensive products.

Last month Pick n Pay announced a R500m (US$38m) investment to lower prices, starting with reductions across 1,300 grocery lines, with a particular focus on fresh meat, fruit and vegetables.

“Customers are more price sensitive and are shopping more frequently for smaller baskets,” said the group's CFO Bakar Jakoet.

[ EXECUTIVEREVIEW ]

country. Nigeria has been hard hit by the fall in the oil price, with the economy contracting by an estimated 1.75% in 2016. But despite these difficulties, Pick n Pay still sees opportunities in the west African country, with its first Nigerian store expected to open over the next two years.

3. Shoppers want convenience The group currently has 111 Pick n Pay Express stores – double what it had two years ago. The rapid growth of these outlets, in tandem with the rising number of smaller-format Pick n Pay Local stores, suggests consumers want to shop smaller trolley sizes, more frequently and from convenient locations.

The group believes the future of convenience shopping is not only selling snacks, but also fresh foods and produce in small stores that are close to where people live.

4. Nigeria remains on the radar Nigeria has proved to be a difficult market for some South African retailers. In 2013 Woolworths said it would close its stores in the country, blaming high rental costs, duties and supply chain challenges. Last year fashion chain Truworths also pulled out due to difficult regulations and problems getting money out of the

5. Money to be made in Zimbabwe, despite tough economy Pick n Pay's associate in Zimbabwe, TM Supermarkets (TM), delivered strong performance, despite a tough macroeconomic environment, characterised by liquidity constraints, rising unemployment and falling consumer confidence. Its share of TM's earnings grew 74.7% to R80.2m (about $6.1m), representing growth in local currency terms of 71.8%. TM has 56 stores in Zimbabwe, 16 of which trade under the Pick n Pay banner.

“We use Zimbabwe as a testament to the fact that whatever the headwinds, you can improve a business for customers,” Brasher said.

6. Zambia holds long-term opportunities In Zambia economic performance was impacted by drought and related water and power outages, as well as a low copper price.

This in turn dampened retail activity. However, notwithstanding current economic headwinds the country faces, the group remains positive of its long-term opportunity. Pick n Pay opened six new stores this year as part of its ongoing investment in Zambia, bringing the total up to 17 stores in-country as of February 2017. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

DOING WELL

BY DOING GOOD AN INTERVIEW WITH

PAUL POLMAN CEO OF UNILEVER

By Alexandre Mars

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

CHANGING the world is not a question of age, but mindset. Paul has been a leader in the corporate world for 35 years, and has used his background to build a new movement in this space...one that involves a commitment to social good.

A recent report stated 62 percent of surveyed m i l l e n n i a l s “ o n l y w a n t t o wo rk f o r a n organization that delivers social and environmental impacts.” In an interview with the Guardian, you mentioned millennials “...don't want to work for banks.” Can you tell us more about the importance of purpose in the corporate world?

Increasingly millennials want to work for companies where they can make a difference, positively influence others and ultimately leave this world in a better place than they found it. That's a life with purpose.125 years ago Unilever's founder, Lord William Lever built a business around the sale and distribution of soap that not only proved to be profitable and sustainable, but which also played a pivotal role in transforming the health of Victorian Britain's poor. Since then, Unilever has always strongly believed that the purpose of business is not to take from, but to serve society.

Over the last few years we have embarked on the most exciting journey with the Unilever Sustainable Living Plan (USLP) which decouples our growth from environmental footprint and increases our overall social impact. What

makes it unique is that we take responsibility across the total value chain - from farm to fork so to speak - and all our brands around the world.

The USLP has also helped us grow by addressing external issues such as food security, deforestation or sanitation. For example, it is enormously motivating if you work on a brand like Lifebuoy and your mission is to help a child reach the age of five, by preventing infectious diseases with the simple act of hand-washing. Or a brand like Dove which addresses women's self-esteem. We are now the preferred employer in most of the markets in which we operate and the third most looked up company on LinkedIn globally.

Before becoming CEO of Unilever, you worked at Procter and Gamble for 27 years followed by three years at Nestle. How has your thinking about CSR and the role of purpose evolved as your career progressed?

Thanks in part to the Millennium Development Goals, over the last few decades one billion people have been lifted out of poverty, three million children's lives have been saved each year due to improved hygiene and sanitation, and there are more people in education than ever before. But unfortunately, the crisis of 2007/8 showed that this progress led to high levels of debt, overconsumption and frankly left too many behind. Most companies understand that they have to be part of the solution, but often the focus is still on occasional CSR,

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] rather than fully embedding sustainability into the business model and working with others to drive transformational change.

I was honoured to be asked by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, to be part of the high level panel to develop the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015. If implemented successfully, the SDGs could irreversibly eradicate poverty in a more sustainable and equitable way.

Over the next year, we will look at how we can make the SDGs an integral part of how every company operates.

One of the ways we intend to do this is through the newly fo r m ed B u s i n e ss & Su sta i n a bl e D evel o p m e n t Commission, under the leadership of Lord Malloch Brown, which brings together leaders from business, labour, financial institutions and civil society to highlight the enormous rewards to businesses who take a lead in sustainable development. After all, there is no business case in enduring poverty.

So we must embrace the SDG Agenda and recognise it as an important driver of business strategies, innovation and investment decisions. We need more companies on board, and more sustainable business models focused on meeting the evolving needs of societies around the world.

When you started at Unilever in 2009, your approach to CSR set you apart from everyone else. Have you seen a change in your interactions with your peers since then?

We are seeing more companies step up their conversion to a more responsible business model. Some driven by moral reasons and a firm belief in the role of business as a force for good. Others are driven by the economics as the cost of inaction in many areas starts to exceed cost of action.

Finally there is a group that understands that we now live in the age of transparency, where there are few places to hide. Irresponsible behaviour will be detected much more quickly and can significantly affect reputation and market value, as we have seen in the many cases exposed.

We are also seeing stepped up partnerships across the industry as many issues, such as ending deforestation, driving social standards across the whole value chain or moving to sustainable sourcing can simply not be done alone. The move to natural refrigerants by consumer goods companies, The Tropical Forest Alliance, Grow Africa or Scaling up Nutrition are great examples of that.

What's the most important thing you've done so far in your career at Unilever?

Hopefully during my 8 year tenure to date I have helped strengthen the values, widened the talent pool to ensure future success and most importantly helped develop a new business model that serves society first and foremost. We are showing increasingly that by doing so other stakeholders and shareholders benefit over the long term,

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with for example the market cap having more than doubled over this period. We also see brands with a strong purpose and social mission now growing twice as fast as our other brands, and more profitably. Increasingly we are showing that a more purposedriven model makes a lot of business sense.

What is the greatest lesson you've learned as an intrapreneur?

The power of purpose, passion and positive attitude to drive to great long term business results. Above all the moment you realise that it's now about yourself but about working for the common good, or helping others, that's the moment you unlock the true leader inside yourself.

Finally, do you think that by doing good, you're more successful?

More importantly, in order to create critical mass, we will need to show that it makes economic sense. There is increasing evidence to show that purpose driven models are indeed also good business models for the long term. Take climate change; if no action is taken, the Food industry will see its profits being wiped out in 30 years or less.

Companies that report on their carbon exposure are more in tune with the realities of today's world, and are most likely have thought about the risk of climate change to their business model and taken action. Providing the market with more information also removes risk from the finance sector and results in lower cost of capital. We now see the financial markets catching on - $24 trillion of capital under management is calling for a price on carbon and many are rapidly decarbonising their portfolio.

Consumers are equally asking for a more sustainable and equitable future for all and increasingly are making their spending choices on that basis. \\\ THECEO

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

THE RAND DEBATE:

TO ADOPT OR NOT TO ADOPT

By Magazine Reporter ZIMBABWE'S worsening cash crisis since the introduction of bond notes last year has seen depositors urging the government to come up with new solutions to help ease the liquidity crunch. The southern African country abandoned its own hyperinflation-hit currency in 2009 in favour of the United States dollar, but a widening trade deficit, lack of foreign investment and a decline in remittances by Zimbabweans abroad have helped to fuel foreign currency shortages.

Although some depositors, who are spending many productive hours on bank queues to withdraw their money, have called for the adoption of the South African rand as Zimbabwe's primary currency, market analysts h a v e , h o w e v e r, r e m a i n e d d i v i d e d o v e r t h e issue.Economics lecturer Mr Ashok Chakravarti said rand

adoption could also reduce foreign currency leakages – that are largely blamed for the current cash-crisis, with figures from the central bank showing that Zimbabwe lost over $1,8 billion in seepages in the first half of 2016.

“It is a non-convertible currency and therefore it will remain mainly in South Africa and in Zimbabwe,” he said, adding that there was no incentive for economic agents to try and externalise the rand. An adequate supply of rand is available from our exports to South Africa, he said, adding that diaspora remittances from South Africa and access to the South African banking system was already connected.

Zimbabwe conducts 60 percent of all its trade with South Africa, according to the country's Treasury, and three million of its citizens are estimated to live in its southern neighbour after fleeing economic hardship at home.

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] “There is no history in recent memory of a country completely dollarising and subsequently successfully dedollarising just like that. The world is full of examples — El Salvador, Ecuador, Bolivia and Cambodia among others — not one country has managed to de-dollarise and revert to their own currencies, coming straight out of the US dollar,” he said.

“Going forward, if dollars continue to flow out of the formal system, as at present maybe we will have only two options left — either a full scale return to the Zimbabwean dollar or the much maligned rand. An immediate return to the local currency is not sustainable — significant long term damage can be done to this economy through a hurried and injudicious return of the Zimbabwean dollar.

“Unless we count on miracles, the only logical step to take is the rand, simultaneously addressing deep structural and macro imbalances, as necessary to get back our industry production to full capacity, increase exports, forex reserves and thereafter a graduated return of the local currency,” Mr Mverecha said. Another economic expert, Mr Vince Musewe, said service providers in the country must embrace the South African currency as a matter of urgency.

The southern African country abandoned its own currency in 2009 to end hyperinflation and mainly uses dollars, along with Rands, Euros, Pounds and several other currencies also accepted as legal tender.

But, a shortage of foreign exchange after a slump in exports has stirred a liquidity crisis that has forced government to introduce bond notes in a desperate attempt to ease cash shortages. Economist Mr Joseph Mverecha concurred with Mr Chakravarti and noted that while the adoption of the rand by itself will not address the macro and structural challenges, which must be addressed through comprehensive reforms as a matter of priority, it was the best option so far.

“The rand adoption will certainly not be a magic wand outside comprehensive reforms, but removing the real exchange rate problem of the dollar and its pervasive effects on the economy — this must be an integral part of the package of economy wide reforms, which must be instituted for recovery and sustained growth of the economy,” he said. There are critical structural policies, he added, that must be implemented — with regards to fiscal policy, the investment environment, agriculture policy, State enterprise reforms, further doing business conditions, the cost of business — structural, macro and sectoral policy reforms as necessary to get the economy on growth path. Mr Mverecha, a senior economist with a local commercial bank, further indicated that if Zimbabwe is to have any chance of re-introducing her own currency inside the next decade and a half — the rand was the only option.

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“It has always made sense to have the currency of our biggest trading partner as the main currency. In a way, this would minimise externalisation and also help with trade transactions between the two countries…

“However, in my view, retailers and other service providers just need to also price their items in Rands. After all, the currency is already legal tender in the country so it is not like there are legality issues with doing this,” Mr Musewe said.

He also pointed out that the country did not have a currency problem, highlighting that currency issues were indicators of deeper economic challenges like fiscal and monetary discord. “I do not understand it when people keep stressing that the Rand is volatile. Yes, it is, show me a currency that is not volatile. What is the point of having a stable currency that you do not have in the system?

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

“It is simply an issue of choosing between two devils here, and the Rand is the better devil. The RTGS system is already in Rands as well, so it is simply an issue of ensuring that everything is also priced in Rands,” Mr Musewe said.

The economist said formalisation of rand usage would also help correct prices locally.

“It will save Zimbabweans from United States Dollar over-pricing so it will have a positive impact on the pricing regime and get rid of all these ridiculous mark-ups and margins we have seen in the economy,” MrMusewe added.

However, the central bank governor Dr John Mangudya has ruled out adopting the South African rand arguing the current cash crisis can only be solved through increased production. “We have always said that the fundamental problem of this economy is not about currency, but localised production, stimulating exports and discouraging imports of finished products at all costs. We are spending more time talking about currency than production,” he said.

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe boss asserted that there was no need to talk of adopting the rand as our major currency as we already have it in the multi-currency basket introduced back in 2009. “We continued to use it until such a time when some unscrupulous dealers started rejecting it. What guarantee do we have that if we adopt it as our major currency it won't suffer the same fate of externalisation and hoarding? Worse still, it takes only a few hours to reach South Africa.

“We continue to urge our people to have fiscal discipline and to desist from cash hoarding and capital flight. The Bank Use and Promotion Act has been sharpened to deal with perpetrators. By so doing, we are encouraging dealers, traders and wholesales to

bank surplus cash to ease the liquidity crunch,” Dr Mangudya said Economist Mr Brains Muchemwa concurred with Dr Mangudya and said adopting the rand was illogical as the currency has continued to be unstable over the last two years.

“In any case, it is still the same uncompetitive currency that the same businesspeople rejected for bond coins not so long ago.

“Unfortunately for those proposing adopting the rand as a reference currency, competitiveness is largely currency neutral.

The thinking, therefore, that adopting the South African rand or adopting it as a currency of reference will cure productivity challenges and the current cash shortages is not only erroneous, but very misleading and should never be given policy consideration,” he said.

The Oxlink chief executive indicated that a weak and unstable currency was, in fact, a threat to obtaining a stable macroeconomic environment which, in itself, is an important pillar of competitiveness.

“And with South Africa now having its own challenges and the subsequent credit rating downgrades, one wonders how adopting the rand will insulate Zimbabwe from the economic headwinds associated with South Africa's volatile currency.

“No matter how much policy-makers would have pushed the economy towards plastic money or opted to use the rand, the cash crunch was inescapable, moreso considering that a significant part of the economy is informal.“Therefore, to believe that by using the same currency as SA's, Zimbabwe will be equally as competitive as its neighbour is fallacious,” Mr Muchemwa added. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

BUILDING A LOYALTY PROGRAM THAT IS UNFORGETTABLE

BUILDING a loyalty program is an investment, one that should bring great returns for your company. It should increase customer retention, average basket value and overall engagement with your brand and products.

Wait, what? Should!?

That's right, it takes a bit of planning to pull it off perfectly, as do all marketing efforts. The great news is, once you get it up and running the way you planned, there's little to no maintenance – just occasional reward updates and new opportunities to get rewarded, to keep the program fresh for members.

So that brings me to the question in the title of this article‌ ever wondered what the difference is between a loyalty program that your customers love and one that they totally forget about?

What Makes a Loyalty Program Forgettable Well, since a well-rounded loyalty program contains a lot of different customer communication, marketing and data collection elements, there's not one single reason, but since we've helped customers a time or two at Antavo, we focused on using our experience to come up with a set of steps for building and marketing a rewards program that customers love – one that brings them back to retailers, time and time again.

7-steps-to-a-flawless-loyalty-program-infographicantavo

a-dollar, get-a-point programs, and retailers can get more marketing automation functions out of their loyalty program online and on mobile.

So how does it work?

Rewards programs give more reasons for customers to keep coming back.

That's important for the bottom line, because keeping a customer costs far less than acquiring a new one.

A loyalty program can also help you get new customers for less.

Use your program to get referrals, incentivizing current customers to invite their friends. That's also better than getting new customers solely through adverts, because customers who were referred by members have a 37% higher retention rate overall.

Loyalty programs have the power to build trust surrounding your brand.

If your loyalty program rewards customers for leaving product reviews and ratings, you're in luck! According to Search Engine Land, 88% of customers trust online reviews more than they trust product descriptions provided by a company.

Why build a loyalty program in the first place?

7 steps to building a flawless loyalty program As the infographic points out, the planning stage of a rewards program is integral. Care to dive deeper into the 7 steps listed to building a flawless program? Let's take another look:

It's no secret that they're an effective way to retain customers, it's a tool that many major retailers have been using for decades.

Luckily, the technology has improved since the start of the spend-

1. Intrigue your customers with a fitting name Be original and raise eyebrows of curiosity! Just as you used your creative powers to build a brand name that speaks to your

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] what they want to do to earn more points. Of course, purchase is definitely a part of that, but it can't be the only thing… otherwise where is the actual loyalty?

Still need more convincing? 64% of loyalty program members actually want to be rewarded for more than just purchase. (More specifically, 68% of females and 60% of males, according to Access Development.) products – and your customers. In other words, your loyalty program name should stir up the right emotions. If you're selling luxury goods, think “club” “elite” or “member's only.”

Think about what your brand represents and evoke those values in your loyalty program's name. Consider your products, target market and marketing strategy – down to the colors in your branding.But don't get too far “out there” – customers should be able to recognize immediately that it's a rewards program. Get too wild and your program may be misinterpreted or ignored.

2. State your mission Of the consumers who responded to a Corporate Executive Board study, 64% said shared values were the primary reason they have a brand relationship. So it's all about meaning. If you're working with other organizations in your CSR policy, bring that into your loyalty program, too. Alternatively, just find partners that work on projects that your employees and shoppers are passionate about – things that fit in with the products you sell.

How does it fit into the loyalty program? Well, your values can show up in the way you communicate the program, the emails and social media posts you create about it. Charitable donations can even be a part of the rewards that your customers can choose from when they've earned enough points to spend. This is a great way to appease customers who want to make a difference. Oh, what an amazing brand association that will build!

3. Make “points” sound really dreamy It's no secret that most rewards programs use “points” to name the currency that customers earn on the road to reward redemption. So “points” has the advantage of being recognizable and easily understood. But, in the name of branding and creativity, think about spicing it up a little! Even if it's “banana points” or “java points,” find a fitting and fun name for your rewards points.

Level up and go for stars, miles, coffee beans, gold coins or, hey – flower petals! Just as long as your explanation for the program is simple, you can use this trick to make earning “points” or “whatever-you-choose” a little more fun!

4. Don't stop at purchase; reward customer actions, too Sorry to kill the mood, but I have to share some depressing news.

According to Capgemini Consulting, nearly 80% of “transactional” loyalty programs fail within 2 years. Here's why: they don't provide anything that really makes the shopping experience better. They simply reward a transaction: the purchase. (Read: customer opens wallet, customer gets points.)

Customers know what a good experience is, so don't expect them to fall for a scheme that simple. Reward a better range of customer actions and provide freedom for customers to choose

5. Be about the memories, not just the discounts Let me get straight to the point: keep things interesting, or lose out on program participation and sales.

Make your program more than just a discount opportunity. Offer a variety of rewards that include experiences, practical gifts, charitable gifts, partner rewards and contests. You know what makes your customers tick. Put just that in your arsenal of rewards.

6. Put a price on reward program points A hugely important part of building a rewards program is figuring out the value of your points. There are two components: First there's setting the value of spend that you reward with one point. Then there's determining the value of that point.

ZsuzsaKecsmar, CMO of Antavo Loyalty Software, recommends that retailers use the ten percent rule as a basis for point value. For example, if your customer spends $1 in your store, then you should reward them in the form of points valued at $0.10. So after $100 of spend, your loyalty member receives 10 loyalty points equal to $10. This rule makes it easy for customers to understand the value, too.

Then, once the program is up and running, it's all about encouraging customers to earn and spend the points they've been saving up – an essential part of keeping up the value and engagement in your loyalty program.

7. Get noticed at a variety of touchpoints As you're getting ready to launch your loyalty program, you need to think about placement. If nobody sees your loyalty program, you can assume those people won't sign up. And existing members? Well, seeing it when they're shopping on your site is a great reminder to actually sign in and do a few of the engagement activities you're rewarding, like sharing your latest product on Facebook or reading the blog post of the week.

Automated emails and other communications will supplement this, but in order to generate enough curiosity that will make your program a success, getting seen at more touchpoints is the way to go.

And always remember…

A loyalty program should make the customer experience better.

Make 'em smile! Consider every touchpoint you have, where the loyalty program meets the customer, and try to make it memorable through the language and the offers. Create memorable experiences in your loyalty program and build associations that will keep your company and your products exactly where you want them – at the top of your customers' (and future customers') minds. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

5 WAYS INSIGHTFUL LEADERS KEEP THEIR TEAMS WORKING CALMLY DURING TUMULTUOUS CHANGE When a company is roiled by big changes, the people working there need to be taken into consideration.

“The only thing that is constant is change”. -Heraclitus At some point, every leader and their respective organization is going to face change driven by factors such as macro-market conditions, competitive pressures, shifting customer demands, liquidity ebbs and flows, ownership evolution, technology disrupters, employee turnover...etc.

Not every leader though successfully moves the organization to a desired future state. Whether the catalyst is internal or external, big or small, change requires leaders to tap another skill set exemplified by the following attributes.

1. Establish expectations and standards that apply to everyone.

Few things are more disruptive during a change cycle than leadership hypocrisy and double standards. Change agents must enlist input from all affected stakeholders, including the fringes of the organization, to ensure broad consensus and buy-in regarding expectations for all. Individuals are more receptive to following principles they helped shape. Leaders must make sure those rules apply to everyone, with no exceptions, to unify the group through any upheaval.

2. Show appreciation.

People work for two main rewards: remuneration and recognition.

Establishing a sustainable culture that rewards and celebrates the autonomy, relatedness and competency of employees is a tool that effective leaders apply consistently through modulating circumstances. Perhaps management guru Dale Carnegie said it best,

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“Be hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."

3. Others first.

Treat others the way you want to be treated. It's so basic and obvious, yet our own self interests and conceit upend this axiom daily. While everyone knows this inescapable truth, imagine if your own leadership team actually applied this principle.

4. Apologize for the past, start a new future.

When transformation of a culture requires new leadership, oftentimes it's because the contract of trust was destroyed by the previous management regime. New leaders need to acknowledge and apologize for the sins of the past, which is a critical first step toward healing, while simultaneously recasting a better future.

5. Embrace empathy.

Change fuels uncertainty for all affected individuals. It's important to provide a forum where disenfranchised employees can safely air their grievances without retribution. New leaders need to understand and address employee concerns.

Change happens, but lousy leadership through change doesn't have to. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ]

HOW TO WIN IN ONLINE GROCERY: ADVICE FROM A PIONEER Christian Wanner, cofounder of one of Europe's first and largest online grocery stores, talks about what works, what doesn't, and what will change in food retailing as e-commerce continues to heat up.

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] IN most global markets, online grocery is just beginning to show promise. The expanding online offerings of retailers such as Tesco and Ahold in Europe, as well as FreshDirect and AmazonFresh in the United States, are making news. Services such as “click and collect” or “buy online, pick up in store” appear to be gaining traction with consumers.

To some, it may seem like early days for online grocery, but Christian Wanner has been at it since 1997 back when a web page could take 20 seconds or more to load, the typical household had no Internet connection, and most consumers were not yet comfortable with the idea of buying things online. That year, Wanner cofounded LeShop.ch, Switzerland's first online grocery store. LeShop is now part of the Swiss retail cooperative Migros and has been profitable since 2011.

McKinsey: LeShop is a success story, but it's one of only a few so far in online grocery. Why should grocers get into e-commerce at all?

Christian Wanner: Food retailers can't afford not to take e-commerce seriously in the long run. The cynics will say, “Even after 15 years of ecommerce in food retailing, we're talking about at best 3 to 5 percent market share, compared with 50 percent in travel or 35 percent in electronics in mature markets.” To this, I would have two replies: first, it's true that shopping habits in grocery change at a slower pace than in other categories—but, given much lower margins in grocery, if you lose 5 percent of customers to a competitor's online proposition, that makes a big difference in both your profit and loss (P&L) and your competitor's P&L. What's more, online grocery typically attracts the most profitable customers: dual-income households, customers who prioritize convenience over price or promotions, big-spending customers—these are the type of customers you'll be making more loyal to the franchise.

Second, digital literacy is evolving at an exponential pace. It took LeShop eight years to reach its first €50 million in sales on PCs but just three years to reach €50 million in sales on mobile phones. Retailers shouldn't underestimate the “digital natives” generation. They need to begin transforming their organizations now; otherwise, they will have a rude awakening when outsiders like Amazon start entering their market.

McKinsey: Many grocers worry that online sales will only cannibalize store sales. What are your thoughts on that?

Christian Wanner: Two comments: first, if you don't cannibalize your own business, someone else will do it for you. If you do not serve new consumer needs, your competitor will. Second, we conducted several studies on cannibalization, which repeatedly proved that a multichannel offer increases your overall share of wallet. For example, by isolating 5,000 households new to LeShop during one year and tracing their behavior with the Migros stores in the previous year, we observed a total sales increase of 30 percent among those households. Store sales to those customers declined by around 10 percent, but that decline was more than offset by the growth in the online business—and in a flat market, the cannibalization was clearly at the expense of our competitors.

Another study, involving a very big sample group, demonstrated clearly that our customers who shop both online and in stores spend twice as much as customers who shop only in stores, indicating that our online offering attracts higher value customers. And customers who use three channels—traditional stores, home delivery, and Drive1—spend 2.3 times as much.

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[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] McKinsey: Retailers today are experimenting with a variety of operational models for these new channels—fulfilling online orders from existing warehouses, from new dedicated warehouses, and even from stores. Will all these models continue, or will there be a convergence?

Christian Wanner: Convergence has already taken place on the transactional side: in website and mobile navigation, how you present the offer, and recipe and recommendation features. Website ergonomics and transactional behavior are similar across geographies and cultures, so you can leverage similar systems in different countries.

But I don't yet see a strong convergence in logistics—there are just too many geographical and sociological differences, as well as business model beliefs. In Latin America, for instance, the more affluent people are highly concentrated in certain areas of the city. In Buenos Aires, if you address those few neighborhoods, you've basically covered the relevant market for online grocery because 80 percent of the population is simply not at a socioeconomic level that will support your business. In such regions, you can go with a dedicated warehouse close to the geography you want to serve. This model will not be valid in Switzerland, for instance, where there is more of a mix of social classes geographically.

Then, you have differences in population density. Take the Netherlands versus France. The low population density in France probably explains the roaring success of the click-and-collect model versus home delivery, whereas in the Netherlands— where the population is very concentrated—the home-delivery model is viable almost nationwide. Ahold's click-and-collect service is making serious inroads as well, because it brings extra convenience to the customer versus home delivery. Logistics choices also depend on a company's existing assets, heritage, and capital-expenditure capacity. There is no single best practice you can roll out worldwide.

That said, already we see some models fading— such as store picking (that is, fulfilling online orders from stores). I don't think that in 2014 your logistics strategy can sustainably be based on store picking, unless it's a defensive strategy in a marginal business and you are picking in a very big hypermarket. Store picking is not industrially efficient if you account for true costs, and it does not fulfill the promise to the customer because it results in many orders that have substitutes or missing products.

McKinsey: But couldn't a retailer start with store picking and then gradually move to a more capital expenditure−intensive model such as warehouses or “dark stores”?

Christian Wanner: First, we will need to agree on the definition of a dark store. Tesco was the first to coin that term, I think, and at that time it meant a warehouse with exactly the same layout as a traditional store but without customers. This is certainly not a model I would advocate, because it fails to adapt the layout and workflow to create picking efficiency. Tesco has quickly recognized this, and each successive version of its warehouse integrates more automation and workflow efficiency.

To your question of whether store picking would be a sound starting strategy, with the intention of learning the business and then moving to something more sophisticated: it may have been a viable option for a retailer back in 2000, but not today, because your organization will be learning the wrong things. In store picking, the energy of the online team, the IT people, and the general manager will be spent on avoiding out of stocks, which means their energy will be spent on things like substitute management and product supply planning.

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You cannot imagine how much energy goes into substitute management: proposing intelligent substitutes, then having a whole logistics process for the customer to receive the substitute. You have to pick the substitute separately from the rest of the items so that you can ask the customer whether she agrees with the substitutes, and if the customer says, “I agree with this one but not with that one,” then you need a process whereby the rejected substitute comes back to the store, and you need a process to manage the price difference between what she originally ordered and the substitute, and so on and so forth. Little of this is useful when you scale the operation and move to a dedicated warehouse, which can fulfill 98 or 99 percent of orders with the exact products that the customer wanted. So I think it is wiser to set up a dedicated infrastructure and organization up front and then fine-tune it until it is ready to be scaled up.

But a dedicated infrastructure isn't necessarily an enormous and fully automated warehouse. You still have to make important choices as to geographical reach, assortment depth, mode of delivery, and so on. It would be a mistake to start with a highly automated and capital-intensive warehouse before having gained experience in all the above aspects first.

[ EXECUTIVEINTERVIEW ] marketing officer insists on exactly the same product range and the same promotional scheme online and offline.

McKinsey: Are you saying the online business should be completely separate from the traditional retail business?

McKinsey: Companies are understandably hesitant to make big bets on online grocery because profitability is far from assured.

Christian Wanner: It's a “chicken or egg” debate. If you don't commit yourself seriously to this business, you will simply never achieve any significant breakthrough. Online grocery is certainly a very difficult business to make profitable, but it has proved possible. LeShop's home-delivery business has been profitable since 2011, and this is in Switzerland, where we pay warehouse workers between 3,800 and 4,000 a month, including bonuses. But achieving profitability takes hard work. It requires chasing every second, chasing every source of inefficiency, chasing every mistake you make to avoid paying the cost of correcting those mistakes.

I've found that many traditional retailers are stuck in paradigms or make choices that impede profitability in their online business. Take, for example, the “long tail” obsession: I come across traditional retailers who can only envisage their online store having exactly the same assortment as their hypermarket format, thus 30,000 SKUs. This is an ideological positioning, not a pragmatic positioning to start with. You typically have the chief marketing officer saying, “There is no way we should enter online with a smaller assortment than our biggest hypermarket, because that's what the customer expects.” The problem is, your logistics complexity and costs increase exponentially with assortment depth, and the customer will hardly pay that premium. In my experience, if you have 13,000 SKUs, the last 1,300 of them will account for less than 1 percent of sales. So, you can only imagine what it means for 30,000 SKUs. It would require probably eight times the capital investment, because thousands of slow-moving SKUs will need automated instead of manual picking. It's not impossible to manage a warehouse with 30,000 SKUs or more— Ocado is doing that successfully—but you need to be aware that it has direct and heavy consequences on your capital expenditures and organization.

Another area where you need to make hard choices is your online promotional strategy. Should you have exactly the same promotional schemes as you have in your stores, or can you leverage the advantages e-commerce offers?

For example, in e-commerce, you can tailor promotions based on customer behavior, which you can't really do in the traditional supermarket, except through loyalty cards. You might be losing a lot of margin points if the chief

Christian Wanner: After 16 years in this industry, I still find it vibrant and fascinating because there is no absolute golden rule. The right structure depends on how the parent company is organized. A centralized company would require a different structure than a decentralized cooperative.

What is clear, however, is that retailers should not regionalize ecommerce; it has to be at least national, if not transnational, meaning that you use the same website and the same technological platform in every country. It doesn't make sense to have several teams developing multiple websites and mobile platforms.

But should the web and mobile platform be developed by the corporate IT team or by a separate team? My opinion is that it has to be a separate, dedicated team. The main issue is the speed of releases: if you are just 1 percent of the business, you will hardly be a priority. You might be a priority for corporate IT when the project starts, but after version one has been delivered and you need changes, you will probably wait a long time for those changes. And in e-commerce, you'd better have a release of either bug fixes or improvements every four weeks.

I also think logistics should be driven by a dedicated team, not the central logistics team. E-commerce logistics is about picking and transporting single products, which is not a core competency of traditional retailers. Again, this competency has to be developed by the e-commerce team, with no legacy systems restraining it.

What about category management? My opinion is you need dedicated people looking at what's happening in e-commerce and being very reactive to customers: tailoring the assortment, the promotional scheme, and so on.

McKinsey: What changes do you foresee in online grocery in the next few years?

Christian Wanner: Consumer behavior is evolving fast. Customers now expect to be able to interact digitally with any merchant, so a robust digital presence has become a must. When we launched our first iPhone app in 2010, we did not foresee that three years later, onethird of our orders would be coming from an iPhone or iPad. Frequency was around 20 days between two orders on the website; it accelerated to 10 days between orders on the mobile phone. Our supermarket is technically in the handbag or pocket of our customers all the time. Our app even allows them to shop when they are offline. The screen is small, but repeat customers are able to drop 60 items into their basket in less than 10 minutes—that's efficient shopping! So is technology evolving? Yes, but, more important, consumer behavior and expectations are evolving. And we're not talking about tech freaks here—we're talking about 50 percent of our customers shifting to mobile. This is an unstoppable megatrend.

In the coming years, retailers will need to work on what we call multichannel or cross-channel or omni-channel—that is, harmonizing the channel experience for the customer. It is about combining the digital power of e-commerce with the infrastructure and service of bricks and mortar, and determining what role each will play. We will have to leverage the richness of online information in the convenience channel because that is where the battle will be won. We will need to move the battle away from “I have the cheapest stuff ” to “I have the best service.” At the end of the day, the winners will be those retailers that best understand the patterns of behavior of their customers and respond to those patterns intelligently. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

SHOPRITE; THE GROCERY CHAIN THAT BECAME AFRICA'S BIGGEST RETAILER BY BETTING ON ITS MIDDLE CLASS JUST as Freedom Park, south of Johannesburg, completed its transition from a shanty town to a lower middle class neighborhood with electricity, piped water, and tarred roads; a spanking new Shoprite store opened up in November 2016, with its distinct bright red and white logo and brand livery.

This strategy to seek out Africa's growing middle class consumers, in places its competitors have yet dared to venture, has helped drive Shoprite's rapid expansion in the last decade. The food retailer has expanded from eight poorly performing stores worth 1 million rand in 1979 (around $1.2 million then), to become Africa's largest retail chain, worth 113.7 billion rand ($8.5 billion) today.

Shoprite's mushrooming from a corner in South Africa's Cape to 2,214 stores (and counting) in countries across the continent was led by longtime CEO James Wellwood Basson, known everywhere as Whitey (a childhood nickname on account of his pale blond, now gray hair, that has stuck despite South Africa's racial issues). Basson is a big personality with an even bigger paycheck whose sheer determination took Shoprite across Africa, while the group's competitors took too long to realize the continent's retail potential, or just used the wrong strategy.

He's dismissed criticisms on low wages for his workers with the argument that he is creating jobs, and has been known to use local expletives in general meetings. It's all forgiven as Shoprite's charts consistently climb.

Now aged 70, the local retail celebrity announced his plans to step down last year after nearly four decades, leaving questions about

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where Shoprite would venture next. His successor is Pieter Engelbrecht, a 20-year Shoprite veteran who was once Basson's assistant.

The low-cost grocer's slogan promises “low prices for you,” and it has been able to keep that promise in South Africa where other retailers are struggling. It diversified its customer base by launching the less expensive USave format store, described by the group as an “ideal vehicle for the group's expansion into Africa and allows far greater penetration into previously under-served communities in South Africa.” Then there's also the higher-brow Checkers, aimed at upwardly mobile customers interested in ready-to-eat meals and a good wine selection.

Outside of South Africa, Shoprite and its affiliate stores are not necessarily low-cost, but they do offer a variety and an aspirational sophistication that local retailers and informal street markets simply can't compete with, especially on shelf life.

Among Africa's growing middle class, going to Shoprite has become something of an outing for young families climbing the economic ladder in cities like Lagos or Accra. Heading to Shoprite doesn't just mean filling your trolley with the month's groceries, it's going to the mall to grab a pizza or see a movie, giving consumers a reason to choose the South African brand over local rivals.

“It's a much more competitive environment,” said Sasha Naryskine, an analyst with Vestact. Rather than simply export a South African product into Africa, Shoprite understands that consumer behavior differs from state to state in each country and they've made sure their products, especially canned and packaged goods, match those tastes. “Shoprite has understood this, but also by selling to value-orientated consumers who want to get all their goods in one place with a longer shelf-life.”

Crucially, Shoprite has also exported South Africa's fondness for malls, thereby overcoming infrastructural challenges in building its own centers. It often partners with local property developers.

This is especially important in African countries where the retail markets are not as developed as South Africa's.

For example, in Kano, northern Nigeria, a Shoprite store is part of an $85 million retail investment trying to modernize the

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

historical African trading city. In Angola, where Shoprite has had a bumper year despite a difficult economy , it has partnered with Debonairs Pizza, a South African chain, making the Shoprite center more than just a grocer, but a place to hang out.

Shoprite took its pioneering, centralized distribution chain to the rest of the continent, which allows the group greater control of logistics in working with both multinational suppliers and local farmers.

“They had faith in Africa and South Africa, whereas others didn't have the same faith in the African economic story,” says Andile Ntingi, an analyst with GetBiz. “That faith has paid off.”

While other South African chains crashed and burned in countries like Australia, or misapplied the high-end model to Africa, Shoprite stuck to a simple yet effective strategy, he said.

And it was smart enough to invest in commodity-rich countries where the consumer base was bound to grow, he adds.

Basson expanded Shoprite into Africa long before it was cool.

The expansion was fast and aggressive, often through local acquisitions. Basson opened the first store outside South Africa in 1990, just as neighboring Namibia gained independence.

Zambia and Mozambique followed in the mid-1990s. During this time Shoprite also acquired the OK Bazaar group, converting all their outlets in Swaziland and Botswana to Shoprite, thus cementing their footprint in southern Africa before a rising Africa was seen as a lucrative market. Shoprite Holdings also listed on the Namibian and Zambian stock exchanges in 2002 and 2003, respectively.

It wasn't an easy sell to the board and investors, according to Christo Wiese, Shoprite's chairman.

But there were also losses along the way. Shoprite left Egypt after just five years, citing restrictive market conditions. Zimbabwe's turbulent economy proved too much for Shoprite's strategy and it closed shop in Bulawayo in 2013. A year later, it threw in the towel in Tanzania, saying the country largely favored market food shopping over a formal retail establishment. Last year, reports surfaced that Shoprite was giving up in Uganda, too, with plans to sell to local rival Nakumatt. But the group denies this and still lists outlets in the country. Shoprite's ventures beyond the continent did not fare well either, and in 2010, Shoprite sold its only outlet in a Mumbai mall to the Future Group, India's largest listed shopping chain.

Ironically, Basson's departure may be linked to what could be Shoprite's greatest expansion yet. Wiese, who owns a 16% stake in Shoprite and 18% of Steinhoff, has floated the idea of merging Shoprite and Steinhoff since about 2006, according to reports, and the merger chatter won't go away. Steinhoff is a South African-owned merchandiser with plans to take on IKEA in the United States and Europe, and could take the Shoprite model even further. But, as analyst Naryshkine notes, such a merger and subsequent expansion would expose Shoprite to the kinds of risks it never faced in Africa.

Basson is on record opposing the merger, but by his own admission, he is tired now and just wants to sleep in. And it would be a well-deserved rest. Basson started his career as an accountant but has become a retail maverick, systematically building a solid infrastructure and customer base on a combination of faith and pragmatism that has covered Shoprite across Africa. Its relentless expansion is unlikely to slow and remains undeterred by its setbacks.

“Shoprite had faith in Africa and South Africa, whereas others didn't have the same faith in the African economic story,” – analyst. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

How new CEOs can boost their odds of success

New study stresses taking bold strategic steps early and it helps too if you are an 'outsider'! by Mike Owen IT may surprise you but, according to new research by McKinsey & Co, new CEOs tend to adopt many of the same types of strategic actions in their early years upon appointment – from management reshuffles to cost-saving efforts – whether they had joined a well-run organisation or a poorly performing one. However, CEOs are more effective in poorly performing companies when they make a larger number of major strategic moves at the same time early on in their new role. And, significantly, for all types of company, CEOs who were externally-recruited, or who at least adopt a strong outsider's mind-set, tend to produce stronger results.

These were the key findings in an interesting piece in the latest McKinsey Quarterly (May 2016,”How new CEOs can boost their odds of success”). The research was based on a review of the nature and effects (on their company's performance) of strategic actions taken by some 600 CEOs who ran a S & P 500 company in the US between 2004 and 2014, together with a review of 250 case studies.

Companies' performance was assessed in terms of 'annualised returns' to shareholders (a complex definition was given, but don't worry!).

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The research considered nine specific types of strategic move taken by CEOs and found a similar frequency of usage across poorly and well-run companies within the executive's first two years of appointment:

Strategic move

Use % by co's doing well

Use % by co's doing poorly

Management reshuffle Merger/acquisition Cost reduction program New business/product launch Geographic expansion Organisation redesign Business/product closure Strategic review Geographic contraction

66% 59% 42% 38% 26% 26% 19% 14% 9%

72% 54% 49% 37% 32% 29% 18% 31% 5%

However, despite this generally similar frequency of use, the efficacy of certain of these moves was found to differ significantly depending on the context of the company. To be precise: strategic reviews were very helpful for poorly performing companies but less helpful for companies that had been performing well; organisational redesign was helpful for well-performing companies but not for low performers; and management reshuffles were helpful for poorly performing companies

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] but actually unhelpful for well-performing companies. The researchers recognised that, of course, there are very many variables that drive and influence company performance, not just a few specific measures taken by a CEO, but they did consider these particular findings very plausible.

What is particularly interesting from the study, though, were the findings regarding the number of major moves that a CEO took and whether he/she was appointed from inside or outside the organisation.

The researchers found no discernible pattern regarding the number of major strategic moves at well-performing companies, but in poorly performing ones the key finding was that CEOs who made four or more strategic moves at the same time during their first two years achieved significantly higher performance over their tenures compared to their less bold counterparts in similarly companies.

Regarding the background of the CEOs, the study found that externally appointed executives had a much greater propensity to act and be bold: they were more likely to make six out of the nine strategic moves examined: in particular, externally appointed CEOs were much more likely than internally promoted CEOs to adopt an organisational redesign, cost reduction program, geographical contraction, business/product closure, or merger/acquisition. Poorly performing companies were more likely to appoint an external CEO and, where they did, they were found to outperform their internally promoted counterparts by a margin of more than five to one.

These findings about the greater boldness of outside hires do seem intuitively very reasonable: one would expect external CEOs to feel generally less encumbered by organisational politics or inertia and to adopt more of an outside view compared to their internal counterparts. However, as the article reminds the reader, performance differentials are the result of multiple factors, not just any single factor like the background of the CEO. Also, crucially of course, it is possible for an internally promoted CEO to cultivate the necessary outsider's mind-set: it just appears that such a CEO appears relatively less often than an appropriatelyminded external CEO.

The problem, though, in pointing to the value of an externallyminded CEO is that often in many organisations – poorly and well-performing ones – the culture of the organisation or the Board itself does not actually encourage an outside, different or challenging mindset! Especially in a very established organisation or one that has quite a settled top-team or a very traditional culture, it can be very uncomfortable and threatening for a CEO to 'raise their head above the parapet' and promote serious change or new thinking. Accordingly, an organisation in this situation – particularly the Board – needs to ensure it has wider mechanisms and arrangements in place to boost the inclination of its management to think differently and adopt that 'outsider' perspective prescribed in the above study.

There are, of course, many types of arrangement which organisations can put in place to help foster an 'outside-in' / multiview perspective amongst its senior management. A few quick examples: ensure the Board itself has a reasonably diverse range of members and that some of the membership changes at regular intervals; have senior people go and visit / meet with clients regularly; set up a stakeholder / customer Advisory Board; ensure the Board has dedicated discussion time at each meeting to review one or two strategic issues; make one Board member a dedicated champion for strategic thinking and innovation; invite individuals from outside organisations that are doing novel or progressive things to come and speak at your Board meeting; and ensure your organisation has a good, ongoing 'eyes and ears' intelligence system for spotting trends and developments in your industry. Another approach is to hire a suitably experienced external professional to be your outsourced 'external strategic adviser/manager' to work with your Board, help their thinking, and also handle a lot of the detail of the strategic management process: this is a service that Owen Morris provides.

Altogether, an interesting article that gives some valuable pointers for newly appointed CEOs to consider. But, at the same time, Boards must remember that organisational success cannot just be left, of course, to the boldness or background of their CEO: Board directors need themselves to look at how they think and operate, as well as ensuring the organisation has in place a strong mix of wider business and organisational strategies and policies.

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

SO LETS' RECAP

Adopt an outsider's mind-set.

On average, external hires appear to make more moves during their early years. This doesn't mean that insiders are the wrong choice for boards. But it does suggest that it's critical for insiders to resist legacies or relationships which might slow them down and that approaches which help insiders adopt an outsider's mind-set have great potential.

Equally, there is value in having outsiders who can lean into the boldness that their status naturally encourages.

Some executives have done so by creating new ways to assess a company's performance objectively—for example, by taking the view of a potential acquirer or activist investor9 looking for weak spots that require immediate attention. Others have reset expectations for the annual allocation of resources, changed the leadership model and executive compensation, established an innovation bank, and looked for additional ways to bring an external perspective to the heart of the leadership approach.

Don't follow the herd

.

On average, new CEOs make many of the same moves, regardless of starting point. They will do better, however, by carefully considering the context of their companies and leveraging more scientific ways to assess their starting points. For instance, some new CEOs take stock of the economic-profit performance of companies relative to that of their peers and, in light of the starting position, assess the odds that potential moves will pay off.

When you're behind, look at the whole playbook. On average, CEOs taking the helm at underperforming companies do better when they make more major strategic moves, not fewer. That doesn't mean they should try to do everything at once, but it does suggest a bias toward boldness and action. Plan a comprehensive set of moves that will significantly improve your company's performance, and make sure that you aim high enough.

New CEOs take the helm with a singular opportunity to shape the companies they lead. The best ones artfully use their own transition into the CEO role to transform their companies. But this window of opportunity doesn't last long. On average, an inflection point arrives during year three of a CEO's tenure. At that point, a CEO whose company is underperforming is roughly twice as likely to depart as the CEO of an outperforming one—by far the highest level at any time in a chief executive's tenure.

During this relatively short window, fortune favors the bold. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ]

12 Business Lessons To Learn from Amazon Founder & CEO Jeff Bezos

When current and aspiring tech entrepreneurs are asked who they look up to the most, they give the usual names: Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and maybe a few will mention Bill Gates. But, unfortunately, there aren't many who mention Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.

This analytical, methodical, quick-to-laugh brainiac entrepreneur isn't given the attention he deserves. He doesn't have the charisma of Steve Jobs, run a car brand like Tesla, get the publicity of Zuckerberg (who had an entire movie devoted to him), or share the wealth of Bill Gates. But, in my view, he deserves to be included with all of these entrepreneurs, perhaps even at the top of the list. Bezos does more than run a retail store.

He's also into many other ventures, including a private space endeavor called Blue Origin. And there's a lot we can learn from this summa cum laude Princeton graduate. Read on to learn about some of his business philosophies.

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] 1. Be Stubborn and Flexible According to Bezos, good entrepreneurs must be stubborn and flexible. When referring to Amazon, Bezos says, “We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details.” Sticking to the vision is the first part, and being flexible about the tactics is the second part. Bezos adds, “If you're not stubborn, you'll give up on experiments too soon. And if you're not flexible, you'll pound your head against the wall and you won't see a different solution to a problem you're trying to solve.” There's a challenge in being stubborn and flexible. Bezos warns: “The thing about inventing is you have to be both stubborn and flexible, more or less simultaneously. The hard part is figuring out when to be which!”

One of the things I've heard about entrepreneurs is that they are inherently stubborn individuals.

They're the “natural leaders” who like to take charge and have things done their way. In this sense, it seems as if they are close minded on both tactical details and vision. So while having natural leadership skills is good, one of the characteristics that define good entrepreneurs is being flexible on details. Just ask the guy who built a company from 0 employees to over 117,000. He probably knows a few things about leadership.

2. Stick with Two Pizzas Bezos seems to believe in small, autonomous groups.

(Maybe the roots for this go back to his days as a startup CEO.) He believes in a “two pizza rule” for teams, meaning that the groups should be small enough to feed with only two pizzas. This generally works out to about 5 to 7 people in a team.

When teams grow larger, they have a tendency to become less efficient. This inefficiency reduces the output of the team and leads to waste. So keep teams small and let them test.

3. Never Stop Experimenting “If you double the number of experiments you do per year you're going to double your inventiveness.” If you ask most CEOs, they'll tell you that experimentation is imperative for their business. It's how new innovations are born and how they stay competitive in the market. Automotive companies have concept cars; food companies experiment with new foods and flavors; retail companies experiment with placement of products and store atmosphere; drug companies are built on experimentation; tech companies have “labs” like Google Labs; and many high performing companies, like Google, allow their employees to experiment. Even sports teams experiment with new plays and/or players.

Experimentation is everywhere and is always happening. At Amazon, experimentation and willingness to invent has always been a part of the culture. It's not secondary or something that “has to be done because everyone else does it.”

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4. Measure the Experiments Experimentation is part of Amazon's culture. So is measuring the experiments. When someone comes up with an idea for an experiment, Bezos commonly says, “We can measure that.” This is revealing because it shows that one of his first thoughts is whether they can measure an experiment.

When someone comes to you with an idea, the first question to ask yourself is “can we measure this?”

Even if you can measure it, and the results tell you not to do it, that doesn't always mean that you shouldn't. Bezos says, “Sometimes we measure things and see that in the short term they actually hurt sales, and we do it anyway.” While they may hurt the short term, they can benefit in the long term.

If it's good for customers, it's a good indicator that you should make that experimental practice permanent.

5. Be Willing to Invent I have bits about the culture of invention at Amazon scattered throughout this post, but there's one important point I want to highlight. Ever notice how many products and services Amazon offers? You can trace that back to Bezos's philosophy of rapid experimentation and invention. In this sense, Bezos is the anti-Steve Jobs. Apple offers only a few products, but Amazon offers dozens. At the bottom of the Amazon homepage, you can see the wide range of different products and services they offer:

Invention is really important to Bezos and his team at Amazon. He mentions the words “pioneers” and “explorers” a lot to describe his team at Amazon. He looks for people that like to invent and are always looking for ways to make products better. When you're an entrepreneur, no matter what field, you have to love to invent and build things. Whether you're Henry Ford building a car, the Wright brothers building an aircraft, or any software engineer inventing new software. It's in every great entrepreneurs DNA. The love of brainstorming, experimenting, and toying are all fundamental characteristics of inventors and entrepreneurs.

Invention and inventors push the world forward.

One of my favorite quotes is all about being an inventor and explorer:

[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] 6. Think Long Term If you can know only one thing about Bezos, it should be that he thinks long term. Once, when asked about Amazon's revenue growth, Bezos couldn't even remember the exact growth percentage, something rare for a CEO. When asked why he didn't know, he said:

“I'm thinking a few years out. I've already forgotten those numbers.”Amazon retail has been around since 1994. Obviously, thinking long term requires a tremendous amount of patience.

This is especially true when you're the CEO who needs to also focus on day-to-day operations. And it requires you to be misunderstood for long periods of time. It's part of building something new. Bezos says that “me-too companies have not done that well over time.” So you need to invent and be willing to be misunderstood.

Because all disrupters are inventors. And me-too companies are not inventors.

“One of the things we don't do very well at Amazon is a me-too product offering. So when I look at physical retail stores, it's very well served, the people who operate physical retail stores are very good at it…the question we would always have before we would embark on such a thing is: What's the idea? What would we do that would be different? How would it be better? We don't want to just do things because we can do them…we don't want to be redundant.”He also says that long-ter m thinking and experimentation needs to be a fundamental ingredient of the company:

7. Present and Discuss Memoranda, not Slide Shows In an interview with Charlie Rose, Bezos says:“The traditional kind of corporate meeting is somebody gets up in the front of the room and presents…some kind of slide show. In our view…you get very little information that way, you get bullet points. It's easy for the presenter but difficult for the audience. And so, instead, what we do is all of our meetings are structured around a 6page narrative memo. And when you have to write your ideas out in complete sentences and complete paragraphs, it forces a deeper clarity of thinking.”

If you ever get into a flow of writing, you'll notice something amazing happens. Your brain produces thoughts and ideas faster than your fingers can type them. You're totally in the zone. It's an exciting, yet frantic experience, because you want to write down all of the thoughts so you don't forget them.

Creating slide shows doesn't have that affect. Even if it could, you are forced to limit your thinking to only the main points. Writing 6 pages forces the author to think things through, and reading and discussing them allows the audience to get to all of the author's thoughts.

8. Obsess About Customers “Focusing on the customer makes a company more resilient.”At Amazon, there is a common line of thinking:“Start with the customer and work backwards.“

Bezos has mentioned many times that you focus on customer needs and then work backwards from there. In his interview with Charlie Rose, he says:“We're not competitor obsessed, we're customer obsessed. We start with the customer and we work backwards.”When you work backwards, you start with the customer and their needs and problems. This is the opposite of what some companies do, which is: they think up ideas, build a product, and then see if customers like it.

Bezos is a firm believer that what is best for the customer ultimately turns out to be best for the business. At the 2012 re: Invent conference, he said:“If we can arrange things in such a way that our interests are aligned with our customers, then in the long term that will work out really well for customers and it will work out really well for Amazon.”

In his interview with Charlie Rose, he says:“We're not competitor obsessed, we're customer obsessed. We start with the customer and we work backwards.”When you work backwards, you start with the customer and their needs and problems.

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[ EXECUTIVEADVICE ] 9. Base Your Strategy on Things That Won't Change “I very frequently get the question: 'what's going to change in the next 10 years?' And that is a very interesting question; it's a very common one. I almost never get the question: 'what's not going to change in the next 10 years?' And I submit to you that that second question is actually the more important of the two – because you can build a business strategy around the things that are stable in time….in our retail business, we know that customers want low prices and I know that's going to be true 10 years from now. They want fast delivery, they want vast selection. It's impossible to imagine a future 10 years from now where a customer comes up and says, 'Jeff I love Amazon, I just wish the prices were a little higher [or] I love Amazon, I just wish you'd deliver a little more slowly.' Impossible [to imagine that future]. And so the effort we put into those things, spinning those things up, we know the energy we put into it today will still be paying off dividends for our customers 10 years from now. When you have something that you know is true, even over the longterm, you can afford to put a lot of energy into it.

10. Identify and Remove Risk What do you always hear about entrepreneurs?

They love risk. They thrive on it and it excites them.

According to Bezos, the best entrepreneurs don't like risk and work to identify it and remove it in the early days of a business. He says:

“Good entrepreneurs don't like risk; they seek to reduce risk…Starting a company is already risky, and then you systematically eliminate risk step by step in those early days….you kind of need to systematically identify risk and then as the company gets bigger and more robust, you can start taking risks again but in those early days a lot of it is about 'okay I have a good idea, how do we reduce risk?'”

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11. Get Started Now to Avoid Regret Later What's the worst thing you can live with? Regrets, guilt, sorrow?

When Bezos was thinking about building Amazon, he had to decide whether to start the company or keep his good job on Wall Street. He created a framework to use for making the decision that he calls a Regret Minimization Framework. It helped him realize he didn't want to not do it and regret it later. This fear of regret is one of the key reasons why he decided to go ahead and start Amazon.

12. Bezos Gives Entrepreneurs Advice “Never chase the hot thing….you need to position yourself and wait for the wave. And the way you do that is you pick something you're passionate about.

That's the number one piece of advice that I'd give to someone that wants to start a company or start a new endeavor inside of a bigger company. Make sure it's something you're interested in, something you're passionate about. \\\ THECEO

“Never chase the hot thing….you need to position yourself and wait for the wave. And the way you do that is you pick something you're passionate about.

NO MORE CERTIFICATES JUST YOU

In line with the new global standards NSSA is replacing all paper Life CertiďŹ cates with Biometrics.

We urge all pensioners to register by 30 September 2017 to continue receiving pension payments.

[ EXECUTIVELIFESTYLE \\\ HEALTH ]

DASH DIET

MIND DIET

MAYO DIET

FLEXITARIAN DIET

IF you're trying to prioritize dieting in 2017, keep in mind that not all diets are created equal. Often, the ones that garner the most attention aren't even among the best.

MEDITERANIAN DIET

5 of the best diets to lose weight fast, ward off disease, and live healthier in 2017

In fact, a meta-analysis of more than 1.5 million healthy adults demonstrated that following a Mediterranean diet was associated with a reduced risk of cardiovascular mortality as well as overall mortality. The Mediterranean diet is also associated with a reduced incidence of cancer, and Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases. Women who eat a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil and mixed nuts may have a reduced risk of breast cancer.

For these reasons, most if not all major scientific organizations encourage healthy adults to adapt a style of eating like that of the Mediterranean diet for prevention of major chronic diseases.

Here are the Five Best Diets for 2017 [1] The DASH Diet For the seventh year in a row, the DASH diet was named the best. DASH stands for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. Hypertension, otherwise known as abnormally high blood pressure, is a common condition in Africa.

The diet relies on lowering your sodium intake to no more than 2,300 milligrams a day, along with eating vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

(For reference, a single slice of pizza contains about 640 milligrams of sodium, roughly a quarter of that sodium limit.)

"The DASH diet is really a safe plan for everyone," Angela Haupt, assistant managing editor of health at US News & World Report, told Business Insider in 2016. "There's nothing exciting about it, and that's what makes it a good plan. It's not some fad diet making outlandish claims that you can't rely on."

In addition to being crowned the overall best diet, the DASH diet was also deemed the best diet for healthy eating, the best diet for people with diabetes, and one of the best heart-healthy diets.

The Mediterranean diet emphasizes: Eating primarily plant-based foods, such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes and nuts Ÿ Replacing butter with healthy fats such as olive oil and canola oil Ÿ Using herbs and spices instead of salt to flavor foods Ÿ Limiting red meat to no more than a few times a month Ÿ Eating fish and poultry at least twice a week Ÿ Enjoying meals with family and friends Ÿ Drinking red wine in moderation (optional) Ÿ Getting plenty of exercise

[2] The Mediterranean diet A heart-healthy eating plan The heart-healthy Mediterranean diet is a healthy eating plan based on typical foods and recipes of Mediterranean-style cooking. If you're looking for a heart-healthy eating plan, the Mediterranean diet might be right for you.The Mediterranean diet incorporates the basics of healthy eating — plus a splash of flavorful olive oil and perhaps a glass of red wine — among other components characterizing the traditional cooking style of countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Benefits of the Mediterranean diet Research has shown that the traditional Mediterranean diet reduces the risk of heart disease. The diet has been associated with a lower level of oxidized lowdensity lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol — the "bad" cholesterol that's more likely to build up deposits in your arteries.

[3] The Mind diet The MIND diet, as the name implies, is designed to promote a healthy mind and lower the risk of Alzheimer's disease. It is a mash-up of the Mediterranean diet and the DASH diet — two diets that have been found to have several health benefits.

MIND stands for Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay. The Mediterranean diet focuses on eating foods that are as natural as possible, while limiting unhealthy fats and red meat. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet, as its name suggests, is aimed at helping to ease hypertension. It focuses on helping people to eat foods that can lower their sodium intake and blood pressure.

The healthy-food group contains: Vegetables , Green leafy vegetables in particular, Berries, especially blueberries ,Nuts,Beans ,Wine, Whole grains, Fish, Poultry, Olive oil ,

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Ÿ

[ EXECUTIVELIFESTYLE \\\ HEALTH ] The five unhealthy foods are: Fried or fast food, Red meats , Cheeses ,Butter and stick ,margarine ,Pastries and sweets Benefits The diet lowered the risk of Alzheimer's by as much as 53 percent in research participants who meticulously adhered to the diet. It also helped 35 percent of the seniors who followed the diet moderately well, according to Rush University Medical Center.The study also found that the longer a person followed the MIND diet, the better protected the individual was from developing Alzheimer's. The results of the study were published in March 2015, in the journal Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association.

[4] The Flexitarian Diet What is the flexitarian diet?The flexitarian diet is a plant-based diet with the occasional addition of meat.Flexitarians are also known as flexible vegetarians, casual vegetarians or vegivores. Quite simply there are no rules.

Some flexitarians will have a meat-free meal once a week while others will only eat meat on rare occasions.

The flexitarian diet is increasing in popularity especially with people who do not want to commit to a full vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. It allows them a flexibility that they can adapt to their lifestyle, social life or health conditions.

Surprisingly the adepts of flexitarianism are not only people who want to reduce their meat consumption but also vegetarians or vegans who decide to reintroduce meat into their diet.

So why would people decide to reduce their meat consumption?

The motivations behind adopting a flexitarian lifestyle are quite diverse.

Health – red meat is high in fat and reducing the amount you eat can have positive on your weight, health as well as preventing heart disease. Salt and chemicals in processed meats are now linked to cardiovascular disease and cancer. Overuse of antibiotics in conventional farms is reportedly contributing to increased resistance to antibiotics in humans.

Animal Welfare – a good flexitarian strives to buy meat less but buys organic or free range meat (ideally from a local butcher) where the animals have been raised to higher standards of welfare.

Environment – from CO2 emissions to the increasing need for space to grow animal feed crops (resulting for example in deforestation of the Amazon rainforest), meat consumption takes a high toll on the environment.

Also in the wake of the horsemeat scandal many have lost confidence in the integrity of our meat supply chain and decided to do without meat.

[5] The MAYO Clinic Diet The Mayo Clinic Diet is a long-term weight management program created by a team of weight-loss experts at Mayo Clinic. The Mayo Clinic Diet is designed to help you reshape your lifestyle by adopting healthy new habits and breaking unhealthy old ones. The goal is to make simple, pleasurable changes that will result in a healthy weight that you can maintain for the rest of your life.

The purpose of the Mayo Clinic Diet is to help you lose excess weight and to find a way of eating that you can sustain for a lifetime. It focuses on changing your daily routine by adding and breaking habits that can make a difference in your weight, such as eating more fruits and vegetables, not eating while you watch TV and moving your body for 30 minutes a day.

The Mayo Clinic Diet also stresses key components of behavior change, such as finding your inner motivation to lose weight, setting achievable goals and handling setbacks.

You might choose to follow the Mayo Clinic Diet because you: Want to follow a diet that has been developed by medical professionals Enjoy the types and amounts of food featured in the diet, including unlimited vegetables and fruits Ÿ Want to learn how to drop unhealthy lifestyle habits and gain healthy ones Ÿ Want to improve your health and reduce your health risks by becoming more active and eating the recommended foods Ÿ Don't want to be precise about counting calories or grams of fat or eliminate entire groups of foods Ÿ Want a diet you can stick with for life, not a fad or quick fix Check with your doctor or health care provider before starting any weight-loss diet, especially if you have any health conditions. Ÿ Ÿ

The Mayo Clinic Diet has two main parts: Lose It! This two-week phase is designed to jump-start your weight loss, so you may lose up to 6 to 10 pounds (2.7 to 4.5 kilograms) in a safe and healthy way. In this phase, you focus on lifestyle habits that are associated with weight.

You learn how to add five healthy habits, break five unhealthy habits and adopt another five bonus healthy habits. This phase can help you see some quick results — a psychological boost — and start practicing important habits that you'll carry into the next phase of the diet.

Live It! This phase is a lifelong approach to diet and health. In this phase, you learn more about food choices, portion sizes, menu planning, physical activity, exercise and sticking to healthy habits. You may continue to see a steady weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week until you reach your goal weight. This phase can also help you maintain your goal weight permanently. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEGADGETS ]

3 Best SUV of 2017 IT'S easy to find a car that's inexpensive, so long as you're willing to make some compromises on the performance, features, and comfort you want. It's also easy to find a car that has everything you're looking for, so long as you're willing to pay for it. Finding a car that's in the sweet spot – a car that gives you good value over the long term and the quality you want – is the holy grail of car shopping.

That's where the Best Car for the Money awards come in. The awards cover 20 different automotive classes, and the winners have the best combination of quality and value in their classes. These are cars, trucks, and SUVs that are right in that sweet spot: cars that treat you as well as they treat your budget.

Taking the Number One Spot is the Honda CV-R When Honda first introduced the CR-V back in 1997, "CR-V" stood for "comfortable runabout vehicle." That's still an accurate description of this SUV's prime mission: comfort. Today, no other vehicle in the class hits all the marks for a top-flight compact SUV: lots of cargo space, a great interior, plenty of passenger space, and excellent fuel economy with the available turbocharged engine.

There are also plenty of infotainment and tech features to choose from. In the base model, you'll get a standard rearview camera, Bluetooth with voice recognition, and a USB port. Driving the CR-V is enjoyable but also reveals its one flaw: The turbo engine is great around town, but trying to pass someone on the highway requires a bit of planning, as the engine is a little underpowered.

Still, the Honda CR-V makes a case for itself not only on its practicality and comfort, but its value as well. In fact, because it has the best combination of quality and value in the class, the Honda CR-V is the winner of the 2017 Best Compact SUV for the Money award.

Sweet Spot number Two is the KIA Soul The 2017 Kia Soul is a five-seat, front-wheel-drive hatchback that comes in three trim levels: base, Plus (+), and Exclaim (!). Regardless of which model you choose, you'll enjoy near best-in-class cargo space and a cavernous amount of passenger room. The cabin utilizes quality materials and a pleasing design that should make every trip pleasant. With superb safety scores and one of the longest warranties in the industry, the Soul makes a strong case for a safe and reliable daily driver. Add in overall utility that rivals some crossovers or subcompact SUVs, and the Soul should meet most, if not all, of your needs.

The Soul is one of the few compact cars that can easily handle family duty. In fact, it has the best combination of positive reviews, space, and available family-friendly features in its class, which is why it won the 2017 Best Compact Car for Families Award. The Soul is not only a great car, but it's also a great value. It's the 2017 Best Compact Car for the Money because it has the best combination of quality and value in the class.

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[ EXECUTIVEGADGETS ] There are also plenty of infotainment and tech features to choose from. In the base model, you'll get a standard rearview camera, Bluetooth with voice recognition, and a USB port.

Driving the CR-V is enjoyable but also reveals its one flaw:

And Number Three Is Chevrolet Colorado By the numbers, the 2017 Colorado checks off most of the requirements to be a good truck. Its two available gasoline engines emphasize either fuel efficiency or power, and its optional turbodiesel offers both (for a higher purchase price). The diesel also gives the Colorado one of the highest tow ratings among compact pickup trucks at 7,700 pounds, matched only by its cousin, the GMC Canyon. Its maximum payload capacity is also very good. Taking into consideration its low starting price and respectable list of standard amenities, and the availability of affordable options, the Colorado presents a great value. This appealing blend also illustrates why the Colorado earned our award for the Best Compact Truck for the Money in 2015 and 2016. Topping off the Colorado's attributes is its history of above-average reliability.

The main area where the Colorado stumbles is safety.

Every other vehicle (save for the analogous Canyon) outranks the Colorado with higher crash test scores.

It's worth noting that the Colorado now comes standard with the Teen Driver safety system, valuable when you loan your truck to unexperienced drivers.

The Colorado still has very good safety ratings, they're just not as high as those of some competitors.

The Colorado is also the 2017 Best Compact Truck for the Money award winner because it continues to have the best combination of quality and value in its class.

The Colorado is on a three-year winning streak for this award – something no other compact truck has done.

If you're looking for a small truck that's both durable and affordable, the Chevy Colorado is a good place to start. Even with the base model, you get a good amount of amenities without having to shell out extra dough (unlike with the Nissan Frontier, which has nothing notable for standard tech features). The Colorado's included USB port lets you play music from your phone on the six-speaker audio system. A rearview camera and 4.2-inch display screen are also standard. These included amenities – paired with the Colorado's below-average starting price of around $20,000 – make the Colorado a great value and helped it earn our award as the Best Compact Truck for the Money in 2015 and 2016.

Other attributes of the Colorado that make it a good buy are its stellar reliability scores, class-leading towing abilities, and well-rounded list of options, which includes an available turbodiesel engine – a rarity in this class.

Happy driving...

\\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVEGADGETS ]

What is the Best Phone for your SELFIE?

AS the old adage goes, the best camera is the one that's with you. Since most people carry a phone with them just about everywhere, it's no wonder we're taking more photos on phones than cameras these days. But which phone has the best cameras?

Which phone takes the best photos? Is it also the best for taking videos? What about selfies?

Best phone camera 2017: Verdict Apple iPhone 6S Google Nexus 6P HTC 10 Huawei P9 LG G5 Samsung Galaxy S7 Xiaomi Mi 5 Sony Xperia Z5

Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

Outdoor, landscape, portrait photos All cameras perform at their best outdoors when there's plenty of light available. We took three photos in these conditions and quite a few of the 10 phones produced great results which many people would be very happy with.

In our top three, however, are the Google Pixel, Sony Xperia XZ and OnePlus 3T. The Google Pixel stands out as the best, though, as it manages to consistently produce excellent images regardless of subject or complexity.

THECEO \\\ 64

Since most people carry a phone with them just about everywhere, it's no wonder we're taking more photos on phones than cameras these days.

Key to this is its improved HDR+ mode (which happens to be the default setting in the native camera app). It combines several RAW images to produce a JPG with high dynamic range, yet without any trace of blurring or ghosting caused by movement in the scene. Better still, you can take several HDR+ photos without any slowdown so, unlike the older Nexus phones where poor performance meant you wouldn't want to use HDR+, on the new Pixels, you can.

[ EXECUTIVEGADGETS ] Low light In low light the Pixel again does an excellent job, preserving detail without lots of noise. So does the Galaxy S7, which captures low light scenes remarkably well for a phone. Worthy of mention here are the iPhone 7 Plus and HTC 10 Evo, which both also produce more than usable shots in dim or very low light conditions.

Selfie Yet again, the Google Pixel delivers the goods. Unlike a lot of phones which serve up a doctored, soft-focus, skin-enhancing image by default, the Pixel's 8Mp front camera produces crisp photos with lots of detail. Some people might prefer it didn't, which is why other manufacturers such as Samsung and LG default to blemish-reducing Beauty modes.

One feature we don't like is the way the OnePlus 3T, HTC 10 Evo and LG G5 flip their photos so it's like looking in a mirror.

However, the latter two (and the iPhone 7 Plus) do all take great selfies.

Video Video quality will be more important to some buyers than photos, but equally important will be the video modes and features on offer. Aside from the Huawei P9, all the phones here can record in 4K at 30 frames per second. But if you prefer to record highframe-rate video, you'll want at least 60fps at 1080.

Plenty of phones here will oblige, but the Pixel goes one better and will shoot at 120fps. (The iPhone 7 Plus does too, but plays it back at 30fps to create slo-mo).

Both phones shoot excellent video, with great colour and detail, and minimal noise and artifacts. Their stabilisation differs slightly: the iPhone uses optical tech along with software, the Pixel uses software only. Both systems deliver excellent results whether shooting at 4K or 1080p.

Final thoughts We're comparing camera quality here, but there are other considerations. One is features. For example the LG G5 offers a wide-angle camera which makes is a good choice if you're after an action-camera look to photos and videos without resorting to an add-on wide-angle lens.

The iPhone 7 Plus has a 'telephoto' lens which means you don't always have to crop your photos when you can't get close enough to your subject. Dual lenses also give depth information which means you can take convincing portrait shots with blurry background – a neat feature.

Don't forget, too, that the iPhone 7 and Galaxy S7 are water resistant so can take photos and videos in conditions where other phones wouldn't survive, including underwater.

The Pixel may not have any of these features, but remains one of the best phones for photography you can buy right now. If you don't want an Android phone, you won't be disappointed with the iPhone, but the Pixel just pips the Galaxy S7 (our previous winner for phone cameras) as the best Android phone for photography. \\\ THECEO

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[ EXECUTIVETRAVEL ]

What to do In & Around Harare Lion and Cheetah Park The Lion & Cheetah Park is a sanctuary for lions and cheetahs situated only thirty minutes drive outside Harare. It is the perfect place to take the family for a fun day's outing .You will also be able to see many other game species such as eland, blesbok, nyala and duiker. Tommy, a Galapagos tortoise who is over 250 years old, and weighs around half a tonne is a great reason to visit the Lion and Cheetah Park. Tommy is always a big hit with the kids who are always fascinated with him.

LAKE Chivero Recreational Park boasts of a wide array of activities.

Horse Riding ,Crocodile Viewing, Game Drive, Game Walks, Tennis, Volley Ball, Fishing, Skull, Bone and Snake Identification, Water based activities.

Recreational activities include yachting, boating, rowing, angling and canoeing. Launching fees apply and visitors will have to consult the tourist office or central reservations office on the prevailing charges.

Why Visit Lake Chivero?

Quality fishing spots Proximity to Harare Good game viewing experience Excellent water based activities

타 타 타 타

The park is only 32 km from the capital along the Harare Bulawayo highway. The left turn off just after Manyame River Bridge leads to the dam wall and the spillway. Before reaching the wall a right hand fork road clearly sign posted leads to the game park entrance and rest camp.

The road condition is normally above average even though it is a dust road. During the rainy season, parts of the road may become muddy. It should be noted that the park has never closed due to inaccessibility.

Once in the park, there are some side roads that may need a four wheel drive during the rainy season. These are Bateleur and Eland Drives on the western area and Reedbuck, Tsessebe Drive and Giraffe vlei in the central area of the park. Four wheel-drive may be required when driving on Ostrich Loop and Impala drive.

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Mbizi Game Park Only 22 Kilometers from the city center, Mbizi Game Lodge is submerged in the harmony of the African bush. 1 000 Acres of privately owned, tranquil land, full of mystery and self contained cottages for the comfort of every visitor. We invite you to take a journey through our website, and discover the secret to what makes Mbizi a truly unique experience.

There is accommodation to suit every need at Mbizi. Our renovated old farm house for the visitor who likes to enjoy true African hospitality. The Lodge is exquisitely decorated in African decor and saturated with teak furnishings.

Mbizi Game Park is a true haven, a land on untouched wilderness where like the giraffe, zebra (Mbizi), warthog and various antelope roam free. Be captivated by the mystery of the rock paintings left by earlier settlers in this enchanted African paradise.

The Botanical Gardens The 58-hectare National Botanic Gardens contain examples of the diverse plant life that thrive in Harare's pleasant climate. Most Zimbabwean species are represented, as well as specimens from Southern Africa. It's a great place to spend the day. One can walk one's dog, have a light meal in the restaurant and generally enjoy the situation. For anyone interested in Zimbabwe plants this is one definite place to visit.

The National Herbarium and Botanic Garden is a center for research and information on the indigenous plants of Zimbabwe.

It s responsible for the study of Zimbabwe flora in order to promote its conservation, development and sustainable use. Its mission is To Increase Knowledge and Appreciation of Zimbabwean Plants. It fulfills this mission by looking after the plant specimens that are the essential resource material required in studying plant characters in order to arrive at their identity and names. The National Herbarium stores preserved plant specimens while the living specimens are grown in the National Botanic Garden.

Mukuvisi Woodlands The Mukuvisi Woodlands Nature Reserve is a national treasure, providing one of the few large green spaces open to the public in Harare.The objectives of the Mukuvisi Woodlands Association were first defined as: Ÿ To conserve andutilise the Mukuvisi Woodlands Ÿ To provide and develop facilities for education in the principles and practice of nature conservation, environmental studies and research Ÿ To encourage the public to appreciate the natural environment.

Mukuvisi Woodlands has succeeded very well in all of these, and continues to succeed, particularly in the area of Conservation Education. Our flagship Eco-Schools Programme is helping to create a new generation of environmentally aware and dedicated children, who understand today's burning conservation challenges and issues.

Thetford Game Reserve Situated between the Nande and the Dikitira hills, only 30 kilometres from Harare, Thetford Game Reserve covers some 3,300 hectares of stunning and varied countryside, with spectacular views over Lake Mazowe.

Thetford Game Reserve is home to around two dozen species and close to 900 individual resident animals. Since 2000 it has provided a valuable privately-funded conservation resource for Zimbabwe. Only recently opened to the public, it still holds to the ideals of its founders, which were to create a managed and safe environment for animal breeding.

In keeping with those ideals, access to Thetford is strictly limited. So as to preserve a natural habitat for both our 'residents' and our visitors, we impose a strict maximum on the number of people in the Reserve at any one time.

Our Game Drives are conducted with guides in our dedicated game viewing vehicles.

As well as the opportunity to meet our 'residents' on a Game Drive, we offer a self catering lodges for those who wish to spend time relaxing in the splendor of our natural surroundings, whether for a night, a weekend away from the hubbub of the city, or for a protracted period of unwinding and de-stressing.

And for keen bird watchers, around 200 species of birds have been recorded in the Reserve. There are also several locations on Thetford Game Reserve suitable for small and intimate weddings in the most beautiful and romantic setting you can imagine.

Whether you are seeking sight of our 'residents', solitude, tranquility or just plain luxury, Thetford Game Reserve should be your destination of choice. Once you enter our gates, you will forget that Harare is only 30 minutes away.

Domboshava Cave and Rocks This granite hill on the outskirts of Harare is a great place to go to have a picnic or sundowner, or to take the dog on a self-guided walking trail. The hill located in the Chinamora Communal lands commands a magnificent 360⁰ view of the surrounding countryside.

Major attractions include an Interpretive Centre, San rock art, geological formations and a natural scenic environment with wooded vegetation, a flowing stream and pools (in the rainy season) and myriad walking trails.

We offer regular Bush Camps for children, and hold many other educational events.We have a full time Education Officer, plus several university students on attachment doing research and teaching on an on-going basis.

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“WELLNESS” A PASSING FAD OR HERE TO STAY?

What is Wellness?

Wellness, as defined by The World Health Organisation, is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being; not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”It is an active process of becoming aware of, and making choices towards a healthy and fulfilling life. The benefits of adopting a healthy lifestyle are innumerable; lines of evidence indicate that diet and lifestyle changes can prevent most noncommunicable diseases including coronary artery disease, stroke, diabetes, colon cancer, and smoking-related cancers. In Finland, the Prevention of Chronic Disease by Diet and Lifestyle Changes Policy (2014) evidenced a sharp decline in chronic diseases and lifestyle related ailments after concentrated efforts to affect community diet and lifestyle factors.

In Zimbabwe, and the world over, increased amounts of stress, longer working days and constant multitasking are prevalent, therefore making it more difficult to find the time to act on one's wellness goals. Further studies have shown health-care costs are on the rise and our culture has far too long focused on quick-fixes to address our health woes. Whether it is stress, anxiety, or poor health, our current culture focuses on the elusive after-the-fact miracle "cure" instead of prevention. The need and relevance for wellness consciousness has never been more relevant.

How do I Achieve Wellness?

By focusing on improving our daily habits, our health and well-being will improve dramatically. There are four main components to a successful wellness routine, namely: Ÿ

Physical Health - Good nutrition is an important part of leading a healthy lifestyle. Combined with physical activity, your diet can help you to reach and maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of chronic illnesses and promote your overall health. Regular physical activity has the ability to reduce the risk of several major chronic diseases, as well as promote quality of life and a sense of well being.

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Mental health - Mental health includes our emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act. It also helps determine how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood.

How can iGo get me Closer to Wellness? iGo provides a wealth of lifestyle enriching activities to ensure our members are a step closer to achieving optimal health and wellness.

These activities include: Exercise - FREE gym membership at Pro Fitness Gyms Nutrition- Vast discounts on healthy meals at esteemed restaurants in Harare.

3. Rest and Relaxation-Discounts on massages, hotel accommodation and movies in Harare.

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The iGo wellness program helps individuals attain one of the greatest gifts of all—that of good health. Personal gains, such as improved self-esteem and self-motivation, combined with measurable benefits create tremendous advantages for iGo members and the organisations to which these individuals belong. Wellness, the iGo way, is achieved through engaging in physical activity, boosting recreation and leisure time, a good diet and nutrition, partaking in various forms of retail as well as periodic travel and tourism.

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