Fast Company SA - May 2017 Issue 25

LEADING VOICES

WORLDCHANGING IDEAS

Inspiring lessons on change from top business and cultural leaders featuring Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal, PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi, John Legend, Samantha Bee and others

LAB-GROWN MEAT? ROBOT RESTAURANTS? THE FUTURE STARTS HERE

JUST WHAT THE

DOCTOR ORDERED

Why billionaire entrepreneur IQBAL SURVÉ has diversified his business investments in tech and innovation

R35.00

MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.ZA

4 16017

“We are using technology for sustainability, and doing good and doing well at the same time.”

DR IQBAL SURVÉ

9 772313 330006

Founder, Sekunjalo Group and chair, BRICS Business Council

May 2017

Contents

C OVER S T ORY

20 IS THERE A DOCTOR TECH BILLIONAIRE IN THE HOUSE? How serial entrepreneur, founder of the Sekunjalo Group, and arguably Africa’s most successful and largest investor in technology and innovation, Dr Iqbal Survé, has diversified his business investments with great success—for his company and the continent

BY ROBBIE STAMMERS

Doing well and doing good Dr Survé’s Sekunjalo Group is one of the world’s fastest growing companies, and also pioneers many social impact investment initiatives in subSaharan Africa.

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S P E C IAL F EATURE

38 LEADING VOICES

We highlight lessons from 13 of the top business and cultural leaders who spoke at the second Fast Company Innovation Festival held in New York in November last year. These visionaries prove that change comes in many forms.

40 CULT BRANDS TAKE OFF

How Melanie Whelan of SoulCycle, Neil Parikh of Casper, and Alli Webb of Drybar turn ho-hum tasks into shareable phenomena

A new role “I didn’t expect to have to think so much about leadership!” says Samantha Bee. “I don’t think I always succeed at it, but I always am trying to do better.” (page 58)

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44 THE KINGS OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE How Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal and restaurateur Danny Meyer combine tech and human connection

48 FOOD FOR THOUGHT

How PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and chief scientist Mehmood Khan are steering their company to perform with purpose

52 RETHINKING A BROKEN SYSTEM

Five activists, including singer John Legend, debate what’s next for criminal justice reform, and the role that tech and data can play

58 LIFTING THE CURTAIN

The Daily Show vet and host of Full Frontal, Samantha Bee, brings her unique voice—and management style—to her own comedic enterprise

Contents

NE XT

REGULARS

16 PLAY IT SAFE

10 FROM THE EDITOR

Can the deployment of AI in information security replace the role of human analysts in combating cybercrime?

BY SIMON CAPSTICK-DALE

32 UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

12 THE RECOMMENDER 14 CLEAN CUT

minima’s digitally-fabricated Baobab range is turning furniture design on its head

How to market your product or service in the virtual world to engage even better with your audience

BY SIMON CAPSTICK-DALE

30 TO GIG OR NOT TO GIG . . .

FEAT URE

76 THE GREAT INNOVATION FRONTIER

62 THE GREAT TRANSITION

How new technologies will allow people, particularly South Africans, to do more with less and solve pressing problems

BY STEPHEN LANG

That is the question we face in the new economy of on-demand or contract employment

BY TACITA MCEVOY

As AI gains traction, concerns loom over the future of jobs in numerous industries.

Can we offset these risks—and is it even worth trying?

BY MILLS SOKO

78 FAST BYTES & EVENTS 82 THE NEW RULES OF THE GAME Why innovation has nothing to do with being productive, nor about reaching a goal

BY JACQUES DU BRUYN

Eye on the future Our selection of emerging world-changing technologies seek to shake up the status quo and perhaps bring about a new type of work. (page 62)

6 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

Andrew BrĂĽuteseth 2016

Inspiring connections.

Collaborative workspace.

Come say hi.

7 Bree Street Cape Town www.workandco.co.za info@workandco.co.za +27 (0)21 202 6040

PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robbie Stammers

robbie@fastcompany.co.za

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EDITOR Evans Manyonga

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DIGITAL PLATFORMS

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By Digital Publishing

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FINANCIAL MANAGER

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ADVERTISING SALES DIRECTOR

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AFRICAN NEWS AGENCY CEO Grant Fredericks

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Joe Mansueto, Mansueto Ventures

EDITOR

Robert Safian

DEPUTY EDITOR David Lidsky

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Noah Robischon

EDITORS-AT-LARGE

Robin Scott

Jon Gertner, Rick Tetzeli

OFFICE MANAGER

SENIOR ASSOCIATE EDITOR

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EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

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SOUTH AFRICAN EDITORIAL BOARD

Louise Marsland, Anneleigh Jacobsen, Prof. Walter Baets, Pepe Marais, Alistair King, Koo Govender, Abey Mokgwatsane, Kheepe Moremi, Herman Manson, Ellis Mnyandu, Thabang Skwambane

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PUBLISHED BY

Lori Hoffman

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EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

Robbie Stammers, Simon Capstick-Dale, Tacita McEvoy, Amy Farley, Noah Robischon, Robert Safian, JJ McCorvey, KC Ifeanyi, Stephen Lang, Mills Soko, Jacques du Bruyn, James Orme

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No article or any part of any article in Fast Company South Africa may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the publisher. The information provided and opinions expressed in this publication are provided in good faith, but do not necessarily represent the opinions of Mansueto Ventures in the USA, Insights Publishing or the editor. Neither this magazine, the publisher or Mansueto Ventures in the USA can be held legally liable in any way for damages of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from any facts or information provided or omitted in these pages, or from any statements made or withheld by this publication. Fast Company is a registered title under Mansueto Ventures and is licensed to Insights Publishing for use in southern Africa only.

8 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

From the Editor

Many of the countless problems the country and the greater African continent face can be solved through novel ideas.

MORE AND MORE, WITH LESS AND LESS The rapid rise in technology is bringing about a concept known as ephemeralisation: a term coined by the highly regarded American architect, systems theorist, author, designer and inventor, R. Buckminster Fuller.

He described ephemeralisation as the ability of technological advancement to do “more and more with less and less, until eventually you can do everything with nothing.” An accelerating increase in the efficiency of achieving the same or more output (products, services, information etc.) while requiring less input (effort, time, resources, and so on).

Fuller’s vision was that ephemeralisation would ultimately ensure ever increasing standards of living for an ever growing population, despite finite resources. The concept has been embraced by those who argue against Malthusian philosophy: that the population tends to increase at a faster rate than its means of subsistence and that, unless it is checked by moral restraint or disaster (disease, famine or war), widespread poverty and degradation inevitably result (Merriam-Webster).

This is our World-changing Ideas and Innovations edition. Many of the countless problems the country and the greater African continent face can be solved through novel ideas. What if you could commute to a destination 2 000 kilometres away in mere minutes? Erect a 230m2 home in 20 hours? Be diagnosed accurately with any ailment in the comfort of your own home? What if we could ‘grow’ our own meat and in the process cut down on worldwide poverty? All these are now possibilities.

It takes an idea to ideate a vision. At Fast Company, we believe in the power of ideas, innovation and disruption.

Our cover personality Dr Iqbal Survé is a man who

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needs little introduction in South Africa, and who knows the importance of innovating for the good of the population. Nineteen years ago, he started his humble company, Sekunjalo—and today he is one of the major players in African media and shaping the future with cutting-edge technology. As is often the case, controversy always follows disruptors, and Survé epitomises the modern disruptor. He is a man striving to break the old order while establishing new means of moving the continent forward. We get a small glimpse into his vast empire and how he has garnered success from diversifying his business investments.

Enjoy this edition. The ideas shaping our future are truly incredible. Feel free to write to me if you have any questions, suggestions or ideas.

Evans Manyonga evans@fastcompany.co.za @Nyasha1e

Congratulations to Sue Northam-Ras from Vredehoek, Cape Town and David Phipson from Mtubatuba, KwaZulu-Natal for winning our last subscriptions competition! We hope you enjoy your stylish handmade wooden Bettél timepiece, worth R2 300!

The Recommender What are you loving right now?

How to . . . . . . select a great cognac: It really depends on the time of day, the occasion and your mood. For instance, on a typical summer’s day, I’d recommend a cognac with a fresh and light profile—such as one in the VS or VSOP category, or even a cognac from the Borderies region of Cognac. These are subtle and floral. On a winter’s evening, I’d rather have a richer and more powerful cognac such as an XO from Grande Champagne. The best way to explore which cognac is best for you is to indulge your curiosity and try the different expressions within a range, and those from different brands.

Alexis Rigaud French brand ambassador, Martell Cognac

. . . best drink a cognac: Neat, paired with a cigar, iced down, or mixed into a cocktail—however the mood dictates. The purist should drink his cognac neat, in a tulip glass served at room temperature. Don’t heat up too much, otherwise your cognac will become quite heavy. The palm of your hand provides the perfect heat.

You can add a splash of water to bring down the volume of alcohol and open up the flavours. Adding an ice cube will have the same effect, but much slower as the low temperature will freeze the flavours for a while.

Favourite ski resort

Favourite book

Club Med Val d’Isère: My wife and I recently went on an allinclusive holiday to Club Med Val d’Isère in France, where we fell in love with the sport of skiing. It’s totally unlike anything I’ve ever done before. I love learning new things, and this was about as new as it gets! It requires balance and focus, and calls on muscles that you never even knew you had. Going for lessons is vital, and that’s why we loved the Club Med experience, because it’s all included. Our only regret is that we didn’t take the kids.

The Virgin Way

by Richard Branson: This is a refreshing take on leadership, from a serial entrepreneur. Sir Branson has built a vast array of businesses founded on the back of a unique understanding of leadership. It’s never been about making the numbers work or having a shiny corner office; for Branson, it’s about having fun, listening to customers, and believing that those around him will succeed.

Andile Khumalo Chief investment officer, MSG Afrika

Tyler Hollingsworth Founder, Aspire Atlantic & USA Scholarships SA

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Screen Time

This month’s pick of the most download-worthy apps currently on the market

Hey! VINA

Vina.io Ladies, looking for new gal pals? Hey! VINA isn’t a dating app, but works in a similar fashion to the big names like Tinder.

Connect via Facebook, write a profile and the app will find likeminded women for you to hang out with, share a coffee or enjoy a hike. There are also friend groups or circles with specialised interests—you’ll never again be lonely in a new city.

AI-ssistants

The race is truly on to create the first all-in-one functional personal assistant. Amazon’s Alexa and Google Home are leading the standalone ‘home’ product market, but Google, Facebook and Microsoft are vying to create the world’s favourite smartphone helper:  Google Allo—can do a variety of things like tell jokes, answer questions, search for things, add stuff to a calendar etc.  Facebook M—can make restaurant reservations, find a birthday gift, book weekend getaways, among other services  Microsoft Cortana—gets to know you better all the time to help track the things you like, and give smarter recommendations.

WaitSuite’s WaitChatter

people.csail.mit.edu/ccai/waitchatter MIT’s new cross-platform project, WaitSuite, helps users learn more during waiting periods. The first app, WaitChatter, prompts short questions when it detects a user is waiting to connect to WiFi or waiting for a lift, for example. It’s available as a Chrome extension for Google Chat.

Runtasty

www.runtastic.com This new app from fitness tech company Runtastic is a healthy recipe companion to help fitness freaks optimise results. It tracks one’s running, cycling and general fitness, then suggests simple, dietitian-approved recipes to supplement exercise. Suggestions not only depend on exercise habits but are also preconfigured diet restrictions and taste preferences input by the user. Each recipe has step-by-step video or text instructions.

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Next

Wanted

CLEAN CUT minima’s digitally-fabricated Baobab range is turning furniture design on its head

Having delighted both local and international consumers with its elegant timber ceiling lights, minima design has moved into furniture—with the launch of a charming set of stools called Baobab.

Made using the same clip-together system for which its lights are famous, the stools bring a pop of personality into a space with their distinctive shape influenced by the African baobab, or ‘upside-down tree’.

“I wanted to create something more solid and structural, as well as functional,” explains minima’s Jacques Cronje. “Having created a three-seater bench called Flow out of CNC plywood [wood shaped with a computer-controlled cutting machine] for the dti Furniture Awards in 2015—which we were honoured to win—I took the same concept and condensed it into a more everyday product.”

Used as a pair or on their own, the Baobab stools work well in interiors that have been inspired by the Scandi look— think clean, open spaces with plenty of ply, natural colours and greenery—or even in a colourful room scattered with soft furnishings.

The minimalism trend remains a strong design influence, says Cronje, having visited the Maison&Objet trade show in Paris in September 2016 and seeing it featured prominently—yet it has evolved to integrate a different feel of design, with the use of copper and brass, and more industrial materials. “The look that is coming through weaves in wood into a setting that’s stronger than it was a few years ago, where white and light were very much in vogue.

It’s about mixing and matching pieces and materials with each other to present a look that’s defined, has character and depth, and offers a sense of delight,” Cronje adds.

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Keeping things natural The Baobab stool (front) brings a pop of personality with its distinctive shape inspired by the iconic African tree.

The Baobab stools join minima’s other digitally-cut pieces that include a diversity of ceiling lights made from birch ply and bamboo, as well as chairs, coffee tables and bar stools, plus the Flow bench. All use the clip-together system, requiring limited or no glue or screws.

Products are available from interior stockists around South Africa, including Klooftique, Province Lighting, Stable, Skep, The Light Shed and Glow Lighting.

Visit www.minima.co.za for stockist or export information and follow on Instagram @minima_design.

Mind and Machine

PLAY IT SAFE Can the deployment of AI in information security replace the role of human analysts in combating cybercrime?

By Simon Capstick-Dale

Last year, the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (better known as Darpa) sponsored the Cyber Grand Challenge hacking competition in Las Vegas, in which seven

autonomous machines had to find and exploit bugs in each other’s systems. The bots were able to find some bugs much more quickly than humans could have— but they also crippled their own systems in protecting them, and could not grasp all the bugs that a human may be able to.

According to Darpa, the world’s growing dependence on computers demands the creation of some kind of smart, autonomous security system. The Cyber Grand Challenge aimed to show how automated cyberdefence could bridge the gap between the best security software and cutting-edge program analysis research.

Today, cyberattacks are among the most significant security threats to businesses, governments and institutions.

Despite billions of dollars being spent by organisations on cybersecurity each year, the number and magnitude of data breaches continues to rise. Many organisations with valuable data are ill-equipped to deal with emerging threats because of their reliance on outdated protection strategies.

Keeping pace with new attack tools and tactics, while guarding against advanced threats, are some of the biggest challenges that face information security in

the modern digital age. Naturally, cyberattackers have a similar arsenal to the security personnel put in charge of keeping data safe, and are able to adjust their strategies—overcoming the preventative measures that organisations put in place.

The sheer volume, velocity and complexity of data generated by today’s security systems makes it nearly impossible for organisations to keep a handle on the load with human resources alone. Days or even months may pass before analysts have processed the required data to detect an intrusion, by which time attackers have already exploited vulnerabilities and extracted valuable information.

Machine learning is increasingly being deployed for the automation of repetitive computing tasks related to processing large data sets, especially where designing and programming explicit algorithms is infeasible. Through the perpetual technological advancements of AI, machines are able to learn without being explicitly programmed. Patterns and irregularities are detected and transformed into intelligence,

which allows data-driven predictions or decisions to be made. These sequences of collated information improve the combative functions and strategies of systems, upgrading the intrusion-monitoring process so that further threats can be identified and false positives minimised.

“With AI, the productivity and effectiveness of defence systems can be improved, especially in the financial services environment where extremely large data sets [big data] are relevant, and timeous protection is critical.

The associated predictive—rather than reactive—mode of defence offers our best chance of protecting systems,” says Graham Croock, a director of IT audit and risk at BDO South Africa.

The company has fully aligned its business strategy with the technological advancements of AI. “We are using AI in SCADA protection of power-line communication technology to provide continuous monitoring solutions for clients. We are pleased to report that so far, two successful preventions of attacks on infrastructure have been recorded,” adds Croock.

The increased rate of risk identification and classification through the application of AI in securing systems enables analysts to manage their incident response function better and take preventive action before security threats become apparent. Security teams are then able to focus their energies in areas where their skills are more critical, such as finding uncommon events, new categories of threats, advanced threats or undiscovered symptoms of known attacks.

But despite the ability of AI– controlled systems to process data at speeds beyond the capabilities of humans, and to develop new models for enriched analysis, the role of human analysts in securing data and protecting systems should not be undervalued. “Constant monitoring by machines looks set

Machine learning is increasingly being deployed for the automation of repetitive computing tasks related to processing large data sets

to replace the current operation of security information and event management software products, and security operations centres which still rely heavily on humans for interpretation,” says Croock.

He also warns against defective or misused AI algorithms: “As AI systems take on vital roles in cybersecurity, the risk that business decisions may be based on flawed algorithms invariably rises, necessitating that AI system concepts match those of their human designers, especially as the technology evolves and machines become more powerful and autonomous.”

With machine learning greatly reducing the data-intensive workload of security analysts, AI brings a welcome reinforcement and marks an important step in the evolution of cybersecurity.

However, the deployment of AI on its own is by no means a solution capable of protecting systems from attack. Although AI has already fundamentally impacted on the information security industry, for now human intervention remains critical in areas of threat analysis—and these individuals cannot yet be replaced by machines.

B E YOND T HE F IRE WA L L How your company can limit the impact of security breaches 1

2

3

4

5

Embrace the principle of ‘least privilege’.

Set tough password parameters.

Enable two-factor authentication.

Don’t let computers or accounts go dormant.

Not every member of your organisation needs access to every database, application or file, so put a system in place that sets the permissions for gaining access to data.

This may include a combination of upper- and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters.

Also helpful is requiring employees to change their passwords often, and restricting them from taking previously used passwords.

Like Internet banking, staff have to enter their cellphone number as part of their account information, and receive a unique code on their phone that acts as a ‘second password’.

Have employees log off their computers when not at their desk, and make sure unassigned computers are logged off, offline and monitored for security breaches. When an employee leaves the company, transfer the account data to an appropriate place and then terminate the account.

Source: Blue Lance Cyber Governance Solutions

Knowledge is power.

Stay updated on the latest trends and strategies in cybersecurity.

6

Combine strategies.

The best practice is to do all of the above and think of cybersecurity measures as integral to operational expenses and procedures.

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Fast Company promotion

Ingenuity for Life Using A R, Siemens South Africa has created an immer si ve ex perience to communicate it s broad produc t of fering to consumer s in an innovati ve way

Augmented reality was certainly the breakout technology of 2016.

The possibilities of the technology to transform industries and processes beyond a marketing experience to medicine, education, engineering and manufacturing, and virtually every aspect of society is gaining momentum and impact. Its effect on transforming a profession or creating a consumer experience is the tip of the iceberg; its real impact will be on society and how it changes the way we live, work and possibly even think.

Siemens, a global technology powerhouse, has made great strides in the products and services it offers to clients by incorporating digitalisation across its technology value chain. In order to better explain these processes in a way that combines engineering excellence and innovation, Siemens South Africa has developed an AR application to accompany its annual wall calendar.

“On the back of launching the Siemens brand campaign, Ingenuity for Life, in 2016, we wanted to take our traditional wall calendar and create an immersive experience for our customers to communicate our broad product offering in an innovative way,” explains Keshin Govender, head of corporate communications at Siemens South Africa. “This was not just innovation for innovation sake; instead, we wanted to showcase how our technology across industriesmakes a positive impact in customer operations as well as its downstream effect on society.”

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Siemens SA’s Keshin Govender says the company will “continue to push the boundaries of communications both in our marketing and business objectives into 2017.”

Augmented reality is a live direct or indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input such as 3D animation, sound, video or graphics. Siemens adapted this technology into its mobile CalendAR app, allowing users to experience AR from their smartphones and tablets.

“Not only is the Siemens CalendAR app a unique way to engage with our customers but it also reflects the digitalisation of our world and the role Siemens plays. Effective marketing is finding ways to talk about your company, illustrating what you do.

It’s about ‘storydoing’, and not just storytelling. For us, that means using technology and innovation in a way that resonates with our customers,” says Govender.

The app can be downloaded from Apple and Google Play stores for free.

Once the app has been downloaded, users can point their smart device at each calendar month’s image, which comes to life via 3Danimated wire frames. There is also video and scrollable

“Effective marketing is finding ways to talk about your company, illustrating what you do. It’s about ‘storydoing’, and not just storytelling.”

infographic styled content linked to each month for the users to engage with. Each month, new content is unlocked as the app updates.

While the wall calendars were primarily designed and shared with Siemens’s customers, a digital “lite” version of the full wall calendar is available on the Siemens website for others who are interested in learning more about the company in a digitalised and interactive way. The app will pick up the trigger visuals from the computer screen directly, so no printing is required. The trigger visuals will also feature at every Siemens customer event and trade-show presence in Africa during 2017.

“By incorporating augmented reality, we reinforced Siemens’s positioning and demonstrated its capability to transform industries and sectors with a focus on electrification, automation and digitalisation, to improve the quality of lives and contribute to South Africa’s economic transformation,” says Govender.

“We are quite proud with how this initiative has brought ingenuity to life.

Not only do we as a business strive for engineering excellence but we also want to make a positive and meaningful impact on the societies in which we operate,” he adds. “We will continue to push the boundaries of communications both in our marketing and business objectives into 2017.”

To download the Siemens CalendAR app and wall calendar PDFs, go to Siemens.co.za/calendar.

Download the Siemens Augmented Reality App Aim your device at this image and immerse yourself in a 3D experience! siemens.co.za/calendar

IS THERE A DOCTOR TECH BILLIONAIRE IN THE HOUSE?

Sekunjalo’s philosophy is “using technology for sustainability, and doing good and doing well at the same time,” says executive chairman Iqbal Survé.

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SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR, FOUNDER OF THE SEKUNJALO GROUP, AND ARGUABLY AFRICA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL AND LARGEST INVESTOR IN TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION— DR IQBAL SURVÉ SHOWS US HOW DIVERSIFICATION IN ONE’S BUSINESS INVESTMENTS CAN REAP REWARDS

By Robbie Stammers

I N T H E WO R L D O F I N V E ST I N G , T H R E E

words come to mind: Overwhelming. Intimidating.

Scary. For us ‘average Joes’, the questions and challenges seem never-ending, but there are a few select people in the world who seem to have that Midas power—turning whatever they touch into gold.

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Sir Richard Branson and Warren Buffet spring to mind, and right here in our own backyard, Dr Iqbal Survé most certainly fits the same bill. A few readers may only know him from some of the controversial mud-slinging matches he has had with other media powerhouses since taking over South Africa’s largest print media group, Independent Media.

(This is not surprising, really, considering that media houses generally use their own mediums in print and digital formats to spin their versions of stories/agendas and hope they stick. It is, and always will be, the nature of that beast.) Wherever those media wars may end up is neither here nor there, as there’s no doubt this Doctor has ticked some incredible boxes with very clever investing in all the right places, especially in technology and innovation—and is busy creating Africa’s own Silicon Valley in Cape Town.

As this is Fast Company SA’s special edition for the 2017 World Economic Forum (WEF) on Africa taking place in May in Durban, and the fact Survé was honoured by the WEF on many occasions—including being the first chair of its “New Champions”, the Global Growth Companies Board (according to WEF chairman Professor Klaus Schwab, the GGC are leaders in innovation and technology), as well as being vice-chairman of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Multinationals—we thought it would be apt to look into some of his incredibly diverse and successful business interests. (At the time of print, Survé was also appointed to the highly prestigious position of chairman of the BRICS Business Council.)

Our interview takes place in Survé’s plush executive ‘man cave’ of an office in Claremont, which is clearly the mother ship for all his varied interests and investments. He says he has always had his private investment office/ family office separate from his investments/ corporate office. Three personal assistants scurry around him taking notes, making calls and frantically trying to keep up with his brain and requests that seem to be moving at freight-train speed. They look driven to succeed in an environment where the Doctor apparently is always on the go from the early hours of the morning until late into the night.

MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 23

I battle to imagine how any of his worker bees have much of a social life, but they don’t seem too concerned about it.

••• WHERE IT ALL BEGAN Dr Survé is a physician, entrepreneur and an ardent philanthropist, born and educated in Cape Town. He was known as the “Struggle Doctor”, because of his provision of medical care to victims of apartheid brutality, including some of those imprisoned on the infamous Robben Island. He had a personal and/or professional relationship with many former prisoners such as Nelson Mandela, Ahmed Kathrada, Andrew Mlangeni and Govan Mbeki upon their release from the Island.

In 1997, President Mandela made an impassioned plea for black professionals to enter the mainstream economy of South Africa in order to bring about meaningful transformation of the socio-economic landscape, with the aim of redressing the legacy of apartheid. This resulted in Survé leaving his first love, medicine, and founding the Sekunjalo Group—which is today wholly owned by the Survé family. He serves as executive chairman of the group, with its headquarters in Cape Town. Sekunjalo has more than 200 investments across Africa, with an intrinsic market value exceeding $4 billion (R53.9 billion)—an amazing feat considering Surve, who came from humble beginnings, founded the group a mere 19 years ago with an investment of only $20 000.

The group is the shareholding/equity partner to a number of multinationals on the continent, including Siemens, Nokia, Saab, BT, Solidago and Coriant, among others;

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Survé says he founded the Sekunjalo Group in response to an impassioned plea by President Nelson Mandela for black professionals to enter the mainstream South African economy.

Today the group is one of the WEF’s Global Growth Companies, or “New Champions”.

Survé serves as chairman or deputy chair on many of these companies’ boards.

The group is recognised by the WEF as one of the world’s fastest growing companies and a New Champion/Forum Advisory member; Survé is a regular contributor and participant in the Davos and Summer Davos meetings. Its investment portfolio includes Oil & Gas, Food, Fishing, Aquaculture, Power, Resources, Transport & Mobility, Telecoms, Civil Security & Defence, Media, Technology, Biotechnology, Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals, and Asset Management. The group also pioneers many social impact investment initiatives in subSaharan Africa.

Survé Philanthropies, the philanthropic foundation of the Survé family, has seven separate foundations supporting children’s, women’s and human rights; education; music, arts and culture; entrepreneurship; social impact investing; climate change; and healthcare. The Sekunjalo Group distributes 90% of its annual dividends received from its investments to these foundations, with the aim of impacting positively on the future of the people of Africa. Sekunjalo also recently launched a R500-million social impact fund.

••• AFRICA’S TIME IS NOW The story of Africa’s rising (Afro-positivism and Afro-capitalism) is an important

narrative to which the Survé family and Sekunjalo have committed themselves by investing in businesses across the continent.

“The group is really a large entity with more than 115 000 people employed directly and through its affiliated companies,” says Survé proudly. “So when we talk about affiliated companies: Say we have a shareholding in Siemens or Saab or Nokia or Pioneer Foods— these are all some of the companies in which the group has invested. The group is the biggest and most successful technology investor on the African continent.”

This is indeed quite a statement, so I delve a little further and ask the Doctor to give us some more information on his business interests in technology. The question is, how did a South African entrepreneur and technology investor based at the southernmost tip of Africa achieve dollar-billionaire status? And what is it that he has invested in, and what are the sectors—and why?

When most investors in Africa were focusing on hard-core resources, Survé—who had exited the oil business in September 2013 (good timing and good luck at the peak of the oil price) after about 12 years—started focusing on tech and media technology. “Our approach, in fact, was a dual strategy. Firstly, we wanted to partner with multinationals and become shareholders with them on the African continent, including our first multinational partner 19 years ago—the Siemens business unit in sub-Saharan Africa.

This led to the second strategy, which was to use the dividends from these multinational investments to fund entrepreneurs and businesses in new technologies,” he explains.

I’m reminded of an article in The Economist of December 2016, which boldly listed Siemens and General Electric as the two companies in the world to watch, as they were the ones leading the way in terms of integration of engineering technology and the Internet of Things digitalisation. I mention this article to Survé, and he knows exactly which one I’m referring to. “Yes, most definitely!” he agrees. “I was one of the founding members of the Siemens Global Advisory Board on Sustainability, and as part of its plan, it pooled some of the top guys in the world on sustainability and technology to serve on the board to work on the direct links between sustainability and technology. The whole issue was looking at the latest innovation and technologies, and the application thereof globally.” He adds that the Siemens Global Advisory Board was completed 18 months ago, but that the insights into the areas of potential growth in the technology space—and how it could be applied in areas such as power generation, locomotives, healthcare, security and many more—have set the massive foundations for Siemens to grow from strength to strength.

WHEN MOST INVESTORS IN AFRICA WERE FOCUSING ON HARDCORE RESOURCES, SURVÉ—WHO HAD EXITED THE OIL BUSINESS IN SEPTEMBER 2013 AFTER ABOUT 12 YEARS— STARTED FOCUSING ON TECH AND MEDIA T E C H N O L O G Y.

••• COMMUNICATING ACROSS THE CONTINENT The second investment was in Nokia Solutions, a technology communications business. “We own 30% of Nokia Solutions’ investments in sub-Saharan Africa, and here we’re talking about the latest businesses like 3G, 4G, 5G, its applications and fibre-optics, to name but a few,” Survé reveals. “This is Nokia Solutions—not to be confused with Nokia mobile handsets—and the expansion into Africa on the back of mobile operators has been very successful.”

His third investment in this arena was acquiring 30% of British Telecoms Global Services Africa, which is the network solutions business of BT that’s looking at providing complex solutions for companies on e-commerce platforms involving card computing, data flows, telecommunications, voice activation and a host of other technological breakthroughs. “This has been a really successful investment land, and we are dealing with the latest technological applications on encryption, and cutting-edge innovation,” Survé says with a boyish grin.

Then we move swiftly on to the next few companies he has on his books, and my head starts spinning at the sheer size and scale of these businesses across Africa, and indeed the

globe, in the technology and communications sectors. “The next company is Saab [Saab Grintek Defence], of which we own 25%.

Here we are involved in civil security, airborne defence systems, border-control technologies, missile defence and radar systems. We are even looking at UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] and drone technology in a separate investment.”

He goes on to explain that his group is also invested in other technology companies such as Coriant, another African telco. Coriant develops innovative and dynamic networking solutions for a fast-changing and cloudenabled business world. The Coriant portfolio of transport solutions enables network operators to create new revenue-generating services optimised for the evolving demands of business and consumer applications including video, mobile and cloud.

“We have partnered with multinationals across the continent, and hence are present in about 50 of the 54 African countries between these partners,” says Survé, who’s clearly very proud of this achievement. “As such, together we have been able to change the way we engage and do business on the continent.

These are what I call our foundation

investments, in other words, investments that have allowed us to be able to make a lot of investments with other technology pioneers by using the dividend flows from these multinational investments.”

••• POWER TO THE PEOPLE The energy sector was next on his wish list.

“The renewable energy investments run into billions of dollars, and we have approached it differently to others. We did not want to be the entity that contracted directly with the governments, so we rather became an OEM— we became the supplier to many of the companies that had successfully tendered for the contracts, so we were not involved in any of the contracts directly. We took a strategic decision that we did not want to be the owner of the projects; we simply wanted to be the original equipment manufacturing supplier,” Survé explains.

With this aim in mind, and the Siemens global technology behind him, Sekunjalo got involved in Siemens-built wind farms and other renewable energy-projects, including solar, in South Africa. “Siemens has been very successful in the energy, power-generation sector, and specifically also in the area of wind. We are also the first to use some renewable-energy technology, specifically solar power, in our aquaculture farm in Gansbaai. I think we are probably the first in the world in that area, keeping to our philosophy of using technology for sustainability, and doing good and doing well at the same time.”

••• TACKLING WORLD HEALTH ISSUES The next sector is close to Survé’s heart due to his background as a physician, but now he gets to use innovative technology in the companies in which he has invested in the biotechnology and health information systems sector. “What is not known to many people is that we own the largest biotechnology research and development company on the African continent. The company is called Genius Biotherapeutics (formerly Bioclones), and its main subsidiary is Ribotech. This we are looking at listing in

MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 25

2018, on either the London Stock Exchange main board or the Nasdaq. We are just waiting for the clinical trials to finish,” he reveals.

“We have 24 global patented technologies principally in two areas. The first is what is called personalised medicine for cancer therapeutics. Here we have worked with some of the top scientists in the world in terms of cancer therapeutics, where we are able to look at vaccines to overcome breast cancer, prostatic cancer, melanomas etc.” He tells me they are already in phase-one clinical trials for breast cancer, and this specific technology has a global patent.

This seems like a potentially incredible breakthrough on the medical front, and I’m amazed by what Survé tells me: “If you have cancer, we take your body’s dendritic cells [which initiate the immune response] from your body, we stimulate these with our patented biotech stimulant, and then inject it back into your body—that’s why it is personalised; it is not like a drug for everybody. Those cells become intelligent cells. It’s unlike chemotherapy or radiotherapy where they hit every cell, healthy and cancerous—that is why you lose your hair, you lose your skin, you vomit and all those things.

This is targeted, personalised medicine. We take your own cells and we send them to the cancer directly, and we direct them to destroy the cancer.” He excitedly adds that they are

26 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

about a few years away from this going to market in terms of therapeutics.

Survé explains that at Ribotech, there’s a manufacturing facility for granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (GCSF), which makes the bone marrow produce white blood cells to reduce the risk of infection after some types of chemotherapy. “We have a world-class, state-of-the-art facility based in Cape Town, which is equivalent to the best in the world, where we are able to manufacture GCSF. Hence it is called biotechnology, because basically you are using a mammalian cell and using technology, and you are getting it to be like the human body to produce the hormone.” This medical terminology is now going way over my head, but I’m riveted.

He continues, “In Centurion in Pretoria, we have a facility where we produce a hormone called EPO [erythropoietin]. Now, EPO you would use for kidney failure or you would use it to stimulate your performance—which is obviously illegal, by the way. [Cyclist Lance Armstrong was banned for using EPO.] But when you take a chemical drug for cancer, it kills your red blood cells and white blood cells. By taking EPO, you once again stimulate the red blood cells. You have to use GCSF to stimulate the white blood cells.

It’s a great process to actually go and see—it’s fascinating to see how mammalian cells from hamsters are stimulated to produce hormones like EPO. We know that there’s a competitor in the US also working on DDCV technologies and retro-inverso peptide technology, although we have global patents on these. It’s very unique for an African company to have 24 global patents—very, very unique.

“When I bought this company 10 years ago, it was owned, believe it or not, by SA Breweries [today part of the beer giant, Anheuser-Busch]. And the reason is because all biotechnology companies started out of brewery companies. Do you know why?”

“Yeast?” I proffer a wild guess.

“Exactly, because they used microbes to ferment or change the beer, and from that developed research and biotechnology by manipulating the microbes. They were able to then go into new fields, and that’s how most early biotech companies started,” Survé enlightens me with a grin. This subject is clearly of much interest to him. “Together with SA Breweries, we have spent hundreds of millions of rand, not skimping on this breakthrough research. We hope to realise our investments many times over with a listing on an international stock exchange in the near future.”

In addition, Sekunjalo’s Health System Technologies provides state-of-the-art hospital information systems to many medical facilities in sub-Saharan Africa, and Survé is proud that through this investment his group is able to assist with getting quality healthcare delivered to the populations who need it most.

••• PACKING CASH WITH PERLEMOEN Sekunjalo has also invested heavily in abalone aquaculture, and has one of the largest aquafarms on the continent, in Gansbaai in the Cape Overberg. Abalone, or perlemoen, is extremely popular overseas— particularly in Asia (which is why, sadly, our own oceans are almost depleted of these delicacies).

“It is one of the most modern technologically driven aquaculture farms, with infiltration systems and a hatchery using the latest genetic science,” says Survé.

“But, more importantly, as I mentioned earlier, it is the first aquaculture farm to use solar power. The biggest costs in aquaculture in the world today, outside the feeds for your animals, is the energy costs, because you have to filter the water and pump it continuously to be able to get it flowing and the nutrients going into the system. This farm is going to generate as much profit as the whole of Premier Fishing [a large-scale lobster exporter, and another of Survé’s many companies in his vast empire] within two years, because we have now just bought more than six hectares of land and we are investing another few hundred million rand to grow the farm. It’s all export earnings and currency-driven, so it’s a great business.

We did that from scratch, using technology.”

At this stage, I explain to the good Doctor that we are running out of time—and magazine space—so we cannot go into all the other companies, but should stick to the technology side of his investments. So he briefly explains what is happening at Premier Fishing in terms of technology: “We are exploring using the shell of lobster, which contains a compound called chitin.

Chitin is very well-known, used in plasters/ Band-Aids. On the factory ships on the sea, they would usually just discard all the lobster into the ocean when they cut off the rest of the body, as the tails alone would be imported to America. So now we are thinking of utilising the shell and the chitin to create things like plasters and wound therapeutic products, seeing as it is a very good binder.”

Survé adds, “We are also producing one of the first organic fishmeal products called Seagro. We take fishmeal and use a bit of technology and innovation to convert it into high-growth fertiliser for plants. It’s a premium fertiliser product, part of a global market, that we export now.”

••• TAKING OVER THE MEDIA Sekunjalo has recently invested significantly in the African tech media sector, and Survé is the chairman of one of Africa’s largest print and online media groups, Independent Media, which has 24 major newspaper titles and a daily readership of 10 million— including the only pan-African newspaper, The African Independent. In 2015, Sekunjalo founded the continent’s first global news, text, picture and video content-syndication service and social media platform, the African News Agency (ANA), which currently distributes African content across the world and reaches more than a billion viewers/ readers each day through its platforms.

Two years after launching, ANA successfully placed 15% of its shares with global partners at a valuation of $1.6 billion (R21.4 billion).

Says Survé, “We are now going full steam ahead with ANA Pics and ANA Video, which will be a syndication service for pictures, video and texts and also a social media platform, for example like Facebook, allowing for user-generated content. By 2020, we will definitely become the pre-eminent content provider for the African continent for a global

30 SECONDS WITH IQBAL SURVÉ Title Founder and executive chairman, Sekunjalo Group Hometown Cape Town Favourite quote?

“Do good and do well.”—Nobel laureate Amartya Sen Favourite book?

“Many favourites, but the one I have most recommended to friends when facing a life crisis is Tuesdays with Morrie [by Mitch Albom].”

Favourite destination?

“Cape Town, for its sheer natural beauty.”

Favourite tech gadget?

“My Android smartphone and its many applications. I’m a tech junkie and love exploring the use of technology for social good.”

How do you unwind and relax?

“Reading a great book, watching a good movie or series, eating out at great restaurants; walking in the forest and meditating at the top of Table Mountain, at least three times a year; yoga (when time permits); and occasionally talking to my four dogs.”

Biggest inspiration?

“Ordinary people who do amazing things and have succeeded in overcoming adversity.”

The meaning of life?

“To live simply with purpose, and to treat everyone equally with respect and dignity, no matter their status in life.”

media audience. We have now in excess of 40 media partnerships across Africa, and we are about to roll out offices in London, Boston, Chicago, Paris, Shanghai, Mumbai and New York.”

Also in the tech media space, Survé has invested in e-commerce with a 75% stake in Loot.co.za, one of the top three e-commerce businesses in South Africa. Loot is on target to quadruple its revenues since this investment, and is buying into data analysis software to be able to expand rapidly into the rest of Africa.

“We are invested in a number of technology companies that focus on IT software systems and software development,” he adds. “These include Saratoga, Afrozaar, Technology Solutions Limited [now known as Ayo Technology], ATMH [African Technology and Media Holdings], Emergent Energy, and recently Puleng Technologies.”

Survé starts explaining how Sekunjalo is also about to invest in voice-encryption technology and satellite systems, but I have to cut him off there, although I’d love to continue hearing about more of the incredible investments he has on the cards.

“I have also set up the $50-million [R670.3million] Impact Fund, which is going to focus a lot on technologies that make an impact for social good.

“It is very important that I say these are just our technology investments; these are apart from our core investments in power, telecoms, fishing, healthcare, mobility, resources, in food, in music or jazz, or travel or entertainment. If you take just our tech investments—whether they are tech media, tech aquaculture, tech healthcare, tech information systems, tech energy systems, tech pharmaceuticals—you’re probably looking at about a $3-billion [around R40billion] valuation of our investments. That is really significant for an African company.

And great for the continent.”

I thank the Doctor for his time, and he offers me some sushi which we eat while he gets back to the business of his day. His staff run around and get cracking on further instructions. It doesn’t seem like the man ever sleeps. And after hearing about only a handful of his savvy investments, I can certainly see why.

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Fast Company promotion

From idea to barcode How Resolution Circle is developing our future tech entrepreneurs

Resolution Circle developed the Idea-to-Barcode™ process to commercialise technology. This includes a unique in-house procedure with 29 standardised steps, which takes technology-based business innovations from idea to prototyping, business development, raising funds, industrial and engineering design, designing for manufacturing, precompliance testing to small-scale manufacturing. We even provide the marketing and exhibition design, as well as the packaging design. Resolution Circle stops at the point when the startup has enough stock to generate R1 million of revenue.

Which exciting and impactful projects are you busy with?

Developing 56 township startups in partnership with the City of Joburg and UJ. Already, 12 of these are generating enough revenue to employ two to three people.  Resolution Circle hosts the Green City Startup competition on behalf of CoJ and UJ, to find and develop winning participants to develop their products and introduce into the market.  In partnership with UJ, we host five startups as part of the SAB Kickstarter programme.  Resolution Circle will be commercialising 10 startups by UJ graduates, for which UJ will provide seed funding.  The company employed 115 graduate interns from all over SA in its commercialisation units. This provides them with work experience and exposes them to the world of technology entrepreneurship and commercialisation.  We host the Maxx Solar Academy that has trained more than 500 people (mostly electricians) to design and instal solar systems.  Resolution Circle is working with several universities across SA to commercialise some of their technologies.  We won a tender to train, over the past three years, technical teachers in the Gauteng Department of Education from Grade 10 to 12. 

Resolution Circle is a private company wholly owned by the University of Johannesburg.

It was launched in 2012 with the mission of providing internships and technology commercialisation services. It was started from funds raised by the National Skills Fund (over R200 million) and UJ. The company operates independently with its own board of directors (directors from both industry and UJ) and receives no regular grants for operations. As a commercial company, it has to earn its own keep through normal services to the larger industry. The intern services as well as commercialisation services are provided to both UJ and non-UJ participants.

Over the past three years, Resolution Circle has developed over 80 products for various startups and companies. It has also provided internship opportunities to more than 800 technical interns. The business now employs in excess of 500 people, has access to specialised commercialisation equipment worth over R160 million, and operates from two sites. It also operates in partnership with companies through joint ventures in the power electronics and other high-tech areas.

Fast Company SA sat with CEO Professor Willem Clarke and Gideon Potgieter, HOD of Business Development, to find out more about Resolution Circle.

What is your core aim?

The core aim that drives the mission statements of internships and commercialisation is to generate sustainable jobs for the youth, predominantly through technology entrepreneurship/startups, but also by seeding the local manufacturing industry (through new products either by startups or due to localisation of existing products). Resolution Circle focuses predominantly on developing products that lead to manufacturing.

28 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

Resolution Circle’s main aim is to reduce the technology risks for funders of startups.

How do you ensure you support aspiring entrepreneurs from development to commercialisation?

Resolution Circle’s main aim is to reduce the technology risks for funders of startups. We do this by offering a one-stop shop for technology commercialisation, and in the process provide a fixed price and certainty, backed up by our track record and good governance.

With our Idea-to-Barcode™ process, we start with training—not just in the business of startups but also the business of tech commercialisation, as well as an introduction to technology commercialisation at Resolution Circle. An experienced manager is assigned to accompany the entrepreneur through our process. Resolution Circle has defined seven levels of prototyping, which are used as milestones. Obviously, the business development aspects of the business also receive attention by our team of more than 30.

Resolution Circle will help with the funding application for selected startups, in which case

Superior testing The HALT and HASS technology station is one of eight at Resolution Circle, which are designed to provide commercial prototyping services.

we will also take a limited-time revenue share of the product. However, in these cases, we will also help with the sales through our sales engine and extensive networks.

There are three levels of incubator spaces, ranging from our TinkerSpace (open office with access to the dedicated prototyping space), labs and dedicated office space. All of these are housed in our 12-floor glass building in Milpark, surrounded by the media, two universities and various business schools.

Incubatees will have access to fast Internet, meeting rooms, staff lunch floor, business support functions, among others.

Elaborate on your R&D projects.

Depending on which stage startup companies are at, we take them on a journey to reach a point where they have products they can sell.

Some startups approach us when they still have an idea, which we then turn into an engineering design. Some startups approach us when they already have a prototype. We then assess the prototype to establish whether we can replicate the prototype and manufacture a final product.

In some cases, we need to redesign and reprototype to reach a point where we can manufacture. Some startups approach us when they already have a final product, but need a supplier who can do small production runs.  Austics—developed a digital stethoscope prototype for one of the SAB Kickstarter Boost finalists.  Booze and Beverage—developed a working prototype of a fast-dispensing unit.  City of Joburg Community Innovation Fund—various projects, most notably the 3D concrete printer for construction, hydrogen storage for fuel cells, fire-retardant bricks, acid mine drainage purification, and modular

housing made from recycled plastic.  Cobb—developed a nextgeneration fuel, which is yet to be launched.  Liquid Gold—we performed a technical due diligence on beneficiation of waste into valuable minerals.  Powerplus Energy—developed a batterycharging device prototype.  Suntoy—developed a next-generation product that includes wireless communication between devices.  Yellowbeast—developed a digital irrigation controller prototype for one of the SAB Kickstarter Boost finalists.

Tell about the four public projects you run?

These projects were done on behalf of UJ in partnership with CoJ.  Green City Startup. This project involved the recruitment of the top eight green startup ideas from people living in the CoJ area. More than 100 entries were received in 2016. The top eight each received R250 000 to develop a prototype. The prototype and business were evaluated by a panel of experts. The winner received R1 million in prize money, with the runners-up each receiving large investments.

This project was in its second iteration in 2016 and will continue later in 2017.  Digital Ambassadors. This project (completed) involved the recruitment, training and deployment of 1 800 youths and 300 mentors (UJ undergraduates) from the townships to activate the free CoJ Wi-Fi on citizens’ devices. Each digital ambassador operated as a small enterprise, and was paid per activation. In the process, more than 500 000 citizens were activated in CoJ.  Community Innovation Fund. This project was done in two phases. The first phase (completed) involved the identification of 16 top projects recruited from the CoJ area which provided community-based innovation. These were selected from 2 000 entries by expert panels. These 16 projects were developed and demonstrated to the City, for possible

consideration in future procurement. The second phase involved recruiting 56 townshipbased enterprises with R60 000 investment in each (in addition to other development). These township entrepreneurs had to come up with innovative ideas to operate in the townships, specifically in container-based micro-malls located in these areas. Unfortunately, the CoJ cancelled the project and the micro-malls could not be deployed. However, the 56 microenterprises continue, and 12 of them are now successful enough to employ at least one or more additional persons. As part of this, Resolution Circle had to develop various programmes and templates.  Wellness Warriors. This project (also completed) involved the selection, training and deployment of “wellness warrior” youths to a number of schools to help drive a healthy lifestyle. This involved initiatives to help public schools in the CoJ area to achieve certain levels of healthy living. Each tier was associated with a prize to help the schools expand their sports and health facilities, and to achieve the next tier. Over 100 schools were reached during this project.

Which other services do you offer?

Our hospitality team hosts events for corporates in facilities including training venues, boardrooms and conference facilities.  Our in-house marketing agency provides various design services to startups and corporates alike.  IntelliLab, our in-house media production facility, creates media content in the innovation and entrepreneurial space. It has its own Netflix-like site that streams and hosts media in the form of documentaries, talk shows, training videos etc. It also provides video clips to entrepreneurs and corporates.  We provide applied technology training courses, specifically focused on practice. This can be done in our 300-seater training workshops, or two other training venues.  We can provide patenting services (searches, advice, submitting patent claims) through our in-house patenting lawyer.  Our 29 Idea-to-Barcode™ services can each be provided as an individual service. These include access to our 25 technology stations providing technology commercialisation training, business development, design, prototyping, pre-compliance testing and small-scale manufacturing (e.g. carpentry, fabrication, high-precision CNC) services. 

Visit www.resolutioncircle.co.za for more.

MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 29

Next

Future Now

TO GIG OR NOT TO GIG That is the question we face in the new economy of on-demand or contract employment

By Tacita McEvoy

When you hear the word ‘gig’, you probably think of a garage band getting their lucky break at the local bar. All band members normally have full-time jobs and get together once a week to ‘jam’ and hopefully book some paid gigs on the weekend. Or they don’t have a ‘real’ job and just make ends meet with back-to-back gigs—not getting much cash but at least they’re out of the rat race, living their dream.

Apart from a ‘live performance’, gig can also mean a ‘job’ or an abbreviation of ‘gigabyte’. But in 2017, when someone tells you they have a new gig, it immediately takes your mind to their job, and not a twowheeled carriage pulled by one horse (yes, that’s also a gig). All in all, a gig is a contracted job tasked to a professional to complete in a defined period of time, which forms a job market dominated by freelancers and entrepreneurs.

There’s no question that millennials get a bad rep for being lazy, entitled job-hoppers.

They were brought up being told they could be whoever and whatever they wanted, and the sky is (not) the limit. So naturally, a set pay cheque with a week or two paid leave per year is not their idea of reaching for the stars—I mean, is it anyone’s? With this attitude comes a thirst for innovation and making a difference in the world. The definition of ‘a good job’ is going to look

30 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

very different in the future, with an emphasis on location freedom, flexibility, and the-harder-you-work-the-more-youearn finally becoming a reality.

But wait . . . move over millennials— the future economy is in the hands of Generation Z (born from 1995). These techsavvy social media gurus will have adopted on-demand services as part of their daily lives: from food delivery, cleaning services, Airbnb holidays and Uber rides. On-demand or contract employment was previously kept for workers who struggled to get a full-time skilled position, but this is no longer the case as it’s the ideal ‘dream job’ for Generation Z. “I’m thinking of starting my own thing”; “I’m going to resign and freelance for a while” is common chatter around the office coffee machine but, in most cases, with a set salary it takes time to save up a backup fund or build up enough freelance clients before you can jump ship. So, all you can do is become a secret moonlighter, juggling your day job while burning the midnight oil getting your gigs done after hours.

Majority of the time, your boss gets wind of your antics and you get a talking-to about not being committed and using company time for your own pursuits. Or you can’t make meetings during office hours, and your grand plan crashes and burns.

If corporates really want to retain staff, they need to embrace intrapreneurship and help their employees bring their ideas to life within the company. But with the rise of the gig economy, certain areas of a business will always be more cost-effective outsourced, be it marketing, logistics, training etc. Outsourcing specialists can boost your business without having to fit the bill of an in-house expert who’s only busy half the time.

Sick days, paid leave, overtime and that golden 13th cheque are things of the past for the new gigster. These are a few of the things that newfound freelancers often miss, but there are bigger concerns when it comes to the sometimes overlooked labour laws such as workmen’s compensation and disability cover.

“ T his . . . gig economy is unleashing innovation.

But it is also raising hard questions about workplace protections and what a good job will look like in the future.” — Hillary Clinton

a full-time, constantly stimulated team of creative experts with all the skills needed for every project. The result is normally a highly stressed team working long hours to meet a deadline, with certain components lacking.

The top agency of 2017 and beyond will be the one able to pull together a dream team of specialists at a moment’s notice to complete a project seamlessly due to their extensive experience and skill set—and what’s even better is that you only pay for what you get; no extortionate salary bills during downtime.

It’s not for everyone

Regulative policies have not kept up with the fast-changing growth of the gig economy, largely when it comes to disruptive on-demand services that classify staff as contract workers—even when they work more than 40 hours per week. Some companies are seen to be avoiding the costs associated with full-time staff by employing contract workers, but in most cases it’s a win-win for both: the freelancer earning more and the organisation receiving value for money. In the end, it’s up to government organisations to come to the party and put regulations in place for the rising gig economy—but that may be later rather than sooner.

On-demand and freelancing platforms are only cost-effective because they take out the middleman, who is susceptible to human error, and replace him or her with technology. This technology and sophisticated algorithms replace a number of roles within a business: the manager, the bookkeeper, the admin staff and even the CEO. It literally streamlines a business to

provide a solution to a problem instantly, which is what business is at its core, anyway.

With the rise of the digitally enabled gig economy came the birth of a number of online freelance marketplaces: Fiverr, Freelancer.com, UpWork, Elance and guru. com are all leading the way in connecting professionals from around the world with individuals and businesses requiring their services. Since launching Fiverr in 2010, freelancer income “has been growing by 4x each year using the Fiverr website,” says founder Micha Kaufman, with “80% to 85% of the people using Fiverr [being] small to medium-size businesses.” There’s no doubt that these platforms are going to increase and soon start to segment into niches.

Instead of a Freelancer.com or Fiverr that offers everything from logo design to “I’ll record a jingle for you for $5”, you’ll see platforms that pop up for every industry.

Why are people only wising up to the gig economy now? What were our parents thinking? Well, globalisation was just a word in a textbook, and the Internet had only started to rule our lives. The World Wide Web has made it possible to really live the fourhour workweek from that island hammock.

With this new dream job comes the new company model, especially within the creative agency world. The longevity of agencies will depend on embracing the gig economy by having a network of contract workers available. This means getting the best people on the job according to their skills and experience, and not just assigning available staff. It’s almost impossible to have

The gig economy is great and has many amazing benefits for gurus and brands, but it isn’t for everyone. Jumping into the gig economy as a freelancer means being an expert in your field, able to offer higher quality work at a reduced rate and sometimes at a moment’s notice. But that’s not all: You need to be able to sell, manage your finances, project-manage and maintain mental strength. (Depression and anxiety are some of the challenges rarely addressed in the gig economy.)

Also, not all brands are cut out for the gig economy. Gigsters provide fast turnaround times as a bonus, but organisations requiring quick edits are sometimes frustrated by gurus not being able to attend to their tasks straight away like you would be able to reprioritise a full-time employee.

SMEs and startups seem to take the most advantage of the gig economy, as they are averse to committing to long-term contracts. They also enjoy the personal one-on-one approach gigsters provide.

To gig or not to gig—the choice is yours.

You’ll need to weigh up the pros and cons when it comes to benefits, security, earning potential and lifestyle goals. What’s exciting, however, is the innovation around the technology that connects gigsters and brands.

As the old saying goes, you’ll never know if you don’t try. As a company, see where you can streamline your business and get freelancers involved. And for everyone else, think about what your dream job looks like and then decide.

Tacita McEvoy is the founder of the Cape Town–based digital marketing agency Social Media Now, and a partner in the accelerator/ incubator Idea Camp.

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Brand Aid

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Next

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UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL How to market your product or service in the virtual world to engage even better with your audience

By Simon Capstick-Dale

“Oh, this is really the coolest thing in the world! It’s like running in real time, and I can even feel my movements when I look at the screen. So it’s not just the sounds, not just the view . . .”

The Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, with the help of Hero Film, showcased a 360-degree fullimmersion VR experience at its 2015 expo. Using Oculus Rift headsets, visitors could get expert, first-hand advice from South African marathon legend Bruce Fordyce as they ‘ran’ three selected stages of the race alongside him.

They could view the surroundings in every direction, and watch cars, cyclists and other runners approach and pass by.

Marketing opportunities brought about by virtual reality

could create unprecedented intimacy between brands and consumers. With affordable VR technology imminent in just about every home, the virtual world is set to become an exciting new playground where brands connect with their audiences.

Companies and their ad executives are fast waking up to the potential that the simulating technology of VR has for marketing. And it’s easy to see why. Right now, VR offers audiences the closest experience of a product without it being physically present—and unrivalled engagement with these audiences for brands.

Marketers are continually seeking innovative ways to

engage more meaningfully with media-bombarded consumers by creating long-lasting impressions that build fierce brand loyalty.

The good news is that audiences immersed in the virtual world are, by default, less preoccupied by the reality and more likely to pay attention to marketing messages.

VR allows brands to engage with consumers in ways never before possible, giving them licence to create a world of their own and place audiences right at the centre of the immersive, hypersensory experience. VR appeals to more (if not all) of the consumer’s senses when compared to traditional ‘twodimensional’ marketing, arguably triggering more intense emotional responses that could increase the likelihood of behavioural change. “The ability to envelop people into a brand’s story allows a deeper connection than any technology before it,” says Ulrich Grech-Cumbo, CEO of marketing agency Deep VR, a Johannesburg-based agency specialising in high-end production of 360-degree video in both 2D for 360-degree online videos, and 3D for VR headset videos.

Most of the current VR marketing campaigns are strategised around product demonstrations and communicating the brand’s mission to consumers. VR offers consumers an alternative to browsing brochures or product samples before imagining something like their kitchen fitted with brand-new cupboards and countertops. Instead, they strap on a headset and engage with products as if they were already their own. Where VR can really take consumer engagement and interactivity to the next level is through the user’s ability to modify the

model, style and colours of products using controls.

SAOTA is a firm of architectural designers and technologists based in Cape Town who use VR headsets to assist architects and clients to engage with their structures through an immersive 3D walkthrough of their projects at each design stage. “Different views are shown to each eye through a split screen that recreates depth from a human perspective. When combined with accurate head tracking, we are able to place users in a 3D environment, which allows them to walk around and explore buildings during the concept stage,” says Gerard Slee, SAOTA architect and 3D technology specialist. ● While VR immerses users in the virtual world, augmented reality instead appeals to consumers by extending their experience in the real world.

Information such as 3D animation, sound, video or graphics are overlaid onto what audiences see in front of them.

With its Ingenuity for Life campaign, Siemens took the traditional wall calendar and created its CalendAR app, which offers audiences an immersive AR experience. Within the app, users were able to point their smart device at an image representing each calendar month, which then came to life via 3D-animated wire frames. Users were also able to engage with video and scrollable infographic-styled content linked to each month.

“Effective marketing is about ‘storydoing’ and not just storytelling. For us, this means using the new marketing technologies such as AR in a way that resonates with our customers,” says Keshin Govender, head of corporate communications at Siemens South Africa.

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Brand Aid

IKEA launched an AR catalogue that enabled consumers to visualise how pieces of furniture might look inside their home, and also measured the size of products in the surrounding room so that users could see them in true-tolife size wherever possible.

A number of tourism businesses have used AR to display real-time information about destinations and their sites of interest. Some of these have even included simulations of historical events, with objects rendered into the real-world landscape. Other functions of this AR experience allow user comments, as well as content recorded by previous visitors.

Although still in their infancy, VR and AR look destined to transform marketing communications and how brands use content to educate, entertain

and engage with consumers. As these technologies develop further and the lines between the real and virtual worlds become blurred, they will present ever more convincing ways for brands to get the attention of their audiences.

“Right now, we’re in the honeymoon phase of VR and in awe of simply being able to explore a virtual world, irrespective of the quality of the content inside. Our job now as content creators is to perfect these narratives and make them more compelling to audiences,” says Grech-Cumbo.

Consumers will soon grow accustomed to the immersive brand experiences made possible

by VR and AR technologies, leading marketers to push the envelope of interactivity and engagement with their campaigns.

Only those narratives most relevant to their brand identity and fully translatable to VR will be told effectively in the virtual world.

To avoid these technologies becoming a flash-in-the-pan gimmick, brands may think carefully about how they integrate these new technologies into their broader marketing strategies.

Only those narratives most relevant to their brand identity and fully translatable to VR will be told effectively in the virtual world—and vividly appeal to the emotions and memory of consumers.

Marketers have only scratched the surface. How consumers learn to interact with this digital world through immersive input is one area of development, such as the use of haptic gloves to physically perceive virtual objects as well as voice-controlled engagement.

“VR will change drastically in the near future,” says GrechCumbo. “360-degree video will slowly become volumetric VR, allowing users to move through real-world environments virtually. You’ll soon be able to speak to people, and they’ll respond. Your facial, hand and body gestures will be tracked in the real world and influence the narrative of the virtual one.

VR will become the ultimate immersive marketing tool and offer brands the opportunity for more meaningful dialogue with consumers.”

T HE R E A L DE A L 8 of the best VR marketing experiences from around the world

SANTA’S VIRTUAL REALITY SLEIGH RIDE Coca-Cola Poland

Thousands of people were Santa Claus for a day in a magical Christmas setting, enjoying a roller coaster–like ride in a sleigh that ‘flew’ into different villages all over the country.

THE TELEPORTER Marriott Hotels & Resorts US Inside a phone booth structure (à la Dr Who) in the group’s hotels, Oculus Rifts transport guests from the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront,

right across the world to Maui’s Black Sand Beach in Wai’anapanapa and to the rooftop of Tower 42 in London at night— with motion, sounds, heaters, wind jets and even sprays of water.

SENSORIUM

Boursin UK

The soft-cheese brand created a VR experience that took viewers on a journey through a fridge full of delightful treats and Boursin products, complete with scents and bursts of cold air.

It was exhibited in various malls and at regional food festivals around the UK.

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TRAILSCAPE

Hacienda distillery and headquarters in Jalisco, Mexico—from the perspective of a To support the bee. Using a mix of live launch of a new action and computer hiking boot, Merrell graphics, the 360° (with Rolling Stone journey followed the magazine) created a VR product life cycle from experience of walking agave field to being on a crumbling ledge served at a glamorous and over a treacherous party. bridge high in the mountains. Motion 2017 GT-R VR capture brought the trek to life, with tactile EXPERIENCES elements such as rope Nissan Italy & UK walkways and shaking wooden planks.

Nissan provided two VR experiences in 2016. Thanks to Sony, THE ART OF PATRÓN soccer fans at the Patrón UEFA Champions US League Final festivities The tequila brand took got to ‘test-drive’ viewers on an all-access, the new Nissan GT-R personal tour of its through the streets Merrell US

of Milan, around the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, and to the San Siro stadium where the final was held. At the Goodwood Festival of Speed, guests could experience the excitement of a 360° passenger lap in Nissan’s recordbreaking supercar, with Britain’s NISMO driver Jann Mardenborough behind the wheel, giving commentary.

THE FIRST COMPLETE VR SHOPPING EXPERIENCE Macy’s China

Macy’s partnered with Alibaba to create a virtual shopping experience on China’s Singles’ Day (the

world’s biggest online shopping day of the year) in November 2016. A month earlier, Alibaba had sold 150 000 cardboard VR headsets for 1 yuan on online shop, Taobao, which enabled shoppers to browse and shop at Macy’s New York flagship store.

HAPPY GOGGLES AND SKI APP McDonald’s Sweden

McDonald’s turned its Happy Meal box into a Google Cardboard– type VR headset, and developed the Slope Stars skiing game to be played using the goggles.

THE DIGITAL ENTREPENEUR Join MTN Business for a Digital Entrepreneur Masterclass in Cape Town on 23 May 2017.

Mobile is the new business place for entrepreneurs but it is also digital in nature. Mobile is the heart of any business, connecting people and businesses from anywhere in the world. From this, The Digital Entrepreneur Masterclass is born. It is the first of its kind, bringing together movers and shakers of the small business ecosystem in South Africa. Focusing on you, the entrepreneur in enabling and empowering your business to the next level with technology. You will gain insights into how technology enables your business to achieve operational efficiency, cost control and management. You’ll also have the opportunity to interact with experts in business, funding, incubation and management.

23 May 2017, 9AM The Aquarium, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town RSVP By email to: marketing@mtnbusiness.co.za Follow us #digitalideas

Fast Company promotion

Innovate with tech, or perish without it How MTN is equipping entrepreneurs with essential skills to run a digital business

Mandisa Ntloko is the marketing and communications specialist for MTN Business.

With over 20 years of work experience, she joined MTN Business in 2015 as general manager of enterprise marketing for South Africa.

Ntloko sat down with Fast Company SA to tell us more about the Digital Sustainability for Entrepreneurs concept and the Digital Entrepreneur Masterclass to be held in Cape Town in May.

Tell us about Digital Sustainability for Entrepreneurs by 2020.

The digital world is like water is to fish for entrepreneurs. The impact of technology as an enabler of businesses is changing and disrupting market dynamics, and the message is clear: Either innovate with it, or perish without it.

Entrepreneurs are all for doing more with less, thus they recognise digital is desirable, as it brings cost efficiencies, innovation and productivity. Small and medium enterprises are more likely to be attuned to the benefits of digital, and embrace it with more vigour from day one. There is an opportunity for them to reinvent their strategies and capitalise in the digital world. Most SMEs start their business

A helping hand “We know SMEs are going to be the economic growth of the future, and we’re here to support them every step of the way,” says Ntloko.

36 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

digitally, but it is the sustainability thereof that will be their biggest challenge.

There are some key drivers that show how and why entrepreneurs are adopting digital:  There is an exponential growth in the adoption of smart devices and continuous growth in the access to 3G or 4G networks—giving rise to e-commerce on the go.  Social media is constantly increasing in popularity; some businesses opt not even to have a web page, but will have at least a social media page or account.  Advancement made in analytic tools and technology is helping to bring analytics closer to business users, and not limiting it to statisticians and PhD holders.  The cloud enables businesses to deploy mobility and analytic solutions in a cost-effective manner, and reduces time to market.  In this digital era, automation and bots are now a reality, freeing up more time for business owners to focus on growing their business.

With the panel we are hosting at our Digital Entrepreneur Masterclass in Cape Town on May 23 at The Aquarium, we’ll be exploring how entrepreneurs can achieve sustainability in this digital era. We’ve invited influential speakers to come share their opinions and experiences in digital sustainability for SMEs. These include Samsung, FinFind, Google and Twitter, to name a few.

What type of audience are you aiming for?

SMEs in the growth stage, where technology will be an enabler to take their business to the next level.

How long will the masterclass be, and how does the duration reflect what you are trying to achieve?

The masterclass will be a day-long seminar, with keynotes in the morning and deep-dive breakaway sessions in the afternoon. The masterclass is highimpact and fast-paced to provide entrepreneurs with practical insights that they can action at the end thereof. We’ve invited some of the movers and shakers in the digital industry to come share their insights and experiences.

What are your thoughts on the future of digital entrepreneurship in South Africa?

There are lots of prospects and opportunities to come for digital entrepreneurship in South Africa. Digital literacy and accessibility is increasing daily, giving people the opportunity to disrupt and better the economy. e-Commerce is

becoming the norm as data accessibility becomes more affordable; this will be an enabler to ensure entrepreneurs successfully get their ideas and products out to the world. We know SMEs are going to be the economic growth of the future, and we’re here to support them every step of the way.

Digital literacy and accessibility is increasing daily, giving people the opportunity to disrupt and better the economy.

Why is the vision aligned toward 2020 in particular?

There are many emerging digital trends today that need time to mature. It would be fair to say that by 2020, these ‘trends’ will become a reality, if not the norm. Some of these trends to watch out for are:  Chatbots and the rise of instant interaction.  Technology facilitating intimacy with end users or clients.  A living legacy—living through the data you leave behind; it is the data that defines how we are being remembered.  Internet of Social Things—As trust with online peers increases, the acceptance of the Internet of Social Things will also increase.  Behaviour as currency—Sharing-economy businesses are held accountable wherever they are; it is critical to remain vigilant of how the behaviour of businesses is perceived, as businesses rely on this reputation more than ever.

These trends are driven by having trust in technology, the desire to build further relationships or connections, and the need for instant gratification.

Will this be an annual series of events moving forward, or a once-off concept?

This is an annual series of masterclasses. Digital moves at a very fast pace, so it is necessary to ensure we keep up to date, share our experience and that of our partners. We’ll keep exploring the possibilities and opportunities of how we can continuously enable and empower entrepreneurs to ensure they become the next generation of enterprises of the future.

What does the future hold?

We are focused on helping entrepreneurs to take their business to the next level. Technology is the enabler to their business to achieve operational efficiency, cost control and management—the economic growth of the future. Their business designs are digital in nature, blurring the line between the digital and physical worlds.

We promise to usher these businesses in an unprecedented convergence of people, business and things that disrupt and challenge the status quo of business models.

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38 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

VO I C E S W H E T H E R B U I L D I N G C U LT B R A N D S OR FIGHTING FOR A FAIRER JUSTICE SYSTE M, TH E S E V I S I O N A R I E S P R OV E T H AT C H A N G E C O M E S I N M A N Y F O R M S

SoulCycle’s Melanie Whelan, Casper’s Neil Parikh, and Drybar’s Alli Webb Page 40

Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal, and Union Square Hospitality Group’s Danny Meyer Page 44

PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi and Mehmood Khan Page 48

John Legend, DeRay Mckesson and other social-justice activists Page 52

Comedian Samantha Bee Page 58

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VOICES

CULT BRANDS TA K E OFF How Melanie Whelan of SoulCycle, Neil Parikh of Casper, and Alli Webb of Drybar turn ho-hum tasks into shareable phenomena

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Photograph by ioulex

From left: SoulCycle CEO Whelan, Casper cofounder and COO Parikh, and Drybar founder Webb

GUTTER CREDIT TK

In today’s economy, it isn’t enough to make great products—you have to inspire passion.

We gathered leaders from three of the most dynamic emerging cult brands—spin-class exercise chain SoulCycle, salon startup Drybar, and mattress-business disrupter Casper— to discuss how they think about their customers, their businesses, their competition and their culture. In this candid conversation, led by Amy Farley, the trio of leaders reveal how they cultivate love for their companies.

Art credit teekay

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VOICES

Each of your businesses has identified something that people consider a chore or a necessity, and made it fun. Neil, is that where you started: There must be a better way to buy a mattress?

NEIL PARIKH: Why does every block have a mattress store? You go in, there are orange walls, there are salespeople [who earn commissions], a thousand different options. It’s like buying a used car. It’s one of the worst experiences ever. Why does this exist? It just doesn’t make any sense.

ALLI WEBB: We didn’t invent blowouts; we just created a much better experience.

And we made it affordable.

M E L A N I E W H E L A N : SoulCycle is an experience. From the beginning, we have treated it as a live production. Every hour on the hour, it’s curtains up. You have an instructor who is trained to lead a class that’s not just a great physical workout but is really about challenging you to do better—on the bike, as well as in your life—and to share messages that leave you feeling stronger and more inspired.

When did you know that your concept was really connecting?

MW: We opened in Los Angeles in 2012, and I went out in 2013 for the one-year anniversary. People were [telling me], “You don’t understand what this means to me.”

Feeling the energy of those riders—I felt like I was outside of the community. I was like, “No, I work here, too!” That was the moment where we knew, Okay, we’ve got a national brand here and something that we can scale.

NP: When we were starting, people said, “No one’s going to buy a mattress online, and no one’s ever going to share that they bought a mattress online.” Then we got to, like, 10 000 unboxing videos [on YouTube].

AW: When we opened our first location in Brentwood [California], we had no idea what to expect. But that very first day, women were lining up. We quickly had to take down the walk-ins welcome sign. I was doing blowouts and trying to run the front desk, and it was just madness. We were like, “Holy shit, we’re on to something.”

We were all crying that first day.

SoulCycle and Drybar have employees— the fitness instructors and the stylists—whose personalities are part of the appeal of the brand. How do you channel their creativity while still creating a consistent experience?

42 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

M W: We always hire for attitude and aptitude, and less for experience.

For instructors, we want someone who can hold the energy of a space, who can lead a group of people, and who’s genuinely inspired by the music [they play in classes]. And then we’ll teach them everything there is to know about the SoulCycle method, the anatomy of the workout. When the people who work at SoulCycle feel ownership over the experience that they’re creating, they feel pride, and they’re going to bring a different level of energy. It’s freedom within a framework.

AW: So similar. Freedom in a framework, that’s a good way to put it. If [a customer is] in LA or New York or Dallas, we want her to know that she is getting a [blowout] the way it was meant to be. Once you have the fundamentals down as a stylist, though, then we want you to put your own signature on it.

Casper started by selling just one item: a mattress. Neil, how did you make sure you were making the right mattress?

NP: My co-founder Jeff [Chapin] spent 10 years at the innovation consultancy Ideo, and a lot of our design process is inspired by what he learnt there. One [aspect is] human-centred design. We watch how people are sleeping, figure out the problems they’re having, and determine the key insight. People generally love memory-foam beds, because they’re supportive for your back—but they sleep really hot, and they are bad for sex. You feel like you’re getting stuck inside of it. We realised that by adding latex to the top, you can keep it hyperbreathable and make it a lot bouncier. And because the materials are durable enough, you can put it into a box. We’re always trying to watch how people are behaving, design against it, and then add a little bit of zing at the end.

Alli, is there something that’s been particularly effective for getting people to come back to Drybar?

AW: One of the biggest pillars of our success is customer service. We really think we’re like a bar, so when people come in, you have to know their name and things about them. That creates loyalty. And I don’t know if this happens at SoulCycle, but there are times where, you know, we mess up. It’s that customer service of telling them, “We’re sorry. We know we made a mistake. Let us make it up to you.”

MW: The challenge that Alli and I in particular have is that this is a people-led, people-driven experience. Alli is very kind to say, “I’m not sure if it happens at SoulCycle.” It happens all the time. But we started with this foundation of hospitality, and we empower everyone at SoulCycle to make the call in the moment. We’re a culture of ‘yes’.

You might not have liked that playlist, but I’m going to find that ‘yes’ for you. That creates the entire vibe of the company. The fitness is really secondary. Everyone is trained to listen and make sure that the customer feels heard, which is ultimately mostly the problem.

AW: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire: If one woman had a bad experience, chances are that probably happened to a bunch of other women and they just didn’t tell us.

M W: If one person says it, 100 people think it. You have to find where those weak points are.

AW: In terms of marketing, we just try to be real. We call our voice “sophisticated whimsy”. We have to be really sensitive about [materials] that we send; we want people to be excited because there’s something fun or kitschy in there, which goes a long way toward keeping people interested in your brand. On the flip side, when we’re raising prices, I send a letter that says, “Our rent went up, our bills are going up.” And that’s the truth. We’re very transparent with our clients about everything that we’re doing, and I think that

Melanie Whelan CEO, SoulCycle

W hat she’s k now n for Whelan has helped grow the spin-class business into a national phenomenon with 70 studios and an estimated $175 million (R2.3 billion) in annual revenue.

Latest move SoulCycle has begun its international expansion, starting with Toronto in March and Vancouver to launch later in the year.

Neil Parikh Co-founder and COO, Casper

W hat he’s k now n for He and four colleagues founded Casper to disrupt the mattress biz; they’ve built it into a sleep-centric $200-million (R2.6billion) success.

Latest move Casper is expanding into new categories such as dog beds while fending off copycats.

Alli Webb Founder, Drybar

W hat she’s k now n for Webb has grown a $100-million (R1.34billion) business out of the most pleasurable, profitable part of a salon experience: the blowout.

Latest move A line of Drybar-branded hair-care products intended to extend the relationship with clients beyond visits to physical locations.

instils a lot of loyalty and brand equity. You may not like it, but we’re not hiding anything.

Speaking of sophisticated whimsy, Casper has nailed a certain playful voice in its ads and other marketing.

N P : Normally when you’d see advertisements from mattress stores, you think, “That’s not relevant to me; this is a nuisance. Why is it here?” We asked, “How can we design a series of advertisements so that for the six out of seven people who aren’t in the market, it’s at least going to be interesting? You’re going to see a storyline, you’re going to be engaged.

It reminds you, Oh, that’s how they think. That has carried throughout everything we do.

You don’t try to make people feel bad that they’re not getting enough sleep. Similarly, with SoulCycle, it’s all about health and fitness, but there’s no guilt involved. Is that something that you’re very conscious of when you’re talking about your products?

MW: We just try to make it fun. When in life do you get to disconnect from your device, disconnect from your computer, step into a room, and just listen to great music with people? You’re with your friends or you’re meeting new friends, and someone tells you that you can be stronger tomorrow than you are today. That’s compelling.

NP: It’s very much about fun. Because forever, we’ve been trained that sleep is a negative thing. “I’m cool because I only sleep four hours a night,” or, you know, “My parents punish me, and therefore I have to go to bed.” We’re trying to unwind a lot of that psychology and convince people that we should be proud of the fact that we want to sleep eight hours a night.

Because of your success, you each now have a lot of imitators.

Has your notion of who your competitors are changed as you’ve grown? Melanie, you have said that your biggest competition is actually Netflix rather than other fitness clubs.

M W: There are so many choices for how you spend your time, whether it’s an extra hour of sleep, an hour you’re going to spend getting your hair blown out, or an hour of an incredible Netflix series. So you press snooze one too many times and you miss your SoulCycle class in the morning. It’s our goal to be the best part of our riders’ days. It’s not really about the other competitor that’s in a market we’re going into.

How do we create an experience that truly is the best in the market so that you don’t press snooze in the morning?

How about you, Neil? Who is your competition and what’s your advantage?

NP: Our competition is still the corner store. Ninety percent of mattresses are still bought in person. The competitive advantage we’re seeking is, can we deliver an amazing experience over and over and over again?

Photographs by Melissa Golden

Whelan and Parikh use rigorous training, empowered customer service, and a bit of zing to elevate their businesses.

Webb named her salons Drybar, because she wanted to offer clients the friendly experience of a neighbourhood saloon.

The analogy I give to our customer experience team is, we’re trying to develop the Michelin-starred restaurant of companies. It’s easy—well, somewhat easy—to cook a meal in your own home once for your friends. To do that 500 times a day, or 5 000 times a day, 365 days a year, is a totally different problem.

When you care, when you have the right values, and when we can train people to do it over and over and over again, so that our millionth customer has the same—if not better—experience as our 10th one, that’s going to be the reason we win.

AW: We pay very close attention to our copycats and competitors. I used to lose a lot of sleep over it. We were new, this was a whole new category, and we didn’t know how big the opportunity was. The problem is when someone walks into, like, Sally’s Dry Bar, and they say, “I went to Drybar and it wasn’t that great.” That confusion in the market is frustrating.

How do you keep an experience-based model fresh? How do you keep people from getting tired of the concept?

MW: It’s about making sure that every experience is a little different. It’s personal, so the front desk saying, “I haven’t seen you in two weeks, Alli. Were you on the road?” And making the time for that real conversation and dialogue, not just a quick transaction. Then making sure that we have something in the room that’s going to surprise and delight them. We launch 14 retail collections every year. When you come in there’s something new—maybe a new bra, maybe a new sweatshirt—that excites people. We look for special experiences: live DJs, theme rides, community events. We’re very cognisant of it, because we do see our riders two to three times a week, so we empower our studio managers in each location to make those calls and design their own experience.

AW: Everybody always wants great hair. I don’t think it ever gets boring or old. When you know you’re going to Drybar later in the day, you’re kind of excited for how you’re going to look and feel.

That’s what we’re selling—that feeling. We always say that we’re not just selling blowouts, we’re selling happiness and confidence. As long as the experience is good and we’re treating you well, and you know that your hair is going to look great when you leave, you keep coming back.

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THE KINGS OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE How Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal and restaurateur Danny Meyer combine tech and human connection

44 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

Whether you’re arguing with your service provider or trying to rebook a flight, awful customer service encounters are a disheartening part of daily life. But Union Square Hospitality Group restaurateur Danny Meyer—who wrote the influential 2006 statement of customer-care purpose, Setting the Table—and Warby Parker’s Neil Blumenthal are helping inspire a new generation of companies to overhaul how they think about interacting with the public.

Meyer and Blumenthal have both turned their unusual philosophies into booming businesses with enormous loyalty, as they explain to Noah Robischon.

Photograph by ioulex

Blumenthal, left, and Meyer agree that one of the greatest gifts a business can give customers is time.

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How do you decide where and how to implement technology in your business? Danny, you’ve said that you’re going to have employees at the Union Square Cafe wear Apple Watches.

DA N N Y M E Y E R : First of all, the goal should not be to remove humans from the equation, but [to] empower human beings who actually have a beating heart and who are caring people to achieve a greater degree of hospitality. The moment you tell me that tech should be used to remove people, that’s just not something I want to be part of. Two kinds of employees will be outfitted with Apple Watches: managers and sommeliers. There is a gentle ping that could go from the manager to the front desk to say table 62 is ready. Or when a waiter places an order for a bottle of wine, the sommelier, who is wearing a watch, gets a ping and can bring you that bottle and save eight minutes. [Our] system can say table 42 has just paid their bill, and they can ping the coat checker and have your coats ready for you at the front door so you can be off.

The bottom line of all this is, can we give you back the gift of time?

Neil, you have been able to bring more people out of the back office to the front of the stores through your use of technology. How does that work?

N E I L B LU M E N T H A L : We view technology the same way. When we were opening our first brick-and-mortar stores, we started looking at all these point-ofsale systems, because we needed a way for people to check out. We couldn’t find a system that did everything that we envisioned, so we built one, [which] runs off of iPad Minis. We want to eliminate low-value interactions and amplify highvalue interactions. Asking somebody for their billing address, that’s a low-value interaction, and frankly, you’d prefer not to talk to a human being about that. But helping you select the right pair of glasses for your face is something that we want to engage with.

We spent a lot of time creating functionality that can get everybody who was at the back of the house to be on the floor, working and engaging directly with customers. We had timers, and we would say, “Okay, can we reduce time here?” We would look at that data

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and match it to our observations: Is somebody’s head down, looking at the screen? To Danny’s point, that’s a bad interaction.

Both of you have built personalisation into your businesses without allowing it to feel robotic or weird. How have you done that?

N B : Our customer-experience team is constantly looking for cues when they get an email, when they’re talking to someone on live chat.

There was an instance where [a customer] was live-chatting and made a few Lord of the Rings references, and [a Warby employee] recognised it and was like, “But I don’t know that much about Lord of the Rings,” grabbed another [employee], and they had a whole conversation. That’s a level of personalisation that doesn’t require technology. We have had instances where people start talking about Harry Potter and then maybe we’ll order them a Harry Potter scarf and send them the latest Harry Potter book. Going above and beyond, that creates these great moments. And your community loves you for it.

It’s also [about] having integrated teams that are constantly communicating. We respond to pretty much every tweet, unless somebody is saying something horrible about the world. Our social media team flagged a tweet [saying] that this customer was in love with one of our customer-experience associates, because she had helped him so much. She then recorded a short video on YouTube and sent him the link through Twitter. We thought it was just going to be this quick, special thing, but it kept getting retweeted. That video has over 30 000 views. [With] Twitter, you only have 140 characters and that’s really hard for a customer service interaction. We made it part of our playbook to record short videos, so suddenly a potentially challenging customer service interaction becomes a marketing tool, just because it’s a great customer experience.

Danny, Union Square Hospitality Group has been using a guestengagement software tool called Venga. How are you finding it helps your businesses?

DM: It’s fishing all the different lakes to collect as much relevant information as exists [on social channels] so that on a day-to-day basis we gauge what people are saying about our restaurants. It allows us to eavesdrop on conversations that are happening in public, and crystallises the feedback. It can give us actionable opportunities, or we might see a pattern. It could be that something needs to be addressed. In the old days, I wouldn’t learn about that until two weeks later when I got a snail-mail complaint, by which time this person has probably told 30 or 40 people how awful their experience was. [Now] we can address it in real time.

And by the way, we also get really good tweets, and that gives us a chance to play offence and go overboard. About a year ago or so, there was a couple doing what some people lovingly call a “Danny dinearound”. I don’t really call it that. But they had read Setting the Table and wanted to eat [one meal at every one of my restaurants]. They had planned this out just perfectly. They would not have time to go to Shake Shack, but they knew they could get it at JFK [airport] for their flight home. And they tweeted, “We’re crushed! No one told us that we were going to be in [the wrong terminal].” Well, the guys at Shake Shack picked that up in real time, tweeted back to them, and brought them their meal two terminals away. That ended up becoming a whole legend that they tweeted about forever.

How do you hire people who understand technology, but at the same time have qualities that make them extremely customer-friendly?

N B : We look for three things: people who are proactive, curious and passionate about Warby Parker. You have to be proactive, because

Danny Meyer CEO, Union Square Hospitality Group

W hat he’s k now n for Since opening New York’s Union Square Cafe in 1985, Meyer has built an influential food empire that includes dining staples such as Gramercy Tavern, Maialino, the Modern and Blue Smoke. He also founded beloved burger chain Shake Shack, which went public in 2015.

Latest move After eliminating tipping at some USHG restaurants as an experiment to help better compensate kitchen workers (who traditionally make less than front-of-the-house staff), Meyer’s company recently instituted four weeks of paid leave for full-time employees who become parents.

Neil Blumenthal Co-founder and co-CEO, Warby Parker

W hat he’s k now n for The eyeglasses-by-mail company he founded with three graduateschool classmates in 2010 has grown into a trendsetting retail leader that’s shaken up the eyewear business and is now valued at more than $1 billion (R13.2 billion).

Latest move With new stores up and running in Chicago and Detroit, the company now has 44 brick-andmortar outlets operating along with its still-popular e-commerce business.

stuff is changing and you have to be taking action. We are moving too fast for people to just wait for direction from their manager. We want to hire life-long learners, because [technology] is changing constantly. At Warby Parker, we say that we’re customer-focused but medium-agnostic. When we started six years ago, we primarily sold through desktop e-commerce. Now it’s primarily mobile commerce.

We have experimented with social commerce. We now have [more than] 40 stores. I don’t know what will be next. Maybe it will be virtual reality. People who are passionate about Warby Parker are passionate about creating a company that can scale, be profitable and do good in the world—without charging a premium for it. People who love fun, creativity, providing awesome customer experiences. That’s not something that is easily taught.

Danny, you also have a set of values for the Union Square Hospitality Group.

D M : We have identified a set of skills that are almost always present in someone who has what we call a high HQ—a hospitality quotient.

[These people] are kind and optimistic, intellectually curious, have an amazing work ethic and a high degree of empathy, are self-aware. [They are] motivated more than anything by the desire to make someone else feel better. We don’t know how to teach any of those things. What we teach is how to identify them and hire for them.

I hate to say it, but we’re all selling a commodity. I’m really proud of our food, and I know our chefs would be furious if they heard me say that any of what we sell is a commodity, but let’s face it: Whatever we cook, I bet you could find another handful of examples in this city that are at least as good. What you’re going to come back for—or not—is how we made you feel. We know that. Once we hire these people, we also then have to tell them how we expect them to behave, and those are [our] four family values: excellence, hospitality, entrepreneurial spirit and integrity.

Neil, it was announced recently that direct-to-consumer contact lens company Hubble Contacts raised more than

Photograph by Melissa Golden

Used strategically, Meyer and Blumenthal say, social media can provide customer service, yield intelligence and offer marketing opportunities.

$7 million (R93.0 million) in funding. Do you see yourselves getting into contacts or other products?

NB: We have been very focused on eyeglasses in particular, because it’s a massive industry. We received some pretty good advice early on: that if you stop to pick up every piece of gold along the way, you’ll never get to the end of the rainbow.

This is not to say that you won’t see us continue to expand into other categories or offer additional services, but it’s always about how we grow quickly while creating the infrastructure. I think you’ll continue to see diagnostic tools that help us get prescriptions easier, faster, less expensively. Five years from now, you’ll still need to go to the doctor to have other eye-health checkups, like glaucoma.

But when people want to renew their contact lens or eyeglasses prescription, they will be able to do that from home using a mobile device.

Here’s another eyeglass question, but for Danny. Augmented reality—glasses you can see through that provide digital information—do you see a time when servers . . .

D M : No. Why not?

D M : The first four gifts of hospitality we all got

within seconds of being born were eye contact, a smile, a hug and some pretty good food. With any transaction, people want to know that you see them. The surest line between your heart and the next person’s heart is eye contact. I just don’t want stuff getting in the way of that.

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FOOD FOR THOUGHT How PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi and chief scientist Mehmood Khan are steering their company to perform with purpose

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Photographs by ioulex

Developing healthier snacks is just part of Nooyi, left, and Khan’s plan for PepsiCo’s future.

PepsiCo recently revealed a new global corporate agenda that emphasises health and social accountability.

That may seem like a stretch for a company best known for hawking junk food, but chairperson and CEO Indra Nooyi and chief scientist Mehmood Khan say they’re committed to making their products healthier, empowering their employees, and encouraging environmental responsi­bility. Robert Safian talked to them about their ambitious plans.

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talking about is invention, not innovation. Innovation is when you take inventions and actually solve for a consumer need. There’s the consumer-facing innovation that we see on the shelf in the supermarket.

There is another on the back end: what products we make, where we get the ingredients, how we grow the agricultural components, how we distribute, how we manufacture. A key part of my role is how to put the jigsaw puzzle together. And the consumer is changing fast and increasingly telling us what they want—but not often in very clear terms.

Innovation is a word that is thrown around a lot. From your perspective, what is its definition?

I N D R A N O OY I : Anything that drives the top line of the company. Around the world, our categories are growing somewhere between 3% and 4%, which means that every year, if we want to maintain or gain [share] in the world, we have to grow our revenues somewhere between $2.5 billion (R33.2 billion) and $3 billion (R40 billion)—just to stay flat. And then our base erodes every year, because [some of our] products die. So our gross growth has to be about $5 billion (R66.5 billion) a year. That is a big challenge. So I have to innovate the hell out of the company. The magnitude of addition that we have to do to the top line just to hold share or gain a little globally is huge.

Um, do you sleep much at night?

I N : I don’t. And I’m emailing Mehmood

about how to get me things faster.

Mehmood, Indra says you’re the star of innovation. When it comes to this $5 billion number, is that on you?

MEHMOOD KHAN: [When we] think of technology and R&D, what we are really

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You just announced a new sustainable-growth agenda for Pepsi­Co: goals for 2025 based on three pillars. The first is “helping to improve health and well-being” through your products.

PepsiCo’s business has historically been built on sugary drinks and salty snacks. Doritos are delicious, but we don’t think of them as being healthy. Is there anything inauthentic about your trying to improve health and well-being?

I N : PepsiCo’s business is three pieces. It has fun-for-you beverages and snacks: Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Lay’s, Doritos, Fritos, Cheetos . . . I could go on. All the ’tos. [Laughs] The second is what I would call better-foryou: Diet Pepsi, Baked Lay’s, Baked Doritos. And then there’s the goodfor-you piece: Quaker Oats, Tropicana, Naked Juice. We are trying to take the fun-for-you portfolio and reduce the salt, sugar and fat. I didn’t create Pepsi Cola. I didn’t create Doritos or Fritos or Cheetos. I’m trying to take the products and make them healthier. And guess what they tell me? “Don’t be Mother Teresa. Your job is to sell soda and chips.” So this is not being disingenuous. We are trying to take a historical eating and drinking habit that has been exported to the rest of the world and make [it] more permissible.

To what extent is your job to teach consumers that we shouldn’t eat foods that aren’t as healthy, versus giving us products that we like?

M K : I may be a healthcare professional [Khan is an endocrinologist], but that is not my job now. My job is to take the best advice that exists and figure out how we can deliver products to consumers so they can make the right choices. We are doing our part. Everybody else has to do their part.

IN: We have to make sure that the healthier products, [like] Quaker and Tropicana, taste good and are reasonably priced—because you shouldn’t have to pay more for healthy products—and are ubiquitously available. Then we have to display them so that we nudge you to the healthier choices. Look, there is a time and place for the fun-for-you products. We are not nannies, and I don’t think we should be nannies.

Our job is to make sure that we put these products out on the shelf and make the labelling clear.

Let’s move to the second pillar: Protecting our planet.

I N : To me it’s personal, because I grew up in a highly water-distressed city in the south of India. We had maybe an hour of water in the morning and had to collect all we could so we could live. That city is still water-distressed, yet we have beverage plants there. And in many parts of the world that are water-distressed, we have facilities. So one of the pillars of our environmental sustainability is reducing the water use in our plants and figuring out how to make the whole community water-positive, bringing our technologies in there, passing on

Indra Nooyi Chairperson and CEO, PepsiCo

W hat she’s k now n for More than a decade after taking over as CEO of the food and beverage giant, the former PepsiCo CFO oversees such brands as Quaker, FritoLay, Gatorade and Tropicana—part of a broad portfolio that brings in more than $63 billion (R838.5 billion) in annual net revenue.

Latest move In November 2016, Nooyi expanded PepsiCo’s push into wellness-oriented products with the acquisition of KeVita, a California-based company that makes kombucha and other fermented probiotic drinks.

Mehmood Khan Vice chair and chief scientific officer, PepsiCo

W hat he’s k now n for An endocrinologist and former pharmaceutical executive, Khan is in charge of PepsiCo’s R&D efforts and oversees its various sustainability initiatives.

Latest move Last year, PepsiCo announced it would focus on reducing the sugar content of its drinks—something Khan has said is now easier to pull off due to recent scientific advances.

The goal is that by 2025, only a third of Pepsi’s beverages will contain more than 100 calories from sugar per 350ml serving.

We bring them into the company, they do very well in the early stages. And then what happens?

If they choose to get married and have kids, that’s the time they have to build a career, and most companies don’t have support systems that allow women to have a life and a livelihood. We almost force people to choose. And then women leave, or take a step back. For example, how do you take the kid to the paediatrician if the doctor is not

technologies to farmers so they can farm and water their crops in a way that is efficient [to help] conserve water.

Pillar three is empowering people around the world. Part of your agenda includes investing $100 million (R1.3 billion) to support women and girls. Why that specific focus?

I N : The goal is more expansive than just that. We want to create an environment in PepsiCo where every employee can bring their whole self to work—and not just make a living but also have a life. We have done a lot in terms of setting up day-care centres in our facilities, giving people maternity and paternity leave, giving people flextime. But we want to make sure that everybody in the world has a chance to come to work at PepsiCo, not just those lucky enough to get an education. Women and girls in particular are discriminated against in many, many countries.

We believe if you educate a woman, you educate society. And it improves our consumer base. So we are going to invest in every country to uplift women and girls. In Saudi Arabia, for example, in most of our quality-control labs there are only women working there. When you go to some of our manufacturing facilities, there is a wall [per religious law]. On one side of the wall the women are working; the other, the men. So we have created an environment where women [are able to] come to work.

Many large companies are bigger than countries. With our market cap, we are the 37th-largest republic in the world. And we have global governance, which many countries don’t, or many regions don’t. I think we have to do our part to bring our heft, and the fact that we have global governance to find ways to improve society wherever we are.

M K : We are committing to extend our code of conduct across our supply chain. One-third of all humans work on a farm. Most of them are women. And if we can impact the lives of women, it impacts the lives of the next generation, the local community—but they are [also] generating the economy at the village level, which then impacts across the whole system.

Indra, you’ve talked about the responsibility you feel as one of the few women running businesses as large as PepsiCo. That number doesn’t seem to be changing very rapidly. Why does this situation persist?

IN: More than 50% of people who are graduating from colleges, from professional schools, are women. And some of the top grades are being [earned] by women. So we don’t have an entry-level problem.

Chief scientist Khan leads PepsiCo’s effort to develop new products.

open Saturday or Sunday? If we don’t provide the support system when the employees are in their 30s and their 40s to allow them to have a family and work, there is no way we’re going to build a pipeline to the C-suite. It is a long-term problem.

We have to address it.

The second issue we have, and some people may not agree with me: I still think we hold women to higher standards than men. We still think that a woman has to prove herself by working 20% or 30% better than the man. In my case, when I was early in the workforce, it was 50% to 100% better than the men—at least the number has come down a bit, thank God. And we haven’t yet reached an equitable place in society. If that happens, then maybe women will have a much better shot at reaching the top of the organisation.

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Photographs by ioulex

From left: Clarence Wardell III, John Legend, DeRay Mckesson, Malika Saada Saar and Adam Foss

RETHINKING A BROKEN SYSTEM Five activists, including singer John Legend, debate the future of criminal justice reform and the role that tech and data can play MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 53

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Police shootings of unarmed African Amer­icans have inspired outrage, but that’s just one of many ways America’s criminal justice system is tilted against people of colour. Today, a growing movement is challenging structural racism that has millions of Americans in a cycle of incarceration.

We gathered leaders from different parts of this fight—singer John Legend, who founded the “Free America” campaign; activist DeRay Mckesson; former prosecutor Adam Foss; previous Barack Obama administration data expert Clarence Wardell III; and Malika Saada Saar, Google’s senior counsel on civil and human rights—for a conversation with JJ McCorvey.

You each have a distinct perspective on criminal justice reform. Broadly speaking, what is the way forward for the movement?

JOHN LEGEND: We have to understand that while we talk about criminal justice and presidents and national politics, most criminal justice decisions that affect real people are made by district attorneys, state legislatures, governors—people on the local and state level. Most of the prison system, the budget, and the actual population of the system are not federal. Presidents and Congress effect federal law, but so much

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of the law that affects criminal justice policy and the communities that are impacted by it is done by state and local politicians. We have to be aware of what they’re doing and push them. We have to get involved in DA [district attorney] races, mayoral races, and police commissioner and sheriff races.

ADAM FOSS: To put some numbers to it, 2.3 million people are in jail and prison, and 10% of those people are in federal prisons. So 2 million people are in state and local jails, put there by state and local prosecutors and overseen by state and local sheriffs.

DERAY MCKESSON: As for the issues around policing, what’s really hard is that there’s not much data. Any number you’ve ever heard about police violence comes from local media reports. That means if you get killed in America and no newspaper writes about it, you are not in the data set.

That is wild.

Malika, you recently joined Google and have been working on many of these issues. What role should tech companies play in rebuilding trust between communities and police?

MALIKA SAADA SAAR: We like to disrupt, and if anything needs to be disrupted, it’s mass incarceration. One very powerful and practical approach companies can take is banning the box [removing questions from employment applications about whether people have been convicted of crimes]. [Google] did in March [2016]. I heard someone say that culture always eats policy, law and regulations. So how can we be part of this cultural shift in understanding the human cost of mass incarceration? At Google, we enabled children of the incarcerated to send digital love letters to their mothers for Mother’s Day, to their fathers for Father’s Day. It was this opportunity to use our platform to give voice to children who have been so deeply hurt because they’ve lost their mother or father to prisons.

John, you’ve been touring the country and visiting prisons, listening to what inmates have to say. What have been some of the most surprising insights?

JL: I grew up with family members and friends who have been incarcerated. I didn’t look at this problem as something that wasn’t connected to my own lived experience. But I wanted to go and see the human toll for myself and be able to communicate that. We just disappear these people from society. Most prisons are pretty distant physically from our cities, which makes it easier for society to ignore that we have so many people warehoused in them. Families are having a hard time reaching them physically, and the emotional toll, the financial cost for our society and our communities, is tough to watch. I would cry but also be very pissed off. We need to get pissed off. We need to understand that what we do in America is radically oppressive. We are the leading incarcerator in the world. There’s nobody better at locking people up than we are. We need to confront that, because that’s being done in our name. Our money pays for it; our politicians are enacting these laws. If that’s what the land of the free and the home of the brave is known for, why aren’t we saying more to do something about it?

Many people are sentenced to jail and prison for low-level offences.

That makes me think about the movement to decriminalise marijuana. Most of the people who are able to start businesses based on these new regulations are not people of colour, and simultaneously we have many people of colour behind bars on marijuana charges. Will the legalised marijuana movement ever get more inclusive?

JL: I hope so. California is trying to do a better job than some other states at making it possible for people who were arrested on marijuana charges

DeRay Mckesson Activist

W hat he’s k now n for Mckesson is one of the key voices of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Latest move He is co-founder of policy group Campaign Zero.

Malika Saada Saar

Senior counsel on civil and human rights, Google

W hat she’s k now n for The lawyer is a passionate advocate for women and girls.

Latest move Saada Saar is convening summits on justice reform.

Adam Foss

Founder, Prosecutor Integrity

W hat he’s k now n for His 2016 TED Talk on the power of prosecutors in the justice system explained how DAs could effect fairer outcomes.

Latest move Prosecutor Integrity will put his words into action.

Clarence Wardell III

Digital-services expert

W hat he’s k now n for The data analyst helped lead President Obama’s White House Police Data Initiative.

Latest move Wardell has been serving as a member of the US Digital Service.

about the evidence almost never happens. The DA has the power to be more merciful or more harsh.

Adam chose in his career as assistant district attorney to think about the consequences of locking people up for a long time, and he was able to improve some people’s lives who may not have had that chance if he wasn’t involved.

CLARENCE WARDELL III: What you measure drives a lot of behaviours. As a country, we’re okay with collecting crime data, but we’re not good at talking about the presence of justice rather than the absence of crime. That’s how people think policies like stop and frisk are okay. We’re only looking at one side of the equation. We’re not good at collecting all the data and understanding it right now.

to get their records expunged and be able to participate in the legal economy that they were participating in when it was illegal. All the states need to take on similar regulation.

AF: It’s a grave injustice that what five years ago was getting people sent away for double-digit sentences is now a cutting-edge, moneymaking machine.

Adam, I imagine you’ve had to make a lot of these decisions as a former prosecutor. What can be done to encourage prosecutors to pursue alternatives to prison sentences for low-level crimes?

AF: I want to talk about what you ended the question with: low-level crimes. There’s this narrative about low-level, non-violent drug offenders.

We’ve been saying it for years: Let’s let those people go free. When do we start talking about populations of people that maybe did something violent—not because they are violent people, but because they lived in a place where their day-to-day was consumed by violence, their conditioning since they were kids was kill or be killed? In a flash, they do something violent, but that doesn’t make them ‘violent offenders’.

As a prosecutor, we have a ton of autonomy, but we don’t know anything about the populations we’re serving. We don’t know anything about where they come from, or the collateral consequences of conviction. It’s a training issue, and on the back end it’s a metrics issue.

When my boss was considering me for a promotion, he didn’t see how much time I’d spent out in the community, because we don’t collect that data. He wanted to see how many trials I had, and how many of those I won. Neither one of those equates to anything about safety or justice or accountability. When we start giving people different metrics, people can be evaluated not by how many trials you won, but by how many people’s lives you made better. That will be a 21st-century system of prosecution.

DM: Most cases don’t even go to trial. Our televised myth of how criminal cases proceed is Matlock and Perry Mason and Law & Order—this dramatic situation that goes down. But most of the time someone like Adam is just deciding, sometimes with a public defender or whatever counsel that the accused has, at which level to charge them. Most of the power is in the district attorney’s hand. The judge just kind of puts their stamp of approval on whatever the district attorney decides. A back and forth

What are some of the ways that data collection could be improved?

From left: Mckesson, Saada Saar, Foss and Wardell work on different aspects of justice reform, but align around the role that better data can play in spotting problems and signalling solutions.

CW: Oh, man. One of the things that worries us

in this push for more data transparency and collection is how we analyse and use this data.

Right now, the conversation immediately goes to things like predictive policing. But even if we were to say, “Tomorrow all the police departments will share their data,” is that even good stuff? The tools that a lot of police departments have are rudimentary. As we collect more data, we need to be cautious about where we’re getting it from, what type of biases are inherent in it already—and then if we’re smart about that, maybe we can make some better decisions.

MSS: I work at Google, so we have to talk about data; but before I came to Google, I was a human rights lawyer working on issues of women and girls behind bars. Those stories, those lived experiences, have to be part of the conversation. I worked with

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women who were shackled during labour and childbirth. I talked to one woman who, when she was transported from Kentucky to Tennessee, at seven months pregnant, had a belly shackle over her during transport. Our girls—our daughters—who are bought and sold for sex are criminalised, arrested for prostitution, even though they are not of age to consent. These girls are put behind bars for essentially being subjected to commercial serial rape, and they’re disproportionately black and brown. When we talk about overcriminalisation of our youth, when we talk about the consequence of mass incarceration on our children who are black and brown, we don’t talk about these girls. We don’t talk about what they have experienced. We don’t talk about the sexual-abuse-toprison pipeline that is the girls’ story. Yes, we need the data, without question, and we need data that doesn’t reproduce bias. But we also need to be able to bear witness to women and girls whose lives are broken because they are criminalised.

AF: When I came in as a prosecutor, I was just as equipped to be a tax attorney; I just went to the DA’s office. I received no training—just thrown into a courtroom. It’s like, “Here you go, use what you learnt on television and what the person who started six months ahead of you is telling you. . . .” We’d get these cases, like a young girl who was in Target, shoplifting with a bunch of older men. And I look at this case and I’m like, I’m going to divert your case because I’m a progressive prosecutor, I’m going to give you some community service, and see you later. Another prosecutor may put her on a path to state prison.

Neither one of us was talking about all the red flags that this girl was being trafficked. It wasn’t until my fifth year as a prosecutor that I learnt human trafficking didn’t mean that there were bands of women coming over the border from El Salvador and being sold. It was happening in my neighbourhood. That’s an opportunity that we have in a data-driven, solution-oriented system. You need to learn this stuff before you even walk onto the job. We just didn’t know that trafficking was a thing that we could be stopping—not by punishing these girls for shoplifting but by saying, “Aha, here’s a clue.”

JL: Nearly every woman we met when we visited prisons was a victim of some sort of abuse.

MSS: Ninety percent.

I want to go back to use of force and technologies that can be used to hold police accountable. We saw in the recent shootings of Alton Sterling and Paul O’Neal that officers’ body cameras failed to capture footage of the incidents; a bystander’s smartphone did.

When Boston tried to start a pilot programme for wearing body cameras, it was voluntary—and not a single officer volunteered.

What needs to change about the way these potential solutions are implemented? If it’s not body cameras, what other technologies can we use to help hold law enforcement accountable?

DM: The activist community is split on body cameras. Some people feel like it’s another form of surveillance in communities. The reason [some] people support it is that there’s never been an officer held accountable without video, whether it was the body camera or a dash cam or cellphone. Without video, it’s like it didn’t happen, right? So we think that is important.

What I would say about the data piece is that there’s so much data that’s already out there that we haven’t figured out how to assemble yet. Right now there’s no public database of all the elected officials in the country. Doesn’t exist. There’s no public database of bail. You can’t find: How did judge X set the bail in communities? The bail

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John Legend Musician, activist

W hat he’s k now n for The singer-songwriter has won 10 Grammys and an Academy Award.

Latest move In December, he released his fifth studio album, Darkness and Light.

amounts are public—they are in court documents somewhere—but we haven’t figured out how to aggregate that stuff. It’d be interesting to think about how we do that. My organisation, Campaign Zero, created the first public database of use-offorce policies in police union contracts. We had to FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] all the police departments and put [the information] in one place. It was 2016 when we did that. Late to the game, but nobody had done it before.

JL: There are a lot of things that we aren’t very good at collecting that would be useful for policymakers to know, and for the community to know to hold them accountable. What kind of charges did the district attorney recommend? And then, if [the accused] gets locked up, how long did he or she serve, and what percentage of their original sentence?

DM: But we know the rainfall in every city in America. Pizza Hut knows where your pizza is.

AF: To give some real-life experience why that is: When I went to ask for bail for somebody in a courtroom, I’d write it down on a manila folder with a ballpoint pen. That manila folder would stay in my file cabinet until the case was over. That information was never input anywhere. After the case was disposed, it went into a box that went downstairs, and after five years that box went somewhere else. Five more years later, that box was destroyed. It’s inertia. It’s this idea that we don’t have the resources to give me an iPad in the courtroom so that when I’m inputting bail, as soon as I write out what my bail is going to be, it’s going somewhere and it’s staying there.

MSS: I was trained that you always document so you can make sure that the world will bear witness to the human rights abuses committed. One of the reasons I’m excited about being a human rights lawyer working in tech is because we can bear witness in ways that were unimaginable before.

Our mobile devices have changed the conversation around police brutality, and that has become a public-square conversation. We are now able to use technology to bear witness to each other’s lives, to document abuse not just within one community, or one country, but in a global context—and then share it on these global platforms. I think about what happened in Ferguson, or Baton Rouge. Technology is about being borderless. It’s about surmounting walls. If the 20th century was the history of how walls and boundaries define us and diminish us in so many ways, the 21st century is about how we can surmount those walls. Tech is part of what allows us to do that. Every human rights abuse, every genocide, every act of rape, every war crime happens in an atmosphere of isolation and silence.

Tech allows us this powerful opportunity to disrupt that silence, to disrupt that isolation, so that we understand what’s happening.

E X P R E S S Y O U R S E LF The chart-topping singer is expanding his vision through film and philanthropic work

As a TV and film producer, you’ve made series such as Underground, about the Underground Railroad, and you’re developing a film based on the mixed-race general who inspired The Count of Monte Cristo. How do you decide which projects to pursue?

I start with my own background: I was an English major and also concentrated in African-American literature, history and culture. Even as a young person, I used to read a lot about Frederick Douglass and Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King Jr. Everything we do has some connection to that interest of mine and the interests of my team. As an artist, what I want to do is bring light, inspiration and beauty into the world. Music is the main way I do that, but our film company is trying to do that as well.

On the philanthropic front, you started Free America to end mass incarceration. What made you decide to tackle that issue?

I’ve always been someone who thinks a lot about social justice and how we can make the world better, how we can look at issues like poverty and education and criminal justice reform to make people’s lives better, particularly in the black community. One issue I spend a lot of time thinking about is, how do we make our schools better? As I spent time with young people, I realised that for a lot of them, their fathers were disappearing from the communities and from their families. We are able to raise money and get a lot of interest in helping them with school, but once kids get in trouble—once they get caught up in the criminal justice system—then all of our sense of philanthropy disappears and we just let society give up on them. I told my team I want to add a new focus to our plate, this issue of mass incarceration.

Legend says that the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates inspired him to learn more about the American criminal justice system, and how it works compared with those of other countries.

You haven’t hidden how angry you are about these issues.

The more I learn, the more upset I get—but also the more it makes me want to do something. As I’ve grown more radical, I’ve also gained more knowledge and more influence. I don’t want to just be mad. I want to actually make things better.

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LEADING

VOICES

LI FTI N G THE C U R TA I N Daily Show vet Samantha Bee brings her unique voice — and management style —to her own comedic enterprise

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Photograph by ioulex

Bee understands that if her writers are passionate about a topic, the audience will respond.

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LEADING

VOICES

Full Frontal could not have launched at a more opportune time. How do you plan to keep the momentum going now that the presidential campaign is over?

We are going to have another presidential election in 2017. Is everybody on board? Let’s do it. No, the election has wrung us out.

The host of TBS’s weekly news-satire show, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, arrived on the job in 2016 after spending almost 12 years at The Daily Show.

By November, Full Frontal was matching The Daily Show in the ratings. Managing a team of her own was something Bee had never done before, so she had to learn fast, as she explains to KC Ifeanyi.

You had a long career before hosting your own show. What was it like stepping into a leadership role?

I didn’t expect to have to think so much about leadership! At the beginning, it was just me and [head writer and showrunner] Jo Miller and [executive producer] Miles Kahn, and we would just laugh and send each other crazy emails. We still have a pretty tight staff, but when you’re trying to create a comedy show, which is a tremendous amount of work, you actually have to manage people, and think about their lives, and make their lives livable, and think about their feelings, and manage their relationships. That was very new to me and has been the greatest learning curve. I don’t think I always succeed at it, but I always am trying to do better.

You have a blind hiring process, which has resulted in a very diverse writers’ room.

Most shows now do. I think we moved the needle on that even further.

We did a lot of outreach. You have to call people and say, “Hey, who do you know who is not working professionally but is a professional-calibre writer? Who do you know who has promise?” It’s not like an open call that you put at the back of the New York Post. You have to kind of know somebody. And because it was blind, we didn’t know your gender, we didn’t know anything about you. We felt that was a very fair way to receive submissions. You can’t just hire people who are exactly the same as you. It enriches your life to bring people into your workplace who aren’t a carbon copy of you and your experiences.

How do you take those different points of view and funnel them through this one lens, with you as the host?

If [writers] have a particular passion, they need to find a way to pitch that story that communicates that passion, and then we’ll be attracted to it and we’ll want to tell that story, too. Letting people explore the things that they are truly interested in has been extremely fruitful for us. I think you feel that on the show.

Chris Rock recently said he didn’t really relate to your show.

Well, I think Chris Rock is very funny, so I don’t know what’s happening!

That’s fine. It’s not for him, that’s okay.

Do you ever worry about not reaching some people?

I don’t worry about reaching people at all. It’s the last thing we think about.

We are serving ourselves, trying to make a show that we like, that we find satisfying—that at the end of the day we feed to TBS and go, “That was good! Done!” I’m sure the network is like, “Well, we think about it all the time.” But you can drive yourself crazy. When you’re making art—yes, I said it was art—when you’re making a creative product, if you think too much about who it’s for and who is going to like it, it becomes impure somehow.

What lessons did you take away from The Daily Show?

I developed a confidence over the years. TBS has never tried to squash our voice. They’ve never told us to modulate our tone. Never. But [early on], it was a big topic of discussion: “How will your show be different from The Daily Show?” And I was like, “I don’t know, I just know that it will be.”

Because I see the world differently.

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Samantha Bee Host, Full Frontal With Samantha Bee

What she’s known for Bee was the longestserving regular corres­ pondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, where between 2003 and 2015 she tackled topics ranging from the supposed war on Christmas to women in combat to Sarah Palin. Last February, the Canadian-born sketch-comedy veteran launched Full Frontal With Samantha Bee, which won praise for its searing political commentary and high-calibre interviews with Barack Obama and other world leaders.

Latest move Last July, Full Frontal was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Series, and by the end of its first season, it was averaging 3.3 million viewers per episode.

Season 2 debuted in February on TBS. Bee is also the creator and executive producer—along with her husband Jason Jones, who stars—of the TBS comedy series The Detour, which also returned for another season in February.

WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS

THE GREAT TRANSITION

HOW NEW TECHNOLOGIES WILL ALLOW PEOPLE, PARTICULARLY SOUTH AFRICANS, TO DO MORE WITH LESS AND SOLVE PRESSING PROBLEMS

BY STEVEN LANG

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WORLD-CHANGING IDEAS

T H E R E ’ S A C U LT U R A L LAG PERSISTENT IN TO DAY ’ S WO R LD. THE CONFLUX OF OLD A N D E S TA B L I S H E D I N S T I T U T I O N S T H R E AT E N S TO KEEP OUR SOCIETY IN PERPETUAL LIMBO, EVER ADHERENT TO OLD D O C T R I N E S , O U T DAT E D SOCIAL SYSTEMS AND ECONOMIC MODELS T H AT B E N E F IT T H E ‘ONE PERCENT’ MORE AND MORE. The rapid rise in technology is bringing about a process called ephemeralisation: the ability to do more and more with less and less. What this means in the short term is a decrease or displacement in the workforce due to technological unemployment—but seeing the bigger picture, it means working fewer hours, having jobs that have a more direct impact on humanity, and a quality of life that was once the stuff of fiction.

The United Nations has reported that robots will replace two-thirds of jobs in the developing world in the near future. Many economists are advocating a universal basic income plan to help mitigate the consequences of technological unemployment. The move from human labour to mechanised automation has already begun.

Transition brings doubt and uncertainty, but once the benefits of increased automation are realised and embraced, those fears will begin to subside and humanity will grow.

From machines that manufacture entire houses in under a day, to a transportation system that can take you from New York to Beijing in under two hours, here follow some examples of emerging world-changing technologies that seek to shake up the status quo and perhaps bring about a new type of work.

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ROBOTIC R E S TA U R A N T S The year is 1902 and a new craze has hit the bustling streets of New York City: the automat.

The idea is simple: Precooked food—from pastries to pastas to coffee and tea—is locked in glass cabinets which, for a nickel, you can open and grab a dish. It’s practical, efficient and easy, an idea pioneered in the US by Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart after having seen how popular the concept was in Berlin.

Fast-forward to 1991 and the last of the automats closes. Its decline is due to the increase in fast-food companies that offer flexibility in orders and payments. The high rise of inflation around the 1970s had made payment with coins impractical. The last remaining auto-mats at the time are kept around strictly for nostalgia, much like the diners of the 1950s.

Fast-forward even further to the new millennium, and a new contemporary form of the automat is beginning to take hold: the robot restaurant. In 2009, Kenji Nagoya opens his automated ramen noodle restaurant in Japan, with robots that make all the meals in plain view of customers— turning out an average 80 bowls of soup on a busy day. “The benefits of using robots instead of chefs include the accuracy of timing in boiling noodles, and precise movements in adding toppings, and consistency in the taste,” explains Nagoya. FuA-Men (which stands for “Fully Automated raMen”) does still need humans to prepare soup stock and take payments, but one can imagine that this, too, will disappear when the cost of human labour outweighs the cost of automation.

In 2012, Genki, also in Japan, enables customers to place all their sushi orders on a tablet while sitting at their table, surrounded by whisper-quiet conveyor belts. Within minutes of placing their order,

Grab ‘n’ go At Dalu Restaurant in China, robots serve food and drinks on trays in a conveyor belt–style setup.

their food arrives on the belt—no interaction with any persons. When finished, patrons simply place their dishes in a slot, which are then automatically sent into the dishwashers. This type of restaurant soon becomes known as a kaiten (“rotation”) sushi bar, and eventually makes its way to the US and the rest of the world.

Today, there’s Eatsa: a California-based restaurant opened in 2015 that’s the modern-day equivalent to the automat. Customers place their order for a customised quinoa bowl (similar to the Korean rice bowl) on an iPad, the cooks in the back prepare it, and within a few minutes the dish is waiting for you behind a transparent LCD–screen box with your name displayed on it. No nickel or human interaction required. The

bowls are all vegetarian, with quinoa that’s cheaper and more environmentally sustainable than meat.

Taking things a step further, Domino’s in Brisbane, Australia has recently introduced DRU: the world’s first autonomous delivery vehicle that can travel up to speeds of 20km/h and navigate footpaths, trails and bike paths independently with its built-in laser sensory system.

A temperature-controlled box keeps pizzas hot and drinks cold, and rises from inside the device after the customer inputs a unique security code.

There have been several protests throughout the world in the past few years regarding the low pay that service-industry workers are

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Pay up, please When automation eliminates most of the jobs people can do, we will have to re-evaluate how we make an income.

being forced to endure— getting wages that are barely above the poverty line, for working in a fast-paced environment with often rude, impatient customers. But 30% of the budget goes toward employees’ pay, so it’s no wonder CEOs of major fastfood establishments are considering automation.

Former McDonald’s CEO Donald Thompson has said that, “[We want to] make it easier for customers to order and pay for food digitally, and to give people the ability to customise orders.”

In 2014, Momentum Machines released details about its robot that could make a burger, with all the desired toppings, in 10

seconds. With the nearly 30% drop in third-quarter profits at McDonald’s, the idea of a robot able to assemble burgers that quickly starts looking very appealing.

This process of reducing labour, cost and increasing efficiency is the future of not only the fast-food industry but most others that require manual human labour. Ephemeralisation could

disrupt the global economy like never before. When automation eliminates most of the jobs people can do, we will have to re-evaluate how we make a living and how income is received. Momentum Machines cofounder Alexandros Vardakostas pulled no punches when he stated: “Our device [burger robot] isn’t meant to make employees more efficient—it’s meant to completely obviate them.”

Welcome to the Future, may I take your order?

Other robotic restaurants around the world that are replacing their human servers

Hajime Robot Restaurant Bangkok, Thailand After ordering food using a touchscreen system, dancing Samurai robots serve your food and later pick up your dirty dishes.

KFC National Exhibition and Convention Centre, Shanghai, China Dumi, a voice-activated robot, takes orders and is able to handle changes and substitutions (although it still has trouble distinguishing between certain dialects and accents).

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Haohai Robot Restaurant Harbin, China Twenty robots welcome, cook (noodles and dumplings etc.), serve and sing for guests while moving along a floor track. They can show more than 10 different facial expressions.

Pizza.com Multan, Pakistan A robotic waitress (developed by the owner’s son) greets diners and navigates to the tables to take orders, returns to the counter and then serves the food.

Dalu Robot Restaurant Jinan City, China Robot receptionists and dancers greet customers, while a dozen others serve food and drinks on trays in a conveyor belt–style setup.

Robot Kitchen Hong Kong, China One robot takes meal orders and sends these by infrared to the cooks in the kitchen, while a second robot serves and then collects plates on a tray. A third articulated electronic arm in the kitchen flips burgers and prepares omelettes.

Royal Caribbean International Guests aboard this cruise line’s latest ships are served drinks by two robots (basically robotic arms) at the Bionic Bar. They can muddle, stir, shake and strain all types of drinks.

Pizza Hut Select stores in Japan In a new pilot programme powered

by MasterCard’s MasterPass, diners can interact with a humanoid robot named Pepper, simply by greeting him and either tapping an icon within the MasterPass digital wallet or scanning a QR code on a tablet.

Audacious but achievable To boldly go . . .

The Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE aims to create a portable, wireless device that allows one to diagnose diseases quickly and accurately.

R E A L- LI F E TRICORDER Trekkies will remember Dr Leonard McCoy’s handheld device that he used to scan a patient and give a diagnosis instantly. Well, we may soon have an actual working version of this Star Trek–inspired technology.

The Qualcomm Tricorder XPRIZE, a $10-million (R136-million) global competition, aims to “turn science-fiction into science reality” by creating technology that allows a patient to diagnose a set of diseases accurately without a healthcare professional present. A portable, wireless device that fits in the palm of one’s hand—a Tricorder.

The winning tech (no heavier than 2.2kg) should be able to diagnose 10 health conditions including anaemia, diabetes and pneumonia, as well as three elective conditions such as HIV, hypertension and strep throat; it should also be able to check the five vital signs of blood pressure, heart rate, oxygen saturation, respiratory rate and temperature. These metrics should be able to be uploaded to the Internet and sent to a doctor.

When one thinks about the high cost of healthcare services, especially in the US where these costs are higher than in most developed countries, the need for at-home monitoring and diagnosing has never been greater. Add to this the alarming rate of preventable illnesses and an ever increasing global population that deserves basic healthcare, and the Tricorder becomes a crucial innovation.

At the time of writing, the Qualcomm XPRIZE competition had narrowed down the field to two teams from an initial count of 40 (300, if you count those who pre-registered), with the winner to be announced in the second quarter of 2017.

Dynamical Biomarkers Group from Taiwan has developed a system of three modules—Smart-Vital Sense, Smart-Blood Urine Test Kit, and Smart Scope—to allow for intuitive, user-friendly testing. The metrics are sent to a smartphone app that generates a diagnosis. “In Taiwan, a lot of problems will relate to the liver, and with this platform

we can actually include the technology that would normally require many experts from different disciples,” explains director CK Peng. “Basically, there are sensors that are put on the body, like EKG and [sensors to measure] body temperature, respiration etc. These vitals are then sent to the smartphone app and, using an algorithm, [it] detects certain types of diseases.”

The team from the US, aptly called Final Frontier Medical Devices, has developed a system called DxtER, which includes a collection of non-invasive customdesigned sensors to collect data about the person’s health and upload that information to one’s healthcare provider. “The majority of patients coming into the ER are just looking for a diagnosis,” says team leader Basil Harris. “If they had this at home, they could get that information when they require it and make better decisions about their health.”

The Qualcomm Tricorder is but one of the global competitions being run by XPRIZE (see sidebar, right).

“We believe that solutions can come from anyone, anywhere, and that some of the greatest minds of our time remain untapped, ready to be engaged by a world that is in desperate need of help. Solutions.

Change. And radical breakthroughs for the benefit of humanity,” say the organisers.

Millions are dying throughout South Africa, because they can’t afford the transport cost to a hospital or clinic, nor the services of a healthcare professional, nor the medication to treat them. In 2015, 162 445 people died due to HIV–related complications, and one of the two leading underlying natural causes of death among South Africans in 2015 was diabetes (the other being tuberculosis). If the technology were readily available to diagnose such conditions and other noncommunicable diseases early enough, the number of lives that could be saved would be immense.

Three other active XPRIZE competitions to solve the world’s grandest challenges

Google Lunar XPRIZE $30 million (R412 million) Quest: For engineers, entrepreneurs and innovators from around the world to develop low-cost methods of robotic space exploration.

Contest: Successfully place a spacecraft on the moon’s surface; have it travel 500m, and transmit HD video and images back to Earth.

Final teams: SpaceIL (Israel), Moon Express (US), Synergy Moon (International), TeamIndus (India), Hakuto (Japan) Shell Ocean Discovery XPRIZE $7 million (R96 million) Quest: To push the boundaries of ocean technologies by creating solutions that advance the autonomy, scale, speed, depths and resolution of ocean exploration, in order to fully map the ocean floor.

Contest: Explore the competition area (at depths of 2 000m and 4 000m) and produce a highresolution bathymetric map; images of a specified object; and identify archaeological, biological or geological features.

Final teams: To be chosen from 21 semifinalists in December 2017 nrg Cosia Carbon XPRIZE $20 million (R275 million) Quest: To develop breakthrough technologies that will convert CO2 emissions from power plants and industrial facilities into valuable products like building materials, alternative fuels and other items used every day.

Contest: Demonstrate technologies first in a controlled environment (such as a laboratory) using a simulated power-plant flue gas stream—consistent with emissions from a coal or natural-gas power plant—then at a larger scale under real-world conditions.

Final teams: To be chosen from 25 semifinalists in February 2018

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E VAC UAT E D T U B E TRANSPORT From the Ford Model T and airplanes, to buses and taxis, to autonomous cars—and now a very-high-speed vacuum tube train.

Is further disruption in the transport industry on its way?

Evacuated Tube Transport Technologies (ET3) was founded by Daryl Oster from La Salle, Colorado. His aim? “Space travel on Earth”: connecting the world via evacuated transport tubes, with car-sized capsules that can reach a speed of around 6 500km/h for international travel. “It will eventually start off at slower speeds but, if it’s built to the same standard in every country, it could eventually be networked together on a global basis at [6 500km/h],” Oster said back in 2013.

“So a person could travel from New York City, up across Canada, across the Bering Strait to Beijing, China in only two hours’ time.”

Magnetic levitation (maglev) technology is used to propel the passenger capsules inside a vacuum tube. “Air is permanently removed from the two-way tubes that are built along a travel route. Linear electric motors accelerate the capsules, which then coast through the vacuum for the remainder of the trip using no additional power.

Most of the energy is regenerated as the capsules slow down. ET3 can provide 50 times more transportation per kilowatt than electric cars or trains,” states the ET3 website.

While studying engineering at Walla Walla University in Washington, Oster tried to calculate the drag of various shapes by putting them into a wind tunnel. He noticed something odd: The higher the drag shape, the less resistance it encountered.

Certainly, something with a greater drag shape would be slower.

He then calculated that the air density figure was way off. Simply by eliminating the density figure to zero, he realised: What if we made tunnels and took out the air?

Oster’s evacuated tube transport is “an environmentally responsible proposal to solve the transportation dilemma, using moderately priced technologies and existing manufacturing capacities.” Carbonproducing methods of transportation like cars and planes would be used less often. The world could open up for everyone, as the projected cost of a trip from New York to Beijing would be a mere $100 (R1 300).

Shorter trips around a single country would undoubtedly be much, much cheaper and take a fraction of the time. “The developing nations now, the impoverished who cannot directly access markets, will have accessibility and will be able to sustainably enjoy a standard of living that we enjoy in [the US] without all the pressures on the environment,” stated Oster at the 2013 Zeitgeist Day in LA. There are, however, still problems with the technology. For example, because the tubes allow for very little curvature (sharp curves cause passenger discomfort), they could cut straight through potentially protected lands, crops etc. The costs associated with building such a system isn’t cheap, either. According to ET3, “a detailed analysis prepared in 2003 calculated the cost of a 350mph [560km/h] system to be about $2 million [more than R25 million] per mile.” Washrooms are another issue. With the pods being as small as they are, Oster hasn’t allocated extra room for toilets. Couple this with the claustrophobic capsules that have no proper windows, going at immense speeds, and people may be put off by the idea.

Entrepreneur and business magnate Elon Musk has revealed plans for a similar system, the Hyperloop. It promises to transport passengers from San Francisco to LA in 30 minutes in larger passenger

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Space travel on Earth Using magnetic levitation technology, evacuated tube transport pods could reach a speed of around 6 500km/h.

capsules than Oster’s, though at much slower speeds—somewhere in the range of 950 to 1 000km/h—and not on a worldwide scale.

If Oster is successful in getting funding for his evacuated tube transport technology, his system could link South Africa more cheaply with the rest of the world and create countless opportunities overseas for South Africans unable to find work here (bureaucratic issues aside). And the construction of such a system could employ many South Africans, if not for their manual labour, then for their technical prowess.

The country is likely to be a key benefactor of such emerging technologies. Automation needn’t mean unemployment if the skills are properly transferred and a basic income model is applied during the “great transition”.

According to figures published by Statistics SA, 20.2% of people live in extreme poverty and 45.5% in moderate poverty. With South Africa being such a resource-rich country, these numbers should be truly alarming when many of the problems can be solved with technology.

All the right moves

A timeline of some of the greatest transport-industry disruptions

1900 Ferdinand von Zeppelin launches the first successful airship.

1903 The Wright brothers fly the first motor-driven airplane.

1908 Henry Ford introduces the Ford Model T. 1969 First flight of the Boeing 747, the first commercial wide-body airliner.

1976 Concorde makes the world’s first commercial passenger-carrying supersonic flight.

1996 General Motors brings the first ‘connected car’ features to market with OnStar.

2000 The Prius is one of the first mass-produced hybrid-electric vehicles— Toyota sells 50 000 in its first year of global launch.

2002 The Segway PT selfbalancing personal transport is launched.

2014 Toyota introduces its first production fuel-cell vehicle, the Mirai, in Japan.

2015 Tesla launches Autopilot technology, which allows the Tesla Model S or X to control steering, speed, braking and lanechanging in certain conditions.

2015 Lexus designs the first advanced hoverboard prototype, using liquid nitrogen–cooled superconductors and permanent magnets.

2016 Amazon successfully delivers a parcel to a customer in England via its Prime Air conceptual drone-based system.

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L A B - G R O W N M E AT Meat production in its current form is unsustainable. Half of the deforestation around the world is related to feed crops that go to animals. In 15 years, the world will run out of freshwater due to the high usage of agricultural farming practices. We would need four Earths to supply the meat demand of the global population!

Mamma mia!

On January 31 last year, Memphis Meats prepared its first lab-grown meatball.

“Tastes like meat,” said the independent taster. “Can I have more?”

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A San Francisco–based company aims to change all this. Picture it: a world where animals aren’t bred for slaughter, but can live as nature intended; a world where CO2 emissions are drastically reduced due to the decrease in methane; a world where it will no longer take 7 000 litres of water to produce just 200g of beef; a world where people are no longer at risk of cancer due to the myriad steroid hormones fed to cattle. And Memphis Meats will bring this about through its cutting-edge use of stem cell technology.

“We start by taking cells from really healthy, strong meat animals,” explains co-founder and CEO Uma Valeti.

“Let’s take tenderloin, for example: There are some types of cells in that meat that can self-renew themselves, and we put them in conditions where they get clean and nutrient-rich foods . . . and that is then grown into whatever we’d like to make.”

The company has already grown small amounts of meat using cells harvested from cows, pigs and chickens, and it expects to roll out the products within the next four years. It usually takes 23 calories of feed to produce one calorie of beef; Memphis Meats says it has reduced that ratio to 3 : 1. Furthermore, its lab-grown meat consumes 90% less water and land, and 50% less energy.

For roughly 10 000 to 20 000 years, we’ve domesticated our animals largely for the use of food.

This was the first domestication period (wild animals to livestock). Now, we’re entering a new phase where we domesticate cells to grow around food—the “second domestication”, as Valeti calls it.

Mark Post from Maastricht University in the Netherlands first created a lab-grown hamburger in 2013, at a cost of $325 000 (R3.23 million at the time).

That’s a whopper of a price (no pun intended)! In 2015,

More to it than meats the eye

The production of vegetable foodstuffs requires considerably less water than the production of meat.

Here’s how they compare:

1kg of beef 15 415 litres 1kg of sheep meat 10 412 litres 1kg of pork 5 988 litres 1kg of chicken meat 4 325 litres 1kg of apples 822 litres 1kg of bananas 790 litres 1kg of potatoes 287 litres 1kg of tomatoes 214 litres Source: UK Institution of Mechanical Engineers

he stated that in the coming decades, he’d be able to get the price down to a much more reasonable cost of $11 (R150) per burger. Valeti doesn’t intend to wait that long: Memphis Meats hopes to sell its first cellproduced hot dogs, sausages, burgers and meatballs by 2021.

The meat industry is like any other for-profit industry: The bottom line is paramount, regardless of the social or environmental costs. Memphis Meats is one of the few companies to target the root cause. It’s not simply about technical progress but rather the moral progress of man. “I personally believe that in 50 years, the thought of slaughtering animals for meat will be laughable,” states Valeti. “I know we’ve touched a chord globally . . . I would hope that the meat industry sees that for them to continue to grow in a sustainable fashion, this would be a technology [they] could embrace instead of fighting— like the traditional automotive industry did to the electric car.”

With a large area of South Africa being coastal, it’s under extreme threat of climate change. Sea-level changes could cause damage to some of KwaZulu-Natal’s public property and infrastructure in the future, according to eThekwini Municipality’s project executive in coastal policy, Dr Andrew Mather, who conducted research into sea-level rise in southern Africa and Durban in particular. “In KZN, the sea-level rising was 2.7m per year, in the Cape by 1.6m, and on the West Coast and in Namibia by 1.8m.”

If companies like Memphis Meats succeed in producing meat via stem-cell technology, then the effects of climate change could be drastically reduced and the lives of more South Africans—as well as cows, chickens and fish—spared.

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CONTOUR CRAFTING It’s almost impossible today not to leave any environmental footprint.

We do it daily: from the food we eat, the transportation we use, to the things we buy. Going completely 100% green is a near impossibility.

Even by the simple act of sitting alone in your home, you’re contributing to an excess amount of waste and carbon emissions.

This is where contour crafting comes in, and it’s set to revolutionise the way homes are built through advances in 3D printing. This layer-by-layer fabrication technology was developed by Dr Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California. A design is input into the unique software of a specialised robot, which then builds the home in a fraction of the time it would take for humans.

Apparently with contour crafting, a 230 square metre home can be erected in 20 hours—complete with all the conduits for electricity, plumbing and air conditioning.

Most of the things you use and see around you are already built in this way. Those shoes you’re wearing? Designed and sent to a computer for manufacturing. The paper or screen on which you’re reading this?

Ditto. That plane you took to your last vacation destination? You guessed it. It’s a process called CAD/CAM, or computer-aided design and manufacturing. So why not design and build a house or a large skyscraper in this way, too?

The answer lies in the pushback from the construction industry.

Change is scary, vested interests are powerful, and technology causes displacement. But can we afford not to transition to this technology when human safety is at risk? “Construction is the most hazardous job,” said Khoshnevis during a TEDx conference in Ojai, California.

“In this country [the US], it kills 10 000 people every year, and there are about 400 000 injuries each year.”

Most job losses today are due to one simple thing: the displacement of workers by automation. Can you blame employers for this? Robots don’t need vacation, health insurance or pensions. “With respect to employment impact, there is a lot of concern about people [being] put out of construction jobs; the reality is that a lot of new jobs can be created in this sector as well,” explains Khoshnevis. “Currently, women and the elderly do not have much opportunity to work in the construction industry. With new technologies like contour crafting, those groups of people can also be employed.”

Construction workers could be retrained to design homes, construct better materials, or assist in the programing of the robot that builds the

72 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

Building up to something great With contour crafting, a 230m 2 home can be erected complete with conduits for electricity, plumbing and air conditioning.

houses. The reality is, jobs that involve repetitive human labour are being phased out as technology becomes more advanced.

In addition to saving lives and eliminating workplace injury, contour crafting emits zero waste from its construction process.

When 40% of all the materials in the world are used in construction, one wonders why this technology is not already in place. With the disastrous effects of climate change and eventual resource scarcity, automation will need to play a bigger role in our lives.

One of the more exciting possibilities is a project currently supported by NASA, which aims to construct buildings on the moon and Mars in the near future. Khoshnevis and his multidisciplinary research team at the University of Southern California are currently investigating the construction of lunar hangars, roads, support walls and radiation-proof buildings for upcoming missions. Their idea won the Grand Prize in the 2014 NASA Tech Briefs Create the Future Design Contest.

According to South Africa’s 2011 Census, the number of informal dwellings—shacks or shanties in informal settlements or backyards— was about 1.9 million. If there’s a way to construct a 230m2 home in 20 hours, the standard of living of these millions could be raised drastically and the decades-long structural violence put to an end.

Medical anthropologist Dr Paul Farmer explains, “Structural violence is one way of describing social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm’s way . . . The arrangements are structural, because they are embedded in the political and economic organisation of our social world”.

By embracing automation, by changing work from repetitive to technical, by removing corruption at the highest levels, by realising that everyone’s well-being is important, can South Africa move forward.

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Why billionaire entrepreneur IQBAL SURVÉ has diversified his business investments in tech and innovation

“We are using technology for sustainability, and doing good and doing well at the same time.”

DR IQBAL SURVÉ

9 772313 330006

Founder, Sekunjalo Group and chair, BRICS Business Council

IS THERE A DOCTOR TECH BILLIONAIRE IN THE HOUSE?

SERIAL ENTREPRENEUR, FOUNDER OF THE SEKUNJALO GROUP, AND ARGUABLY AFRICA’S MOST SUCCESSFUL AND LARGEST INVESTOR IN TECHNOLOGY AND INNOVATION— DR IQBAL SURVÉ SHOWS US HOW DIVERSIFICATION IN ONE’S BUSINESS INVESTMENTS CAN REAP REWARDS

By Robbie Stammers

Sekunjalo’s philosophy is “using technology for sustainability, and doing good and doing well at the same time,” says executive chairman Iqbal Survé.

18

FASTCOMPANY.CO.ZA MAY 2017

I T IS MORE THAN A M AG A ZINE, IT'S A MOV EMEN T The Digital version of Fast Company South Africa is now available on Apple iPad and Android tablets

Next

Motoring

NEXT GENERATION The new Volvo S90 combines exquisite, natural materials with sophisticated, intuitive technology

By Evans Manyonga

How do you make the safest car in the world more appealing?

According to Volvo, you make it supremely luxurious, superfast, ridiculously safe and near autonomous—and for good measure, you ensure it’s simply one of the most gorgeous luxury sedans to ever cruise our local roads. Yes, ladies and gentleman, the Volvo S90 is simply a work of art.

It’s calm yet aggressively assertive. If you’re after real class, luxury and sophistication, it’s the car for you. A premium interior, minimalistic design elements and enough space to make you feel at home make the new S90 a world beater.

Marking Volvo’s return to the large executive sedan segment, the new model offers unprecedented Swedish luxury, supreme comfort and space, modern Scandinavian design, Drive-E efficiency and semiautonomous driving as standard on all models. It’s built on Volvo Cars’ new Scalable Product Architecture, featuring a mixed offering of petrol and diesel engines, and available in three trim levels to cater to a wide audience while also offering a broad spectrum of value and pure Swedish luxury.

The new Volvo S90 launched in South Africa initially with two engines: the D5 and T6, both with all-wheel drive—in Momentum or Inscription guise.

74 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

Work of art If it’s superb luxury and utter sophistication you’re after, look no further than the Volvo S90.

DARING DESIGN Led by Thomas Ingenlath, senior VP of design at Volvo Car Group, the new S90’s svelte appearance really is something to behold.

Longer, wider and lower than competitors, the sleek design is actually reminiscent of a sports coupé rather than a large sedan; it imparts immediate presence and commands attention.

The long bonnet is fronted by the new face of Volvo, where the new radiator grille, with its 23 concave vertical ribs (inspired by the classic Volvo P1800 coupé of the 1960s) and the latest Volvo iron mark are flanked by the new signature full-LED headlights that are standard on all derivatives and feature the Thor’s Hammer daytime running light pattern.

A clean and simple air dam signs off the visage and leads to a long (4 963mm), slender body. Large wheels, ranging from 18 to 21 inches in diameter, lend a sporty air.

At the rear, a long overhang hints at a capacious boot (500 litres), and the large tail-light clusters add enormous presence to the sassy rear end. Also exhibiting a new design signature for future Volvo sedans, the LED–based lights are carved by the edges of the boot lid, which is highlighted by the prominent Volvo word mark and model badging. The S90 is finished off with a fuss-free rear valence that features either twin round- or rhombical tailpipe

finishers and a blacked-out middle section—which also enhances the sense of width.

The dashboard is underscored by a unique metal spline that runs from door to door, which visually grips the outermost air vents and highlights the central infotainment interface. The seats have been designed around the human spine and are covered in high-quality leather in all models.

SMART TECHNOLOGY Like the XC90, the new S90 features a minimal array of buttons, especially on the dashboard. The 9-inch HD Sensus Connect interface is responsible for most in-car functions, from entertainment and telephony to settings, climate control and navigation. The tablet-style interface with its portrait orientation is easy to use, responsive (even while wearing gloves) and intuitive; tap, pinch and swipe gesture controls and customisable shortcuts give the driver quick and easy access to preferred vehicle functions.

Various themes are available for the Sensus Connect interface and the instrument cluster—allowing the choice of classic, minimalistic, metallic and sporty overtones.

Standard navigation All S90 derivatives feature satellite navigation as standard, with pinchzoom and real-time traffic updates.

Available also with free map upgrades for life, the system is

easy to use and can be effortlessly programmed with searchable points of interest, favourites and full itinerary logging.

Entertainment system and connectivity Fitted as standard with 10 highquality speakers, entertainment in the new Volvo S90 is always a premium experience. Bluetooth, USB, aux and radio functionality are available as standard, with an optional CD player available.

Internet connectivity also features as standard, with the S90 able to tap into a smart device’s network connection or an external Wi-Fi network that enables apps like TuneIn Internet radio, connected service booking and downloadable vehicle updates. Other USB–based content including photos and HD videos can be viewed on the Sensus Connect screen, provided the vehicle is stationary and in Park.

Smartphone integration and telephony Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are both available in the optional Smartphone Integration package, which enables owners of Apple iPhones or Android-based smartphones to connect their devices directly to the Sensus Connect interface, which then provides a direct link to the device via a dedicated, secondary USB port. While connected, the phone can remain hidden, and on charge, in the centre console. These thirdparty interfaces are integrated seamlessly within the Sensus

Connect interface and provide access to phone, messages, maps, music and selected other phone functions depending on the platform, all within a familiar iOS- or Android-based environment. The car’s three default tiles remain visible at all times for easy access.

Voice control Voice control is also fitted as standard to all derivatives and is effective in managing aspects of navigation, phone, climate, media and other vehicle functions. Adept in understanding the multitude of South African accents, the system makes it even easier for the driver to maintain full focus on the road while adjusting the temperature and fan speed, or making an important call.

EVEN MORE CONTROL Dramatically increasing the inherent value of all S90 derivatives is the fact that all S90 derivatives are semi-autonomous up to 130km/h as standard.

Working hand in hand, Adaptive Cruise Control and Pilot Assist enhance the S90’s driveability and allow drivers to hand over control to the car in varying degrees of engagement.

Available with a toggle option to conventional cruise control, Adaptive Cruise Control uses radar and a camera to manage the S90’s speed in relation to the car in front, when applicable, and up to 200km/h. The system reacts readily to changing conditions, and is capable of bringing the S90 to a complete stop.

POWERFUL PERFORMANCE The new Volvo S90 is available with a range of petrol and diesel engines, as well as front- or allwheel drive. All models feature the silky smooth 8-speed Geartronic automatic transmission. All engines are part of the Drive-E engine family— designed by Volvo, for Volvo. The modular, aluminium engines are all 2.0-litres in capacity and all feature forced induction for a great balance between performance and efficiency with real-world merit.

Geartronic and AWD The 8-speed Geartronic automatic transmission found in all S90 models is a vital part of Drive-E powertrain technology. The single-clutch, planetary automatic gearbox offers quick and smooth shifting, converter technology for powerful launches, a high torque capacity considering its small size and low weight, and integrates stop-start technology in all derivatives, with an electric oil pump keeping the transmission ready for restart.

Drive modes Three main drive modes are available: Comfort, Eco and Dynamic. Selectable via the diamond-cut Drive Mode selector on the centre console, the driver can adjust the engine and gearbox characteristics, as well as the car’s responsiveness.

When fitted with optional air suspension, the Drive Mode selector also adjusts the ride characteristics of the car. In Comfort and Eco modes, the ride

is kept relatively soft and compliant. When switched to Dynamic, the ride adopts a firmer setup for increased feedback and improved handling.

A SMOOTH DRIVE Built on Volvo’s SPA platform, the new S90 has benefited from unprecedented freedom between the design and engineering departments. The chassis has been tuned to deliver a refined, smooth ride as well as sharp handling—whether on challenging country roads or on the highway. The advanced aluminium double-wishbone suspensions at the front wheels provide perfectly balanced road-holding and steering characteristics; while at the rear, an exclusive Integral axle allows all characteristics to be individually tuned for driver comfort and enjoyment.

With the rear air-suspension system, the vehicle has an even greater breadth of dynamic ability. Instead of the transverse composite leaf spring, this technology is based on separate air chambers for each rear wheel.

Controlled by a computerised compressor, each air chamber constantly adapts to driving conditions. Together with Volvo’s electronically controlled active chassis, this gives the driver unique opportunities to control and adapt the suspension.

SAFETY FIRST The new model features all of Volvo’s latest safety systems as

standard. This naturally includes ABS, EBD, EBA, stability and traction control, hill-start assistance and six airbags, plus Volvo’s Side Impact Protection System and Whiplash Protection System. Volvo’s patented safety cage is also employed in the S90’s body construction, with hightensile boron steel (35%) and a mix of other metals ensuring the passenger compartment remains intact, and that other parts of the car can absorb energy effectively in the event of a collision. A number of supplementary “IntelliSafe” safety systems are also on hand as standard to assist in preventing accidents, or at least minimising the potential for damage and injury should a crash be unavoidable.

THREE TIMES THE STYLE Each model of the S90 range is available in three trim grades, each of which offers different levels of style, luxury and value for money. Momentum models, which introduce the range in South Africa, maintain a high level of standard equipment, some of which remains available only as costly optional equipment in rival vehicles in the segment.

Inscription models offer a more luxurious look and feel as standard; while forthcoming R-Design models add a sportier, more aggressive aspect to the range. More detail on R-Design variants will be made available at a later date. A total of 13 exterior colours and 12 interior schemes are available for the new S90.

PRICING  Volvo S90 D4 Geartronic Momentum

 Volvo S90 D5 Geartronic AWD R-Design

 Volvo S90 T6 Geartronic AWD Inscription





 Volvo S90 T6 Geartronic AWD R-Design







R698 500

Volvo S90 D4 Geartronic Inscription R742 000

Volvo S90 D4 Geartronic R-Design R727 500

Volvo S90 D5 Geartronic AWD Momentum R777 700

Volvo S90 D5 Geartronic AWD Inscription R821 200







R806 700

Volvo S90 T5 Geartronic Momentum R675 200

Volvo S90 T5 Geartronic Inscription R718 700

Volvo S90 T5 Geartronic R-Design R704 200

Volvo S90 T6 Geartronic AWD Momentum R828 400

R871 900

R857 400

All models come standard with a 5-year/ 100 000km full vehicle warranty, full maintenance plan and roadside assistance, as well as laminated glass and Tracker Connect.

Visit www.volvocars.com/za for further details.

MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 75

Next

The Great Innovation Frontier

M i l l s Soko

MANY ROBOT HANDS MAKE LIGHT WORK As AI gains traction, concerns loom over the future of jobs in numerous industries. Can we offset these risks—and is it even worth trying?

The rise of the robot, widely considered the next Industrial Revolution, is a global talking point—with the fate of Africa forming a large question mark. Some take the pessimistic view that the continent will be left behind by the technological revolution. Others believe necessity is the mother of invention, and as such, Africa is an innovation hub. There are plenty of news reports coming out of Africa every day to support the latter point of view. Not to mention a Nigerian student recently building a fully functional AI robot!

Of course, the rise of technology in general, and artificial intelligence in particular, is a global phenomenon, with business leaders the world over discussing how to manage its development fairly.

Universal basic income, or UBI, is one possibility on the table to offset the increase in ‘digital refugees’.

The ethics of how to safeguard human beings as we welcome a race of robots raise some interesting questions.

According to research by the World Economic Forum, the development of AI will eliminate more jobs than it will create (seven million lost to two million gained). The Economist reports that some 47% of American jobs are at risk of automation in the future. And yet, argues the same report, “[I]n the past, technology has always ended up creating more jobs than it destroys. That is because of the way automation works in practice,” explains David Autor, an economist at MIT. “Automating a particular task, so that it can be done more quickly or cheaply, increases the demand for human workers to do the other tasks around it that have not been automated.”

The likelihood of automation lies not in whether the work is manual or white-collar, the explanation continues, but whether or not it is routine. Much like the case of the textile factories in Britain, work that is repetitive can far more easily be automated. Moreover, we do not yet know what our children’s jobs will look like; we are preparing them to work in a landscape we cannot imagine yet.

76 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MARCH APRIL 2017

If we train the next generation to use technology to their advantage, the potential for harnessing AI to Africa’s benefit is enormous.

Nonetheless, in the short term there likely is a risk for workers trained to work in the here and now. South Africa, for example, has already faced complaints of technology-driven job losses in the ICT sector.

But automation isn’t always bad news. There’s another aspect to this debate that was raised at Davos with the introduction of DRC-Hubo, the latest humanoid robot that not only can keep up with humans but has capabilities we do not. It can open doors, drive vehicles, but also scan data, take photographs and capture detailed information accurately. DRC-Hubo can go into dangerous spaces such as mines, nuclear plants or potentially even visit other planets—performing tasks that currently carry ethical concerns where human workers are exposed to immediate or long-term risks. A potential improvement for working conditions? For some, perhaps.

A legitimate concern is that of polarisation, where the jobs that remain are either senior- or low-level, while numerous mid-level ones are automated. In South Africa and the rest of the continent, where inequality is already a serious issue, both the public and private sector will need to anticipate this problem.

The first and most important area where it can be pre-empted is in education. On-the-job training, apprenticeships, tailored sector education and training authorities, as well as careful monitoring of university, technikon and college curricula will be essential to ensure continued relevance to the job market. Crucially, access to education will be more of a differentiating factor than ever before. As the demand for technological know-how increases, an essential part of narrowing the gap between a small elite and the low-income masses will be to ensure easy access to such training.

If this is managed correctly, and we train the next generation to use tech to their advantage, the potential for harnessing AI to Africa’s benefit is enormous: AI devices can be of tremendous use in the healthcare industry; basic services could be revolutionised; education itself could be made much more accessible; sanitation could be managed faster and more easily.

The routine jobs could be taken care of, while humans engage their considerable ingenuity to solve the problems of the day. But the key lies in equalising the playing field as early as possible.

Mills Soko is the director of the UCT Graduate School of Business and an associate professor specialising in international trade and doing business in Africa. With a career that has spanned business, government, civil society and academia, he is uniquely positioned to understand the role these sectors have to play—collaboratively and individually—in addressing the critical issues of Africa’s development and competitiveness.

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Why billionaire entrepreneur IQBAL SURVÉ has diversified his business investments in tech and innovation

“We are using technology for sustainability, and doing good and doing well at the same time.”

DR IQBAL SURVÉ

9 772313 330006

Founder, Sekunjalo Group and chair, BRICS Business Council

Subscribe to Fast Company SA and stand a chance to win an Alcatel 2-in-1 Plus 10 hybrid laptop/tablet, worth R3 500!

Fast Company South Africa is available in selected Pick n Pay and Exclusive Books stores. An annual subscription is for 10 print issues of Fast Company SA magazine (March/April and December/January double up as one issue each), at a cost of R240 (including 14% VAT and postage). Full payment must be made before the subscription is valid. This offer is for South Africa ONLY. If you would like to subscribe, email Susan Ball for more details: susan@insightspublishing.co.za.

A PERFECT 10

With its compatible 4G/Wi-Fi–connected keyboard, the new Alcatel Plus 10 offers a complete mobile desktop experience.

It is compact and 40% lighter than an average laptop, which makes it exceptionally convenient to carry. The device can be used in laptop mode to type documents or create spreadsheets (it runs on Windows 10), and in dock mode to display presentations or slides. Dual front speakers with immersive 3D sound, coupled with the HD IPS screen technology, make film-watching and gaming an extra pleasure. When used in tablet mode, without the keyboard, it is an ideal companion for travel or commutes, to browse the Web, or serve as an e-book reader. With its multiple ports (rare in this device category), the Plus 10 enables connections to a hard drive, mouse, USB key, secondary screen and more. In addition, it has a default memory of 32GB that can be ramped up with an external SD card. The tablet and 4G LTE keyboard offer a total of 8 410mAh battery power, which lasts a full eight-hour working (or playing) day. What’s more, the unique keyboard serves as a Wi-Fi hotspot for up to 15 users.

As an extra bonus, the Plus 10 has both a front and rear-facing camera, with front flash that’s ideal for video calls.

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MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 77

Fast Bytes Fast Company SA takes a look at the innovative new ideas, services, research and news currently making waves in South Africa and abroad

SA fuel-cell programme heating up Progress in Hydrogen South Africa’s ambitious fuelcell research programme has excited researchers at the Department of Science and Technology. The government-approved research, development and innovation programme launched in 2007, and set itself a 15-year target to deliver marketable results.

“We started this project from zero,” says DST deputy director-general Mmboneni Muofhe.

“We had to build the infrastructure and we had to bring in overseas experts who were familiar with the research gaps that needed to be addressed.

But now we have trained our own researchers and we are making a disproportionate impact in the sector globally.”

No sleeping on the job

Zapper means Total convenience Instant mobile payment app Zapper has recorded over 1 million downloads since launching late in 2014.

The service initially ran in restaurants as a fast and convenient way to settle one’s bill using a smartphone.

Users ‘scan to pay’ with QR codes printed on the conventional receipt. The milestone arrives alongside news that Zapper has agreed to a deal with Total to deliver the mobile payment service at petrol stations nationwide. Total’s Bonjour and Thrupps have integrated mobile payments with the app into 300 of their service stations nationwide as a fast payment solution for drivers who want a quick and easy visit.

“Total is always looking for innovative ways to raise the bar on customer satisfaction. By combining our range of services with Zapper’s easy payment method, we are bringing an added level of convenience to our customer’s day,” says Marisa Barnard, Total’s retail and convenience programme manager.

78 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

South African company Vencasa has been working tirelessly to deliver the next generation in bedroom products for the best sleep possible. Its latest innovation, the micro-gel pillow, is made from synthetic fibres that are similar to silk but thinner than normal—making the pillow feel luxurious, supple and lightweight. It constantly adapts to the movements and shape of one’s head and neck, right through the night. In addition, the pillow adapts to one’s body temperature—ensuring it’s never uncomfortably hot or cold.

See www.pharmaline.co.za/vencasa for further details.

Fast Bytes

A breath of French air Hundreds of schoolchildren from poor communities in Soweto and Benoni had the rare opportunity to witness the best of French arts and culture at a special performance of Molière’s Tartuffe at the Soweto Theatre in April.

The show was part of a national tour that came about through a partnership between Total South Africa, the French Institute of South Africa, Alliance Française in South Africa, BNP Group and Mazars. Nyameka Makonya (pictured, far right), sustainable development manager at Total South Africa, said heritage and arts are a key area of focus for the company, and it continually seeks ways to bolster the development of these areas by identifying projects such as the Tartuffe production.

Sowing the seeds of great businesses International startup competition Seedstars World announced the 2017 winners at its summit in Switzerland on April 6.

Representing South Africa was contractor app IDWork, which connects service providers such as plumbers, carpenters and electricians to people who need work done by someone they can trust. Prizes included $500 000 (more than R6.6 million) in investment, software-as-a-service solutions valued at $90 000 (R1.1 million), plus insight and training for each startup.

Printing power in your hands Samsung Print Service, the company’s Android mobile printing tool, has received full Mopria Print Library certification.

Android users can now print on the same printer brands that Apple users have enjoyed for five years.

All phones and tablets running Android 4.4 (KitKat) or above are compatible with the tool, but the service is pre-installed on all Samsung Galaxy S4, S5, S6, S7 and S8 phones. New users can check their installation status or download the tool on Google Play. “Samsung aims to promote business mobility by developing hardware solutions for mobile and cloud printing technology.

Gaining certification from Mopria is further proof of our ongoing commitment and hard work,” says Mike van Lier, director of consumer electronics at Samsung South Africa.

This year’s winners Seedstars World Summit Prize  Best Woman Entrepreneur Acudeen Technologies, Philippines qAIRa, Peru  Most Innovative Startup  Transforming Education Prize PiQuant, South Korea Asafeer Education Technologies,  Public Vote UAE  Fintech Prize Mind Rockets, Jordan UnDosTres, Mexico 

Syntech expands As it enters its 15th year of operation, South Africa’s leading IT distributor Syntech is moving from its premises in Midrand to another building in the area with larger warehouse facilities. “Our new Midrand facility will enable us to provide eight times more local stockholding, and will be supported with an expanding fleet of delivery vehicles,” reveals CEO Craig Nowitz. Syntech focuses on supporting reseller relationships, empowering them to deliver more value to their customers in the information technology Industry. The business has developed a reputation for introducing and building reliable brands in South Africa, and innovating in the developing IT market.

Education.com e-Learning platform Alison has more than 200 000 users in South Africa. According to newly released figures for 2016, the most popular courses include Touch-Typing Training, Diploma in Project Management, Human Resources, and Business Management & Entrepreneurship. Other top courses were Web Design, Workplace Health and Safety, Psychology, and Customer Service.

“South Africa has been quick to take up online learning. The feedback we’re getting from learners here suggests that they value the flexibility and breadth of subjects we can offer. It’s not a surprise to us that the majority of our South African learners are women; this reflects a pattern we have seen in other parts of the world,” says founder and CEO, Mike Feerick. Alison is one of the world’s largest free online learning platforms providing education and training to 10 million learners worldwide.

MAY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 79

Fast Events Local conferences, talks and meetups we think are worth attending

#TechTalkCPT: Teaching a Continent to Code Date: 3 May Time: 18h00–19h30 Location: 22Seven, Cape Town Cost: R130 www.kato.global

Beginner WordPress Workshop Date: 6 May Time: 09h30–15h00 Location: Workshop17, V&A Waterfront, Cape Town Cost: R805 (includes lunch) codesaloon.net

Africa Code Week is the largest digital literacy initiative ever organised on this continent.

Attendees at this #TechTalkCPT can expect a fascinating talk from Rogeema Kenny, who will speak about what it’s like to be a master trainer for Africa Code Week and how the initiative has impacted lives and communities by teaching them how to code.

Entrepreneurs who are finding a stumbling block in the form of web development should consider attending this workshop. Soon-to-be coders will learn how to instal themes; the basics of customisation; what a plugin is, and how to instal and optimise one; and how to manage themes, menus, widgets and security. You’ll leave with a solid understanding of one of the Internet’s most ubiquitous and powerful tools. No coding experience is necessary, but bring your laptop and a notepad.

coinBR South African SmartWallet Launch

Western Cape Funding Fair

Date: 4 May Time: 18h00–20h30 Location: Bandwidth Barn, Woodstock, Cape Town coinbr.co.za coinBR, a Brazilian cryptocurrency company, is launching its digital service in South Africa this year. Three influential speakers will be sharing their knowledge and thoughts on the exciting introduction of bitcoin currency on the African continent, and provide detailed information about coinBR and its SmartWallet mobile applications.

80 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A MAY 2017

Date: 10 May Time: 08h00–16h00 Location: Cape Town International Convention Centre Cost: Free (book online) www.westerncapefundingfair.co.za South African companies seeking acceleration and funding should head down to this fair that’s a joint initiative between Deloitte Western Cape and the Department of Economic Development and Tourism, to try and engage bankable, sustainable and profit-seeking businesses. Those interested in starting a business, currently running a business, or seeking funding for their business are all welcome.

Highlights include a conference programme hosted by an expert panel of guest speakers, master classes, as well as an exhibition area showcasing funding and business support organisations.

Fast Events

UXCraft Johannesburg Date: 16 to 18 May Time: 08h00–17h00 (Tues); 08h00–16h30 (Wed and Thu) Location: Focus Rooms, Sunninghill, Sandton Price: R1 200–R4 100 uxsouthafrica.com Join UI masters for an up-to-date exploration of the world of UX craft and research. Learn tried-andtested methods and technology of old— repurposed for modern design needs. The event offers hands-on learning to deepen and strengthen moderating skills, so that meaningful data can be brought forth. The workshop is intended for those starting out in UX as well as seasoned and experienced researchers, as it integrates techniques in the psychology of connection with classic methods of data. Highlights include talks from developers, doctors, designers and specialists.

The REAL Entrepreneur Intensive 3-Day Workshop Date: 26 to 28 May Time: 13h00–22h00 (Fri); 09h00–22h00 (Sat); 09h00–18h00 (Sun) Location: The Focus Rooms, Sunninghill, Sandton Cost: R1 495 realsuccess.net Learn how to transform and operate your business in the 21st century over this three-day intensive entrepreneur course. See how to play the game, attract the right people and do the right things. Brian Walsh, founder of the REAL Entrepreneur Institute and a leader in the fields of human behaviour and entrepreneurship, will share his knowledge gleaned from years of accumulated experience. Attendees will also receive a whole load of supplementary course material such as audio CDs that feature interviews with leading entrepreneurial thinkers.

Africa Shared Value Summit

#GoSocial Facebook Edition

Date: 25 & 26 May Time: 07h30–17h15 Location: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg Cost: R1 750 (one day); R3 000 (both days) www.africasharedvaluesummit.com

Date: 27 May Time: 09h00–12h00 Location: The Graft Yard, Heathway Centre, Randburg Cost: R504 www.socialagency.co.za

The inaugural 2017 Africa Shared Value Summit is modelled on the successful Shared Value Leadership Summit held annually in New York.

The aim is to raise awareness and advocate for the success of the strategic implementation of the shared-value business model, which brings about social change while positively impacting profit. It’s a platform for practitioners to share their stories, and influence businesses and brands in the creation of shared value.

Facebook has revolutionised the burgeoning space of targeted marketing, making it an essential avenue for businesses to reach potential customers. Join passionate marketing expert Ramiza Abdool for a day-long workshop on the world of Facebook.

Receive an introduction to Facebook marketing, craft your first Facebook advertising plan, and learn how to interpret your data and reach more customers. Abdool will share her marketing acumen that she has built from experience at companies like Times Media Group, Hellocomputer, Native VML and OMD South Africa.

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The New Rules of the Game

Jacq ue s du B r uy n

FORGET WHAT’S IMPORTANT Why innovation has nothing to do with being productive, nor about reaching a goal

I’m in the business of advertising, creativity and new ideas. If you’re anything like me, then new ideas don’t just cometh unto you every minute of every day. And perhaps, like me, you have a busy life and a hell of a lot to get done each day: running a business, being a good employer, being a good dad, and at the end of it all, still trying to be a good husband.

Have you ever wondered why you’re not doing anything out-of-the-ordinary? Why you’re always stuck in the same rut with regard to your ideas in your craft?

Why you’re not able to innovate?

It’s because you’re only ever doing what you believe is ‘more important’. You’re always going to have something that’s ‘more important’ than coming up with a great new idea or innovative way to do something.

We all have to-do lists, jotted down on paper or popped into an app on our phone. We’re so busy trying to write down what we need to do, that our life becomes consumed by ‘the next thing’.

Here’s the kicker: You’re never going to innovate or create anything new if you keep doing what you’ve always done; if you keep trying to reach inbox-zero, or tick off the next important task on your list.

There’s a quote that goes, “Success is never getting to the bottom of your to-do list”—and the same goes for innovation and good ideas.

We all strive to be productive and to get things done.

That’s great, but innovation has nothing to do with being productive, nor is it about reaching a goal. It’s a journey.

No one ever changes the world by always obeying the rules. Think about that for a second.

Break the rules! Do things differently. Don’t answer emails for a day. Go to bed late. Play Xbox till 3 a.m.

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If we want to run a groundbreaking business, one that changes the game, we certainly aren’t going to do it by concentrating only on the important things.

And at the same time, don’t give a crap. It’s when you give too much of a crap that it becomes a drag.

“I need to come up with the next big idea NOW for this new campaign!” Well, guess what? It’s not going to happen.

Stuff what’s important. Throw it out of the window for just a day. Dunk a chip in your milk.

I run a business that employs 23 people—and, believe me, there are always important things to do. Finance, HR, stocking up on milk, making sure the Internet is working . . . Those things are important, of course. But if we want to run a groundbreaking business, one that changes the game, we certainly aren’t going to do it by concentrating only on the important things.

We’re going to do it by making time for the thing we never make time for: innovation.

Usually these types of articles have three or four steps to consider in order to achieve an end point. I’m saying screw that, it’s not important.

I’m going to end off by telling you to open your to-do list and delete the task that you feel is most important. When you’re done, you’re going to eat an Oreo, and then you’re going to lie upside down from a chair and think about how you would draw a coat of arms for Oreo if Oreo were a country.

Innovate. Forget what’s important.

At least just for today.

Jacques du Bruyn is the MD of digital marketing agency Flume, which he co-founded with Ruan Oosthuizen in 2013 with a single-minded focus: to bring business to clients’ business by making people aware of their brands and building their reputations. Du Bruyn holds a BA Honours degree in Brand Leadership from Vega, where he also sits on the Advisory Council.

THIS IS LEARNING, REIMAGINED. Unlock your potential with Executive Education Short Courses and Customised Programmes. Programmes can be delivered off-campus and the GSB footprint extends around the world.

Contact 0860 UCT GSB (828 472) or visit www.gsb.uct.ac.za/executive-education