Fast Company SA November 2018 - Issue 40 by Fast Company SA

South Africa

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Uber

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CONTENTS N O V E M B E R

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Liquid Telecom CEO Reshaad Sha His journey in the ICT sector represents an inspiration for computer fundis and entrepreneurs alike

“ S O M E P L A C E S WHERE I HAVE WORKED TEND TO LABEL MY STYLE AS REBELLIOUS. THAT WAS AND REMAINS A C O M P L I M E N T.” – Reshaad Sha

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Innovation agents The FIGS cofounders bring fashion sense to medical attire

The art of translation Director Sam Esmail on turning the hit podcast series Homecoming into a TV show

My way Get behind the brand with Burger King South Africa COO Juan Klopper

Uber’s main driver CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s Iranian roots are key to understanding his approach

Secrets of the Most Productive People 2018 Meet the industry leaders who have mastered the art of productivity

“ A G R E AT L E A D E R I S ONE WHO UPLIFTS OT H E R S A N D BRINGS THEM ON THE JOURNEY WITH T H E M .” 62

– Ezlyn Barends, founder of Dreamgirls Academy. / P. 7 0

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Sou t h A f ri ca

ANA PUBLISHING CEO Mark Keohane mark.keohane@inl.co.za

DEPUTY EDITOR

Walter Hayward walter.hayward@anapublishing.com

HEAD OF DESIGN

Warren Uytenbogaardt warren.uytenbogaardt@inl.co.za

DESIGNER

Mish-al van Rijmenant

EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Saarah Survé

saarah.surve@anapublishing.com

PRINTER

Paarl Media

FAST COMPANY INTERNATIONAL TEAM

DISTRIBUTION

CHAIRMAN

MDA Distribution

SUBSCRIPTIONS

CEO

PUBLISHED BY

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Susan Ball susan.ball@anapublishing.com

SOUTH AFRICAN EDITORIAL BOARD

Prof. Walter Baets, Koo Govender, Alistair King, Pepe Marais, Abey Mokgwatsane, Kheepe Moremi, Ellis Mnyandu, Thabang Skwambane

Stephanie Mehta David Lidsky

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Mike Schnaidt

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jill Bernstein

MANAGING EDITOR

Kyle Villet

OFFICE MANAGER

Eric Schurenberg

DEPUTY EDITOR

HEAD OF SALES

Tony Malek

Joe Mansueto, Mansueto Ventures LLC

subscriptions@anapublishing.com

Adam Bluestein, Simon Capstick-Dale, Sean Captain, René Carayol, Yasmin Gagne, Walter Hayward, KC Ifeanyi, Elske Joubert, Farah Khalfe, Suzanne Labarre, Levi Letsoko, Gaynor McArthur, Michael O'Carroll, David Peisner, Rina Raphael, Saarah Survé, Harry WelbyCooke, Jay Woodruff, Elaine Wright

ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE

ANA PUBLISHING CFO Sarah Buluma

Editor-in-chief: Saarah Survé Physical address: 5th Floor, Newspaper House, 122 St Georges Mall, Cape Town, 8001 Postal address: PO Box 23692, Claremont, 7735 Websites: www.fastcompany.com www.fastcompany.co.za www.anapublishing.com

April Mokwa

PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR Sarah Filippi

EDITOR-AT-LARGE Burt Helm

ART DIRECTOR Alice Alves

Printed by

ARTISTS

Cover: Paul Shiakallis Illustrations: Adobe Stock, Unsplash

A division of Novus Holdings

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.

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F R O M

T H E

E D I T O R

“ T H E S E C R E T O F GETTING AHEAD IS G E T T I N G S TA R T E D .” – MARK TWAIN

GETTING AHEAD I’ve been putting off writing this letter all week. I operate in a deadline-driven environment, and yet, I still find time to procrastinate. I take great pride in making to-do lists and ticking off tasks – that is what works for me. However, what I’ve learnt over the past year is that I just have to get started, as hard as that may seem. Take that first step. Stop putting things off. Start doing. Start writing. After interviewing people for our Secrets of the Most Productive People edition, I’m looking forward to trying out some of their secrets – from apps that help them manage their day-to-day tasks to simply locking themselves away with no distractions. In my interview with Burger King South Africa’s COO Juan Klopper, we discuss how he beats procrastination. We also touch on innovation, how the quick-service 6 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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restaurant is faring in South Africa, as well as their sustainability practices. Look out for my interview with Andrew Smith, CEO of Yuppiechef, where he shares how he unwinds and gets the most out of his day. In the spirit of keeping Fast Company SA exciting and fresh, we’ve reinvigorated our look to mirror the innovators, risk-takers and companies that embrace change. This is in line with Fast Company US, whose creative director, Mike Schnaidt, approached this reboot with a human-centred design ethos. “He’s incorporated a broader, bolder colour palette, elegant new typefaces, and a welcoming vibe,” says Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company US. Schnaidt’s design echoes tech-driven companies who are moving towards a friendly aesthetic rather than a futuristic one. I think that this might just improve our productivity. If you look closely, you’ll see that Rui Abreu has redesigned our logo. We’ve kept the playful smaller A and O, but the contrast between heavy and thin lines is more pronounced, for a more updated feel. We hope that you like what you see and read, and, as always, we welcome your comments. You can write to me on saarah.surve@anapublishing.com or find me on Twitter @saarahsurve. Saarah Survé

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R. T H E

The DJI Mavic Pro Drone

I’m obsessed with my DJI Mavic Pro Drone. I control the drone with my iPhone and the app gives me a variety of control features that let me set it to automatically go to preselected destinations, land on its own, and ensure it doesn’t go too high in the sky. It can even stay away from obstacles as far as 15 metres away to ensure it doesn’t get damaged. — Bongani Khulu, Absa Head: Family Office and Client Engagement

R E C O M M E N D E R

ClemenGold Gin

ClemenGold Gin is the perfect gift. No need to wrap it because of the beautiful packaging. And I love the citrusy aroma and taste – good for any kind of cocktail. — EW Viljoen, WP rugby player

Feel Better with Colour

The Feel Better with Colour app, by The Colour Option, is one-of-a-kind. It helps you connect with your emotions and moods, and then offers a colour fix to make you feel better instantly. It helps to stabilise your mood so that you can get on with the rest of your day. — Joan Small, MD of Anderson Harvey

Artisanal Products

People want a certain uniqueness to their spaces and lives. Lesley Tuchten Ceramics has been supplying my store with cute ring holders. Now she’s creating once-off orders of customers’ pets. —Michelle Petrie, Owner of ABODE 8 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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Alter Bridge: Live at the Royal Albert Hall

Florida-based hard rockers Alter Bridge travelled to London to pack the iconic Royal Albert Hall for two nights. As if that’s not epic enough, they were joined on stage by the 52-piece Parallax Orchestra for what would prove to be a relentless spectacle. Fortunately for us, it was captured and is available in various formats. Warning: your arms may cramp due to excessive air guitaring and metal saluting. — Antony Adelaar, inQuba Project Manager

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S C R E E N

T I M E

Four apps to help kick your productivity into high gear

Headspace: Guided Meditation

It’s impossible to be productive without adequate rest and relaxation. Headspace provides a range of professionally produced guided meditations and calming techniques for every situation. After a free basic course, you gain access to the full Headspace meditation library, including on-the-go exercises, meditations for sleep, anxiety, relationship woes, SOS scenarios and much more. Add friends to make your sessions interactive and fun while staying motivated with the app’s helpful tips and tricks to get the most out of every meditation.

Sortd

Being constantly inundated with emails can leave you feeling overwhelmed as you trudge through a mountain of meetings to confirm, deals to approve and admin to tackle – taking up valuable working hours in the process. Sortd app for iOS and Android brings all your emails, tasks and priorities together into one consolidated workspace, right inside your Gmail. This task and email manager transforms your inbox with clean and customisable lists, a drag-anddrop function as well as email tracking, so you can keep an eye on important conversations. By merging your emails onto your Action Plan, you can manage all your tasks cohesively and tick things off a seemingly never-ending to-do list in the most efficient and productive way.

MealBoard

This all-in-one app streamlines the process of your daily meal prep and grocery shopping tasks. MealBoard’s smart-shopping functionality allows you to generate a shopping list based on the meal plan you’ve created and keep track of how much you’re spending while you shop. In addition, it automatically aggregates the items on your list and organises them by aisle so you can dash in and out of the store as quickly as possible. When it comes to your meal plans, this nifty app allows you to create reusable meal templates, mark meals as leftovers, set up recipe notifications ahead of time and much more. You can even keep tabs on your pantry inventory – what’s in and out of stock, the expiration date of each item and search for recipes with ingredients that will expire soon.

Strides

They say it takes 40 days to create a new habit, but sometimes we need a little help along the way. The Strides habit tracker and goal-setting app helps you reach your full potential and stay motivated when implementing a SMART goal or new habit into your daily routine – or removing a negative one from your life completely. Get organised with step-by-step goal-setting templates, a colour-coded system that ensures you stay on track and history charts that display your streaks, success rates and more. With powerful daily and weekly affirmations, unlimited reminders and a personal note-taking function to give your logs more context, Strides is the ultimate tool to help you on your path to success. NOVEMBER 2018

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N EXT Material World

THREADS OF ECO-MINDFULNESS Oceans the Brand uses 100% recyclable fibres to produce high quality, eco-friendly fashion. BY E L S K E J O U B E R T

OCEANS THE BRAND’S TOP FIVE TIPS FOR LEADING A MORE SUSTAINABLE LIFE

1 2 From the coast of Belgium to the vast expanse of South Africa, founders of Oceans the Brand, Thibault Delbarge and Christopher Hellman, both grew up in an environment where interaction with nature was frequent and meaningful. Their love for the ocean, in particular, propelled them to find solutions to curb the impact of plastic pollution. The duo decided to convert plastic bags and other single-use plastics into durable eco-luxe swim shorts. Once they found a way to work with technology so that their swim shorts could be made from 100% recycled fibres, it was a nobrainer. “It’s a win for both fashion and the environment. Our swim shorts are high quality fashion items where every consideration was taken,” says Christopher.

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Some challenges of bringing their product to market have been spreading awareness of their cause, and convincing people that they can make a difference. “Additionally, people don’t realise that most swim shorts are already made largely out of plastic – that is what makes them dry so fast,” says Thibault. What drives their passion for sustainable fashion? Both founders note the urgency for society to realise that there is no ‘Planet B’. “We live on a planet that is suffering from overuse and mistreatment. This planet is our only hope.” Oceans the Brand is investing significantly in new ideas to help make the world a better place. In time, and once properly investigated, they hope to spotlight these ideas and show people how best to help protect the environment.

3 4 5

Keep on learning. The more we know, the better equipped we are to make an impact. Celebrate the small wins. It’s easier than you think to contribute. By making small changes, we can all make an impact. Remember, there are seven billion people on this planet. If we all make a small change, we can make a huge difference together. Reduce consumption. Where we can’t make changes, we should at least reduce our usage. Skip the straw, take your own bag to the shops. It all helps. Influence your friends. If you can help, so can your friends. You don’t have to push them into anything, but tell them what you’re doing, and why you care. It might just convince them to care too. Buy green products.

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N EXT Material World

WAV E R U N N E R A CUTTING-EDGE WOOL BOARD IS CLEANING UP SURFING. BY S U Z A N N E L A B A R R E

New Zealand surfer Paul Barron was laminating a board a decade ago when he accidentally spilled resin on his sweater. It gave him an idea: What if he built a surfboard shell out of wool? Traditional foam boards are typically housed in resin and fibreglass for structural integrity. But fibreglass can be harmful to workers and isn’t easily recyclable; board-makers have long sought a greener alternative. This month, the California-based company Firewire Surfboards is releasing Barron’s WoolLight board – showcasing a technological advance that could change how other products are designed, from yachts to cars.

3 Firewire’s new R11 780 WoolLight surfboard replaces fibreglass with fibre.

PHOTOGR APH BY JASON PIETR A

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Why wool

Living in a country with six times as many sheep as people, Barron was familiar with the benefits of wool: It’s recyclable and biodegradable, and it doesn’t require much energy to manufacture. But wool also absorbs water and is porous and flimsy when woven. To refine his idea, Barron partnered with the New Zealand Merino Company, an organisation that incubates new uses for wool and connects local producers to retailers, such as the cult shoe brand Allbirds.

How it works

The wool sheared off a sheep is up to 7.6 cm thick, with fibres flaring out in all directions. Barron developed a vacuumpressure technique that converts this bulky material into a thin wool-andbioresin composite, with a compression strength that rivals that of fibreglass and polyurethane. According to Firewire CEO Mark Price, the process reduces CO2 emissions by 40% and VOC emissions by half, compared with traditional construction. And because wool bends easily, the WoolLight is more flexible, which reduces vibrations when catching waves, Barron says.

What’s next

Firewire is initially manufacturing 500 boards to introduce the concept to surfers. But the material innovation has the potential to reshape other sectors that depend on fibreglass. New Zealand Merino Company CEO John Brakenridge cites applications in boating, housing, and the automotive industry. “What [Firewire] is doing is part of a movement,” he says.

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E X I T

S T R A T E G Y

HOW TO BREAK UP WITH THE GRID Worried about spying corporations and government eavesdroppers? Here are 10 (mostly futile) steps you can take to become surveillance-free. BY J AY W O O D R U F F

You’ve seen that 2016 photo of Zuckerberg grinning beside his laptop, right? Hey, if the Crown Prince of Snooping sticks tape over his webcam, what are you waiting for?

Alexa’s voice was starting to give you the creeps even before you read about that incident where a couple’s conversation was recorded and sent to an acquaintance in another state. Between the Echo and Nest and Sonos and that new refrigerator you’re almost afraid to open, your house has become way smarter than you: dumb it back down.

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While you’re at it, what good is a laptop webcam sticker when your phone might as well be an ankle monitor? If you’re too embarrassed to cover the lens and the mic, spring for a signal-blocking pouch at 140 bucks.

7 Delete your social sites. Your friends all know you’re paranoid anyway, and the only Likes you’ve gotten on your last dozen posts have been from that one guy you barely knew in high school whose feed is a bizarre mix of cat memes and Oath Keeper rants.

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3 You get points for coming up with a 12-character password that includes capital letters, symbols, and numbers, but deductions for using it for 30 different sites. You need a password manager, such as LastPass or 1Password. And just to be safe, start using two-step authentication when logging in to sensitive sites, preferably a token that slides into the USB port.

Still seeing your screen populated with ads inspired by your last purchase on Amazon? Download a virtual private network or Tor to throw marketers off your scent.

Destroy your credit cards. Begin making purchases with cash, or on the blockchain. Savour the look on the barista’s face when you ask whether she’ll accept payments in Ethereum.

The Rolling Stones said it more than 50 years ago: Get off the cloud. Use a password-protected and encrypted flash drive instead.

So you’ve effectively blinded and muted your smartphone, but the thing is still loaded with apps that can track you when used. Ditch it altogether and go with a burner and a prepaid plan. Invest your data-plan savings in hexamine fuel tablets and a Leatherman multitool knife as you plot your escape from the grid and prepare to fulfill your tiny-home fantasies.

Stock your techless ’74 Vanagon with plenty of pemmican, a yurt constructed of silver-lined thermalradiation-deflecting fabric, a Rand McNally atlas, your compass, a water-filtration system and camping cistern, a portable manual typewriter, and your copy of Wilderness Survival for Dummies. Oh, and don’t forget the bear repellent.

ILLUSTR ATIONS BY BURNT TOAST CREATIVE

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N EXT Innovation Agents

NO SCRUBS LIKE THESE

Heather Hasson & Trina Spear COMPANY FIGS FOUNDED 2013 PRODUCT Medical scrubs PHILANTHROPY FIGS donates sets of scrubs to partners in need all around the world.

FIGS IS GIVING THE $50 BILLION MEDICAL ATTIRE INDUSTRY A MAKEOVER. BY R I N A R A P H A E L

Fashion designer Heather Hasson was trying to get a luxury tie company off the ground when a friend in nursing mentioned that her scrubs could use a serious upgrade. Despite advancements in other functional attire, such as athleisure, scrubs remained scratchy, unflattering, and impractical. Without pockets, tens of millions of health workers – most of whom prefer to buy some of their own scrubs, even when their employer provides them – were often stuck pinning wedding rings to bra straps or belt loops while working and dealing Closer look with drooping waistbands. Hasson A CUT ABOVE first experimented with altering her The core collection of tops, friend’s scrubs, and in 2013 she and bottoms, jackets, and loungewear comes with co-founder Trina Spear launched sleek cuts and tailored side FIGS, a line of tailored medical gear. seams or pleated backs. Limited-edition items borThey hired designers from Alexander row from popular trends, Wang and created a vertical supply including mandarin collars chain that gave them control over and jogger-style pants. everything from yarn selection to DOUBLE DUTY the size of the smartphone pocket. FIGS’s scrubs are made of a proprietary blend of polyesThrough its “Threads for Threads” ter, rayon, and spandex, programme, FIGS has donated more with silver, an antimicrobial than 500 000 sets of scrubs to partners agent, woven in to reduce the transfer of bacteria. In their in need all around the world. The cotest lab, the scrubs cut the founders expect to top $100 million spread of infection by 66%. in annual revenue this year. “If you FORM AND FUNCTION put on something that you absolutely Tops and bottoms feature love and feel good in, you’ll be happier pockets, with space for tools like stethoscopes, scissors, and treat people better,” says Hasson. smartphones, and IDs. All “That’s the nature of what fashion of the material is stretchdoes.” able and wrinkle resistant. ILLUSTR ATION BY SIMONE NORONHA

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N EXT Building Blocks

Nicknamed the ‘brain’ of the building, the top bridge houses Tencent University, where employees can take classes to brush up on skills such as coding. Several conference

3. First bridge

The building’s one-acre plaza is covered in permeable ceramic bricks made from recycled materials that filter rainwater as it drains into the ground. This absorbent layer – along with gardens atop the roofs and bridges – has more than doubled the building’s water-retention rate compared to traditional construction techniques.

2. The plaza and rooftop gardens

The building is in a burgeoning tech district next to Shenzhen University, on the city’s far west side – an area intended to be China’s answer to Silicon Valley. Constructed on land reclaimed from the sea, the towers were built to comply with China’s Sponge City initiative, which tackles runoff pollution and flooding by making urban landscapes more capable of filtering and holding water.

1. Location

BY YA S M I N G AG N E

TENCENT’S NEW SHENZHEN HEADQUARTERS FLIPS THE SPRAWLING TECH CAMPUS ON ITS SIDE.

V E RT I C A L I N T E G R AT I O N S

Height: 165 metres

50-story skyscraper with the same collegiate-style atmosphere for 12 000 employees. Step one, says lead designer Jonathan Ward, was splitting the building into two towers and connecting them by three bridges, “so there is a conversation happening between them”. Below, a look at how the firm brought new energy – and a green sensibility – to the corporate high-rise.

Height: 125 metres

When it comes to their headquarters, American tech companies tend to favour sprawling campuses with pathways, pantries, and soccer pitches designed to foster interaction among employees across different departments. For its new, reportedly $599 million home, in Shenzhen, China, internet giant Tencent tasked the architecture firm NBBJ with turning this model on its side and imbuing a

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Tencent is developing a buildingwide Internet-of-Things system to help automate heating, airconditioning, and security. Already, facial-recognition technology identifies employees and allows them to access certain floors. Smart rooms within the building can adjust their temperature based on how many people are in them. Robot guides in the lobby show people to bathrooms and other facilities.

8. Lobby

The glazed, self-shading exterior regulates how much sunlight and heat penetrate the building, reducing the need for air-conditioning. NBBJ estimates that the building uses 40% less energy than a typical office tower.

7. Facade

Tencent buses pick up employees throughout the city and drop them off in an underground terminal below the building. Escalators rise up to plaza level, allowing natural light to filter in.

6. Bus station

The lowest link contains a museum about the history of Tencent, two levels of cafeteria space, and a 500-person auditorium.

5. Third bridge

The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;heartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; bridge contains more than 2 323 square metres of health and gym facilities, including a track, climbing wall, basketball court, dance studio, 2 badminton courts, 6 billiards tables, and 12 Ping-Pong tables. Thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a juice bar.

4. Second bridge

rooms are located here, as well as space for after-work activities, such as guitar and English lessons.

N EXT Master Class

T H E A RT O F T R A N S L AT I O N

HOW MR. ROBOT CREATOR SAM ESMAIL IS ADAPTING THE HIT PODCAST HOMECOMING INTO AN UTTERLY ORIGINAL TV SERIES BY KC I F E A N Y I

“I’m controlling over anything I create,” says Sam Esmail. “I’m very precious about it.” The writer, director, and showrunner is used to constructing worlds purely of his own design, most successfully with his Golden Globe – and Peabody Award– winning USA Network series, Mr. Robot, a dizzying descent into the mind of a brilliant, paranoid hacker. Esmail’s latest project – the 10-episode Homecoming – is a psychological thriller that lands on Amazon in early November and stars Julia Roberts in her television debut. It also marks the first time he has directed someone else’s material, and a podcast no less. Translating an audiodriven narrative for the screen inspired Esmail to loosen his notoriously tight grip on creative control, while maintaining a firm grasp of his own vision. Here’s how he found the right balance. STATE YOUR MISSION Before agreeing to take on any project, Esmail asks himself whether the story is entertaining and challenges his point of view. “The experience you’re going to take the audience on is as important as the story you’re trying to tell,” he says. “And that experience needs to excite me so much that I am desperate to share it.” When his agent approached him about turning Homecoming into a TV series, Esmail initially refused: He saw

Alternate Universes ESMAIL BRINGS A NOVEL PERSPECTIVE TO ALL HIS PROJECTS.

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no reason to mess with something that worked so well in its original format. It was only when he listened to the podcast again that he found his mission: to use the camera to heighten the suspense and tension already present in the narrative. “I started to realise that there is another dimension to the story that we could do interesting things with, visually,” he says.

WATCH YOUR TONE For Esmail, using plot and imagery to strike the right mood is the hardest part of the creative process. He says the more experimental and abstract qualities of Mr. Robot were somewhat buried in the show’s first season. Eventually, they blossomed into the format-breaking episodes of seasons 2 and 3, which feature dream sequences and fragmented narratives. Esmail admits being tempted to sneak things from that world into Homecoming, given the shows’ similarities. “But we always stopped ourselves and challenged ourselves to say, Wait a minute: How does it work in this show?” For Homecoming, Esmail says he leaned heavily on the more technical aspects of filmmaking, like framing, camera movement, and lighting, to “add that layer of specificity that gives the show its unique vibe.” The result: a modern version of Hitchcock at his best.

FIND YOUR METHOD To give Homecoming a fresh identity, Esmail LET IT GO leaned into the essential difference between raEsmail is cautious about micromanaging his dio and TV by showing more and telling less. The crew – a situation he avoided by bringing his podcast had to rely on expository dialogue and entire Mr. Robot staff from New York City to Los speeches to move the plot along, which “killed Angeles to work on Homecoming. “You have to the drama, suspense, and tension” of certain have that core creative team around you who’s moments, Esmail says. For television, going to support your vision, and though, he used near-wordless scenes challenge and evolve it,” he says. He to propel the story, letting the audience similarly deferred to the expertise experience the mystery right alongof Homecoming podcast creators Eli Sam Esmail side the main characters. He also used Horowitz and Micah Bloomberg, cinematography to his advantage. To adapt a moment that, in the podcast, involved two characters simply talking about the place where they worked, Esmail moved his camera around in a long, sweeping take, “allowing the audience to peek in on the facility while

Comet | 2014

This romantic comedy– sci-fi film, which he wrote and directed, uses flashbacks to explore a tempestuous six-year relationship.

NOVEMBER 2018

eavesdropping on the conversation,” he says. “It [was] a great way to rhyme visuals with dialogue and expand the experience for the viewer.”

COMPANY Esmail Corp. POSITION Writer, showrunner, director, producer FIRST MAJOR WORK Comet (2014)

Mr. Robot | 2015–2019

Esmail went deep on hacker culture to create one of the most realistic portrayals of electronic meddling to hit the screen in his successful psychological-thriller TV series.

who serve as showrunners for the TV series. “I was [never] going to take over writing duties,” he says. “I was a genuine fan of the original podcast, and I had the two masters of [it] with me. It would have been stupid for me to push back, or ignore that.”

Metropolis

He is adapting the famous Fritz Lang dystopian film into a miniseries. The plot takes place in a society highly segregated along class lines, and follows two lovers as they question the system they live in.

PHOTOGR APH BY THE COLLABOR ATIONIST

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NEXT By the Numbers

Biggest exit

HIGH STAKES The biggest funding rounds for AI/machine-learning health companies in 2018 (in millions)

$1.9

115

Owkin

Qventus

Zebra Medical Vision

BY A DA M B L U E S T E I N

Atomwise

BenevolentAI

THE HOPE – AND HYPE – SURROUNDING AI USE IN HEALTHCARE

Paige.AI

D O C TOR 2 .0

30 30

Viz.AI

SOURCES: COMPANY RELEASES; OWKIN FIGURE ESTIMATED FROM COMPANY RELEASE AND NEWS REPORTS

Are you ready to meet your robot physician? Over the past several years, the biggest names in tech, joined by a surge of startups, have made large strides in developing algorithms that can diagnose and predict disease and advise doctors on treatments. Despite some notable setbacks, investment in AI health companies has soared, and the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approvals for new AI health applications have sped up dramatically, thanks in part to the agency’s fast-track initiative. Here, a view of the competitive landscape.

Speed test

APPLE

Tech giants ﬁled more than 300 healthcare patents between 2013 and 2017.

MICROSOFT

186 ALPHABET

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Detects abnormal blood ﬂow in the brain VIZ.AI

Analyses CT brain scans for signs of stroke 2

Time a professional human analyst would typically spend to produce the same results

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BAY LABS

Automates analysis of ventricular function via ECG scans

DENSITAS

Assesses breast density from mammograms ICAD

Assesses breast density from mammograms 5

2 010

Change in total investment

SOURCE: ROCK HEALTH

Detects diabetic retinopathy (eye disease)

Calculates risk of coronary artery disease from CT scans

$33.1

IDX

ZEBRA MEDICAL VISION

MINUTES

MILLION

SOURCE: EY

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NEURAL ANALYTICS

TOTAL INVESTMENT Funding for US-based AI and machinelearning health companies

Diagnoses brain bleeds from CT scans Diagnoses brain bleeds from CT scans

SOURCE: ROCK HEALTH

Average time for Arterys’s FDA-approved softwa re to diagnose hea rt problems from an MRI scan

AIDOC

MAXQ AI

OF ALL DIGITALHEALTH CEOS HAVE A PHD

SECONDS

Patent toll

22% 12%

3 5

THE BRAIN TRUST It takes smart humans to build smart machines.

OF CEOS OF AI HEALTH COMPANIES HAVE A PHD

2011

SOURCE: ARTERYS

BILLION Price paid in 2018 by Swiss pharma giant Roche to acquire Flatiron Health, an AI startup that analyses real patient data to guide cancer R&D. The company previously raised more than $300 million in venture funding.

ARTERYS

Analyses MRIs and CT scans for signs of liver and lung cancer MIRADA MEDICAL

2017

Medical imaging analysis has been one of the ﬁrst specialties disrupted by AI, with machines capable of reading scans better – and more quickly – than humans.

NEW MEDICINE Some of the companies that have received FDA approval for health applications this year

Automates radiation cancer treatment to protect critical organs

$98.4

MILLION

IMAGEN

Diagnoses wrist fractures from an x-ray

ILLUSTR ATIONS BY PETER ARKLE

2018/10/26 14:10

PROCESSING POWER Vector’s brain, a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 212 chip, allows the bot to run a neural network that’s being trained to understand the world around it; online updates will further deepen its visual intelligence. The big achievement for launch: Vector detects people, even when faces aren’t visible.

A SUBTLE PERSONALITY Vector responds to stimulation, such as conversation and eye contact, and picks up on smaller cues: peripheral movement, noises, or lights turning on and off. Anki uses an online natural-language processing service to translate more complex human commands. These inputs feed into an emotional graph that determines how Vector should “feel” in any given situation and allows it to improvise a response.

HEARING AIDS Vector has a fourmicrophone array on top, allowing it to discern the direction of sounds and react to simple voice commands. When connected to Wi-Fi, Vector can display weather information, set a timer, and offer spoken answers to questions like, “What is the capital of Namibia?” In the future, it could be used as a voice control for connectedhome devices.

WINDOWS TO THE SOUL Vector’s cartoon eyes, represented on a 184by-96-pixel screen, appear to scan its surroundings and respond to commands by opening and closing. The robot actually sees via a 720p wide-angle video camera mounted just below the screen. If the bot makes eye contact with a human, it becomes animated, making its signature gibberish sounds or raising its ‘arms’ for a fist-bump.

CARTOGRAPHY CAPABILITY Using an infrared laser scanner, Vector builds a digital representation of its environment through a process called simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM). Drop sensors allow it to drive across a tabletop and stop just before the edge. “We want him to be inquisitive, to map his environment,” says Meghan McDowell, Anki’s director of programme management.

A S M A RT E R BOT ROBOTICS PIONEER ANKI GAVE ITS NEW TOY AN AI MIND OF ITS OWN. BY S E A N C A P TA I N

PHOTOGR APH BY JASON PIETR A

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N EXT Tech Forward

Since its founding in 2010 by three Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute grads, Anki has been at the forefront of realising our robot-in-the-home reality – through disarmingly adorable toys. The company’s two-year-old Cozmo (R2 570), a manic little bulldozer bot that drives around and plays simple games, was the best-selling toy, by revenue, on Amazon in the US, UK, and France in 2017, according to an analysis by One Click Retail, and helped Anki bring in nearly $100 million in revenue last year. In October, Anki released the R3 570 Vector. The palm-size bot looks like Cozmo, but inside it’s entirely different. The company spent years imbuing Vector with a human-like ability to react and engage with both its environment and people. It’s designed for play – and a whole lot more. “We’ve always known that this is not a toy company,” says co-founder and CEO Boris Sofman.

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BY SAARAH SURVĂ&#x2030;

P H OTO G R A P H S BY PAU L S H I A K A L L I S

From the time he was 13 years old, Reshaad Sha knew that he wanted to be working in the technology sector. In high school he was preoccupied with computer studies and his fascination for computer programming. N OVE M BER S o u t h A f ri c a

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HE STAYED THE COURSE BY STUDYING PROGRAMMING at Natal Technikon and an Executive MBA from UCT’s Graduate School of Business. Later, he served as Director of Cisco, Chief Strategy Officer at Dark Fibre Africa, director and chairman at SA Digital Villages and more recently, founded and served as CEO of SqwidNet, the fastest growing IoT operator in South Africa. Currently, he is the CEO of Liquid Telecom. Reshaad grew up in Durban, but says his actual growth only took place after he moved to Johannesburg and lived on his own. “As soon as I started working in the telecommunications space in 1998, I started travelling intensely. This also contributed significantly to my growth.” However, Reshaad never considered working in the telecommunications field initially. His only observations of the industry were what he saw in the street while growing up: the ‘Post & Telecommunications’ vans fixing the telephone systems. “That was not appealing.” He got his start in the sector when he was working at a software development house. “I was really passionate about systems implementation, operating systems and database management. “A UK-based software company was looking for those specific skills as they were trying to meet the demand that emerged from mobile operators popping up across the African continent. I joined them to start implementing billing platforms for the newly built mobile network operators.” When he was approached for the role at Liquid Telecom, he had no intention of pursuing the position. The only thing he was certain about was that he was not willing to stay at the company where he was employed. “I was about to embark on a life-changing experience at the Harvard Business School, on a nearly two-month programme, after which I was going to focus my efforts on Artificial Intelligence businesses and their emerging role. “After discussing the role with the Group CEO of Liquid Telecom and thinking about the transformational change that a truly African company can undertake across the continent and more importantly, the role I could play in that, my mind was made up.” After taking over as CEO, Reshaad was able to better understand Liquid Telecom – which had acquired

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SOME PLACES WHERE I HAVE WORKED TEND TO LABEL MY [LEADERSHIP] STYLE AS REBELLIOUS. THAT WAS AND REMAINS A C O M P L I M E N T…”

Reshaad Sha

Quick-fire Q&A WHAT TIME DO YOU USUALLY WAKE UP AND WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO? 4:30 am – pray WHAT TIME DURING THE DAY DO YOU FIND YOU ARE MOST PRODUCTIVE? Early in each of my two days. I split my day into two parts. My second day starts at 2 pm. HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN A HEALTHY WORK-LIFE BALANCE? I am not aware of this phenomenon, but I will read deeply on this subject. IS THERE AN IDEAL SPACE IN WHICH YOU FUNCTION MORE PRODUCTIVELY? My home office where I can hear my wife and daughter’s chatter in the background. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE APP? Audible

Neotel in South Africa. He began the diagnostic process using both the data that was available within the business, as well as what their customers were experiencing. He notes that an operating model shift and deeper segment focus were required. “There were also a number of distractions occupying management’s time and rapid resolution was required. We are now implementing what I call a digitally enhanced operating model, resulting in a massive restructure of the organisation.” The now and next for Liquid Telecom will be to transform their customer experience, while also making changes to their operating model. In pursuing this, Reshaad predicts that their pace of innovation will rapidly increase to better service the future demands of their customers. Describing his leadership style, Reshaad confesses that it’s hard for him to label. “What informs the style that I adopt is situationally driven, and the ability to not have to stick to a specific conventional approach in leading or problem solving. I avoid the routine-based, traditional, safe and familiar methods of leading in these highly turbulent times when competition is at its highest. “Some places where I have worked tend to label my style as rebellious. That was and remains a compliment, primarily due to the results that I have been able to deliver with my style of leadership. “As a leader I am constantly learning and encourage those around me to pursue their learning objectives. Conversation remains a core component of how I lead. It is often a mechanism to share and learn from colleagues at all levels within the company. I glean insights from these conversations that inform, to an extent, how I should lead situationally.” When it comes to his business philosophy, Reshaad says that being data-informed, in everything he does, is a core principle from which to operate, while acknowledging that there are many variables in an organisation that shift outcomes. “My leadership philosophy is driving the need to ensure that my management team relentlessly pursues the closing

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HOW DO YOU UNWIND? Lego, puzzles and random games that my daughter makes up. WHAT IS YOUR STRATEGY TO BEAT PROCRASTINATION? I block out time for the tasks that usually get pushed and stick to completing them in that slot. WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE TIPS FOR LEADING A MORE PRODUCTIVE LIFE? You must be passionate about and love what you are doing. If you don’t then do something else. Be with a life partner that is also your best friend. Do the most difficult tasks first. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? Different by Youngme Moon, who was one of my Harvard professors, Tech Savvy Parenting by Nikki Bush and Arthur Goldstuck, and Winning in Emerging Markets by Krishna Palepu and Tarun Khanna. YOUR PERSONAL MANTRA? Allahu Akbar (God is great)

of the loop in accountability, no matter the task.” Speaking to the challenges he has faced in recent years, Reshaad says that the transformation of a semi-construction-infrastructure company to a telco, against the will of the company and its entire senior management team, is one of the biggest. “I can easily put this down as one of my biggest challenges and successes. In terms of revenue, growth in profitability, its customer experience and associated customer base, it is significantly different from what it was.” After his management course at Harvard, Reshaad notes that going forward there will be very few leadership challenges that will surprise him, but also looks forward to those surprises which will contribute to his learning. His advice for young people starting out in the information communication technology sector is for them to master the art of learning. “Find ways to appreciate and enjoy the learning process and retain and practise it. It is a skill that will prove invaluable in your journey through life.”

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26 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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NOVEMBER 2018

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P WC Industrial Revolution 4.0

DEALING WITH C O N S TA N T C H A N G E THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IS REDEFINING THE BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT: HOW WE WORK, OPERATE AND ENGAGE CUSTOMERS AND OUR PEOPLE. LARGE ORGANISATIONS NEED TO PREPARE THEIR LEADERSHIP, PEOPLE AND CUSTOMERS FOR WHAT THIS MEANS AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THE SCALE AND RATE OF CHANGE. BY M I C H A E L O ’ C A R R O L L , P W C A S S O C I AT E D I R E C T O R – E N T E R P R I S E C H A N G E

Do we really have to change? It’s not really a choice anymore. External stimuli are pushing organisations to change, whether they like it or not. In reality, most organisations have already started to change, albeit with big or small adjustments. However, in some cases, the change never really realised the envisaged return-oninvestment (ROI) or stakeholder value creation. In other situations, organisations are still questioning the scale of change that is required and are hoping that a leaner operating model is sufficient enough to save them. Cost-efficient changes can only be driven so far until it starts to impact culture, and talent starts walking out the door. An efficient operating model is critical to maintain profit, but it won’t address the building change deficit required to stay competitive. Executives should take a fresh perspective on how to deal with changing requirements to address this deficit. The first step in dealing with organisational change is to build a guiding coalition of leaders who believe in the envisaged future and have a personal desire to move in this new direction. This is normally guided by a long-term organisational vision, set for 2025, for example. What will the future organisation, its people and customers look like and what are their requirements under this vision? This coalition of leaders will be guided towards a future state by a primary sponsor. This sponsor can be the CEO, who sets the tone at the top and gets alignment by building knowledge

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and ability of leaders to execute the envisaged change. Nobody can be expected to change if they don’t have the knowledge, tools or skills to shift gears and head in a new direction. An example of a transformation imperative set within a long-term vision could be to ‘become a data-led business’. Transitioning systems, skills and operating models to support the realisation of this future state will require leaders to understand what becoming a data led business means. A co-creation workshop, involving crossbusiness unit leaders to define and build this definition, gets them involved in shaping the future and makes them feel like they were part of the decision. If people are involved in defining what this means, then they will be more supportive of the transition phase. A well informed and educated leadership coalition can help drive a movement. At any state of change (current, transitional, future) there will always be certain people that resist the movement in a new direction. A target intervention plan can be prepared to win over some of the key resistance players who are fighting the transformation. However, one can’t waste too much energy on changing human nature as some people just don’t belong in the future organisation. Keep the right leaders on the bus and allow those that are not on the journey to exit. If radical change is agreed at the executive level, then change is going to be tough for the people in the business. They also need help in dealing with a shift towards a future state. They

need awareness and understanding of the future state and some certainty of the scope of change. If the change means a transformation of core business skills, then they need to understand what this means for them personally and how it will impact their future growth. For example, a radical transformation towards a more advanced digital workforce may mean that certain roles will become obsolete or perhaps new data analytics skills will be required to retain job security. Individuals will know if they fall short of a future skills requirement and will quickly become insecure if the change is not clear to them. If an organisation gets this transition state wrong with its people, it will compromise on productivity, talent retention and loss of morale within the business. In reality, large-scale change is never simple or fun for anyone. It will always be a challenging transition. The more time invested to support people through a transition state, the quicker the adoption of the change and the sooner the ROI will be realised. Aligning leaders and bringing people on the journey of change sounds fairly straight forward but it gets complex quite quickly, especially if an organisation has multiple locations (offices or stores) spread across different countries. A ‘change office’ and change leader can coordinate a change programme, prioritise projects and ensure that they are executed and ROI is realised. A strong change team needs to be mobilised who are well trained in change management theory, like ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability and Reinforcement), but also include digital, communications, instructional design, content design and user experience skills. Each priority change project that gets mobilised will require a combination of these skills. With rapid technological change, there is building pressure to rush forward with new projects, but speed is not always the best approach as it can create transitional chaos and change fatigue if not done in a structured manner. A mature change programme is well-structured and embedded in the strategy with full support from the executive. With every well-executed change, the organisation becomes fitter for the next change and with positive reinforcement, the changes will stick and the organisation moves forward.

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M Y WAY How I did it

Excellence in South Africa. We were also the overall winners in the quick-service restaurant industry, which is a big achievement for us.

WITH BURGER KING OPENING ITS 80TH RESTAURANT IN SOUTH AFRICA AND EXPANDING INTO SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, IT WAS TIME I SAT DOWN WITH BURGER KING SOUTH AFRICA’S COO, JUAN KLOPPER, TO CHAT ABOUT INNOVATION, HOW THE COMPANY IS FARING IN SOUTH AFRICA, SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND PRODUCTIVITY. BY S A A R A H S U RV É

IN YOUR ALMOST SIX YEARS AT BURGER KING, HOW HAVE YOU SEEN THE COMPANY INNOVATE? As a quick-service restaurant, we need to innovate every day. One of our main priorities is serving our guests with good quality food in a timely manner. To achieve this, we have introduced tech-based systems (some concepts of which we were first to market from a BK® Worldwide perspective) to track speed of service, manage kitchen production, and forecast management. In addition to this, developing self-serving kiosks and implementing mobile payment solutions and loyalty apps has also been a strong focus. On an internal front, we have recently launched a new communications app which will help improve our communication to, and between, restaurants. I am excited to see how this impacts business performance and morale. BURGER KING OPENED ITS 80TH RESTAURANT IN SOUTH AFRICA IN JUNE. HOW IS THE FAST FOOD CHAIN FARING IN SOUTH AFRICA? There is careful consideration given to where we open restaurants in South Africa. We have a group of experts who analyse, forecast and develop our new sites. Whenever we open a new restaurant it is always well received by the community it serves. We are aware of the demand for more restaurants, and we consider all the requests we receive via social media and other platforms. Slowing down now is the last thing on our minds – we want to double our network as quickly as possible. 28 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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NOVEMBER 2018

OTHER FAST FOOD CHAINS HAVE ANNOUNCED THAT BY 2025 ALL OF THEIR RESTAURANTS WILL HAVE PACKAGING, INCLUDING STRAWS, THAT ARE MADE FROM RENEWABLE, RECYCLED OR CERTIFIED SUSTAINABLE SOURCES. WHAT IS BURGER KING SA DOING TO ENSURE SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AND A LESSER IMPACT ON THE ENVIRONMENT? Another priority of ours is to consider the environment – it is part of our ongoing strategy. Before entering the country in 2013, we spent a lot of time ensuring we sourced our food and packaging from sustainable suppliers. The exciting thing is that producers are investing in new technologies that will make these packaging types more competitively priced and, in the long term, this will allow companies to make the transition quite easily. WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT AS COO? I’m a numbers guy, so turning negative sales growth into positive sales growth has been a big milestone for me and my team. Personally, opening our 80th restaurant has been one of my most memorable moments. It signified a more stable and profitable business with massive growth potential, which ensures we are unlocking the value of our shareholder investments, and it instils the trust bestowed on me to manage the business. Other moments include being awarded second place at the Ask Afrika Awards for Service

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR LEADERSHIP STYLE? I believe in creating an inclusive environment that is benevolent. I rely on the experts in my team for feedback and deliberation. I believe in communication, being open to feedback, and avoiding the Highest Paid Person’s Opinion (HiPPO) syndrome. It all comes down to trust – I trust in my team and in turn my team trusts me. WHAT IS YOUR BUSINESS PHILOSOPHY? I believe in focusing on the success and profitability of the brand by developing an effective organisation with discipline and functioning systems and technologies. Leading a tight knit team that focuses on accountability and performance, based on SMART strategic and operational objectives. WHAT’S THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU EVER RECEIVED AND WHO WAS IT FROM? Never stop doing your job or supporting what the business needs, no matter the pressure, stress or circumstance. I learned this lesson through experience. DO YOU HAVE ANY RITUALS FOR REMAINING FOCUSED AND ENSURING PRODUCTIVITY THROUGHOUT THE DAY? I believe in constantly improving your effectiveness, and never doing the same thing twice. If there is automation or a business rule you can develop to execute your work next time, then adopt it. Productivity and effectiveness are what create change in a business, not working harder or longer hours. HOW DO YOU BEAT PROCRASTINATION? Just start. Try to finish the entire concept in a maximum of 15 minutes. Try to conceptualise the beginning and end in terms of the absolute minimal critical path and leave perfections at the door to ensure you dumb it down to a 15-minute exercise. This will quickly show you which elements are the most critical and where your focus should be spent to finish the project off to the level of sophistication it demands at a later stage. Once you have the end in sight, the rest can be filled in through revision and delegation. PHOTOGR APH BY BURGER KING SA

2018/10/29 11:19

Quick-fire Q&A: WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP AND WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO? 6:30 am – I hug my dogs, let them roll around outside and then I make an espresso. WHAT TIME DURING THE DAY DO YOU FIND YOU ARE MOST PRODUCTIVE? I am a night owl, but due to the nature of my job, any hours before 8 am or after 5 pm, where the masses cannot get to me. WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU? Anyone who can do things effortlessly – this does not come naturally to me. WHAT BOOK(S) ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell. Sometimes you forget how rigid a perspective you impose on the world you live in and how a change in mindset can welcome breakthroughs in ideas.

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- - B U I L D I N G CHARACTER-->AS CEO DARA KHOSROWSHAHI__ REMAKES UBER WITH _AN EYE TOWARD AN I P O, H I S I R A N I A N CHILDHOOD AND_____ ____HERITAGE ARE ESSENTIAL TO __UNDERSTA NDING H O W H E L E A D S. > > >BY DAVID PEISNER __ILLUSTRATIONS BY KUO-CHENG LIAO P.3 0 N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 8

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>>>>> W H E N D A R A KHOSROWSHAHI_ _ W A S A C H I L D, ___HE LIVED IN A SPRAWLING__ _ _ F A M I LY C O M P O U N D >> in Farmanieh, a hilly enclave in northern Tehran. His great-grandfather, grandfather, and greatuncles had started a pharmaceutical business in the 1950s that had grown to become a massive conglomerate. The family was one of Iran’s wealthiest, one of the few whose fortunes weren’t tied to oil or the monarchy. Their compound had multiple houses, where Khosrowshahi’s extended family resided. It also had a soccer field, tennis courts, and multiple swimming pools, including a doubledecker one where he, his two brothers, and many cousins liked to leap from the upper, shallower pool to the lower, deeper one. In 1979, when Khosrowshahi was nine, violent protests had forced the country’s autocratic ruler, Mohammad Reza Shah, to flee, and ushered in a new, Islamic regime. The Khosrowshahi family had generally steered clear of politics, although one of Khosrowshahi’s great-uncles did serve as the shah’s Minister of Commerce between 1977 and 1978. Revolutionary Guard members patrolled the neighbourhood. Khosrowshahi remembers a friendly guardsman letting him hold his AK-47, and being struck by the sheer weight of it. One day, the Revolutionary Guard stormed a house across the street, where the shah’s cousin lived. When they scaled a wall, one soldier’s gun discharged, spraying bullets through the Khosrowshahi family’s living room window. “We were all on the ground, terrified,” Khosrowshahi tells me. “That was when my mom said, ‘We’re leaving.’ I’ve never been back.” 32 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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Forty years later, on a sunny, breezy Thursday in mid-June, Khosrowshahi, now the CEO of Uber, is riding a bright-red bicycle through downtown San Francisco. He is wearing a gray sweater, blue-checked shirt, jeans, and black shoes. His shirtsleeves are perfectly cuffed, midway up his forearms. His jeans look like they’ve been ironed. His sweater is entirely lint-free. He’s clearly enjoying himself, but he’s on this bike for a reason. In April, Uber acquired Jump, a dockless bike-sharing startup that’s a key part of an operational evolution for the company, from ridehailing giant to multimodal transportation platform. If all goes according to Khosrowshahi’s plan, soon we’ll no longer think of an Uber as merely the on-demand car that ferries you across town.

Uber will become, as he puts it, “your indispensable travel tool. Any way you want to get around, open our app and we get you there.” After touring Jump’s warehouse earlier in the day, Khosrowshahi and I chose to bike the 2.5 km back to Uber HQ on Jump’s motorised e-bikes rather than ride with the company’s communications team in a black SUV. These sorts of short trips are exactly the type Uber hopes to begin encouraging its users to take by bike rather than car, insisting it’ll be more costefficient, eco-friendly, and congestion alleviating. When we arrive at Uber’s offices five minutes before the communications team, Khosrowshahi is positively gleeful. “A mile and a half, and it’s faster by bike!” he says, smiling, as he strides into a bustling reception area. “That’s proof of concept!” Rebranding Uber as a transportation platform to route people through cities via bikes, cars, scooters, buses, trains – and, yes, perhaps one day, flying cars – may be the easiest part of the transformation Khosrowshahi is leading. The bigger challenges could be dismantling the company’s notoriously bro-ish culture and revamping its reputation, earned under Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick, Silicon Valley’s incorrigible bête noire. Uber’s catalogue of Kalanick-era problems is long (and still emerging). It includes gender discrimination, a hostile workplace environment, intellectual-property theft, driver exploitation, a massive data breach, and a general yen for sidestepping regulators and intimidating critics. Whether Khosrowshahi can accomplish this feat may rest on what he learned 11 000 km away from the fourth-floor conference room in Uber’s headquarters where we chat. He is the most visible example of a wave of Iranian-American entrepreneurs, financiers, and executives who’ve reached the highest ranks in Silicon Valley over the past two decades, founding or holding senior leadership positions at, among others, Google (and YouTube), Twitter (and Periscope), Yahoo, Nokia, Oracle, Dropbox, Tinder, eBay, Genius, and Expedia. That their rise has coincided with 40 years of constant enmity between Iran and the US makes it all the more notable. The current administration’s nativist stance has Khosrowshahi concerned that the next wave of immigrant entrepreneurs might never make it past the border. “The reactionary politics and policies may satisfy certain people’s emotional states,” he says, “but from an economic standpoint, from a spiritual standpoint of who we are, it’s a mistake. Being an immigrant in the States, there’s this underdog feeling of, ‘Can we build back what our family lost?’ ” Before the Islamic Revolution, Khosrowshahi assumed he’d join his family’s business one day. The Khosrowshahi Brothers Company (KBC) was already a multifaceted operation by the time he was born, in 1969. KBC flourished amid the shah’s

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embrace of Western-style capitalism, expanding from importing pharmaceuticals to manufacturing them within Iran, then to producing cosmetics, household goods, and packaged foods. Eventually, KBC bought its own bank. When the shah fell, the new Islamic government seized the company. Nearly the entire family left Iran. Most landed in Westchester County, north of New York City, where one of Khosrowshahi’s great-uncles, Nasrollah, had been living since the 1960s. Khosrowshahi, his parents, and two older brothers moved in with Nasrollah and his family, before eventually finding their own place – a three-bedroom condominium in Tarrytown. “My father felt that he wanted to keep our wealth in [Iran], so my parents lost the vast majority of what they had,” he says. The family devoted much of their remaining assets to sending Dara, his brothers, and many of their cousins to the Hackley School, a prestigious prep academy nearby. Soccer helped Khosrowshahi integrate with his American classmates. His two older brothers were captains on the Hackley team; Khosrowshahi was a central defender and later became goalkeeper. “They are positions that don’t get the glory but have ultimate accountability,” he says. “Every goal that was scored when I was a goalkeeper – and there were plenty – was a goal that

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if I’d been in the right spot and reacted the right way, I could’ve avoided. I loved that.” Khosrowshahi was an exceptional student. He could open a textbook on his lap in front of the TV, tune out the noise, and focus on exactly what he needed to absorb. He and his brothers and cousins who also settled in Westchester pushed each other hard. “It was competition only in the best sense of the word,” he says. Within a few years, Khosrowshahi’s dad returned to Iran to take care of his own aging father. Once he arrived, the Iranian government – then mired in the bloodiest days of the Iran-Iraq War – wouldn’t let him leave for almost six years. Khosrowshahi worried about nightly bombing runs on Tehran by Iraqi fighter jets. But his father’s absence clarified some things. “There was a sense of responsibility,” he says. “My brothers and I knew we weren’t here to screw around. We were expected to get great grades, not get into trouble. [We] were lucky to be here.” When Khosrowshahi needed spending money one summer during high school, he applied for work at a Mobil station on the same road as his elite private school. He’d check oil levels in customers’ cars. He’d clean their windshields. He and a co-worker challenged each other to see who could earn the best tip. “We were constantly trying to read our customers,” Khosrowshahi says. “I won because I got a silver pen, which was the slam dunk of gas station tips.” His cousin Hadi Partovi, who is currently CEO of the education nonprofit Code.org, didn’t know Khosrowshahi was working there until he pulled up to the station for gas one day. “The CEO of Uber started as a gas station attendant,” he says. “I love that.” Iranians were the largest group of foreign students in America in the mid-1970s. And “Americans were everywhere in Iran,” says Faraj Aalaei, who lived in the country until 1978 and would go on to become CEO of the semiconductor manufacturer Aquantia and take it public in November 2017. “There were American-Iranian clubs. On TV, every weekend, I’d watch the Oakland Raiders, the Boston Celtics.” The bond between Iranians and Americans was ruptured in 1979, when Iranian students took 52 Americans hostage at the US embassy in Tehran for 444 days. “The public attitude was pretty negative during the hostage crisis,” Khosrowshahi recalls. “That was a very difficult situation, but kids are resilient.” Others are less politic about the experience.

>>AN EM P I R E 0F____ T H E I R O W N T E C H I E S O F I R A N I A N ___ _H E R I T A G E H A V E H A D __O U T S I ZE S U C C E S S I N S I L I C O N V A L L E Y.>> Aquantia FARAJ AALAEI

CEO

Co-founder, SVP of tech development

AMIN ZOUFONOUN

NIOUSHA ZADEH

Co-founder and CEO

PIROOZ PARVARANDEH

Code.org

VP, corporate development

ALI PARTOVI

Co-founder (co-founder, iLike; founding partner, Link Exchange; currently, CEO, Neo)

COO

Amazon

HADI PARTOVI

BABAK PARVIZ

Co-founder and CEO (co-founder, Tellme Networks and iLike)

VP and leader, Grand Challenge research team (creator, Google Glass)

Alphabet/Google SALAR KAMANGAR

Executive officer, Alphabet; former CEO, YouTube FARZAD KHOSROWSHAHI

Genius

Director of engineering, Area 120 (creator, Google Sheets)

Coriant

MAHBOD MOGHADAM

PARISA TABRIZ

Director of engineering (former member of U.S. Digital Service)

eBay

SHAYGAN KHERADPIR

Former CEO (former CEO, Juniper Networks)

Co-founder

PIERRE OMIDYAR

Roche

Founder

NARGES BANIASADI

Dropbox ARASH FERDOWSI

Former VP and lifecycle leader (co-founder, Bina Technologies)

Oracle BOB MINER

Co-founder

Tinder

AMIR KHOSROWSHAHI

DARA KHOSROWSHAHI

CEO (former CEO, Expedia)

LILY SARAFAN

CEO

Intel Uber

Home Care Assistance

EXECUTIVES/ FOUNDERS

Co-founder, former CTO

CTO, AI products (co-founder and CTO, Nervana)

SEAN RAD

Co-founder, former CEO

Executive chairman (former chief business officer, Google)

Director of engineering

PriceGrabber KAMRAN POURZANJANI

Co-founder

KAYVON BEYKPOUR

Head of product; co-founder, Periscope

Radius Intelligence DARIAN SHIRAZI

Co-founder and CEO

Twitter OMID KORDESTANI

PEDRAM KEYANI

Yahoo FARZAD NAZEM

former CTO

Zoosk

Nokia

ALEX MEHR

HOSSEIN MOIIN

Former chief technology and strategy officer (currently, strategic executive adviser, Coriant)

Y Combinator ALI ROWGHANI

Virgin Hyperloop One SHERVIN PISHEVAR

Co-founder

Building character.indd 34

Facebook

Brite

RAMIN FARJADRAD

CEO, Continuity fund (former CFO and COO, Twitter; former CFO, Pixar)

Flipagram FARHAD MOHIT

Co-founder (co-founder and former CEO, Bizrate and Shopzilla)

Co-founder (currently, co-founder and CEO, MentorBox) SHAYAN ZADEH

Co-founder (currently, founder and CEO, Leap Rail)

Kobalt AVID LARIZADEH DUGGAN

EVP, chief strategy and business officer (former general partner, GV, Alphabet)

2018/10/26 14:14

INVESTORS IN/ ADVISERS TO

Airbnb Ali Partovi Hadi Partovi

Bonobos Bobby Yazdani

Change.org Hadi Partovi

ClassPass Hadi Partovi

Color Genomics

Rent the Runway Shervin Pishevar

Salesforce Bobby Yazdani

SpaceX Hadi Partovi

Sweetgreen Bobby Yazdani

Farzad Nazem

Thrive Market

Convoy

Ali Partovi

Dara Khosrowshahi Hadi Partovi

Thumbtack

DoorDash Pejman Nozad

Dropbox

Ali Partovi Hadi Partovi

Tumblr Bijan Sabet

Twitter

Pejman Nozad Ali Partovi Hadi Partovi

Bijan Sabet

Facebook Ali Partovi Hadi Partovi

Ali Partovi Hadi Partovi Shervin Pishevar Bobby Yazdani

Ginkgo Bioworks

Farzad Nazem

Google Bobby Yazdani

Indiegogo Hadi Partovi

LegalZoom Kamran Pourzanjani

Uber

uBiome Warby Parker Shervin Pishevar

Zappos Ali Partovi Hadi Partovi

ZipRecruiter Kamran Pourzanjani

“It was terrible,” says Aalaei, who was a student at Wentworth Institute of Technology, in Boston, when the hostage crisis started. “It was hard for us to rent an apartment. There was a banner hanging from the campus library telling us to go home. Professors were picking on you. Fistfights broke out in the civil engineering department.” Farhad Mohit, who left Iran in 1978 when he was nine and went on to help found the internet companies Bizrate, Shopzilla, and Flipagram, says that his classmates “blamed me for co-ordinating everything.” They weren’t completely serious but weren’t totally kidding, either. “People were blaming me for something I was running from.” The effect can be lasting. “When you’re young and thrown into that situation, it does form your character,” Aalaei says. “Think about it: There’s no hostage crisis anymore, but every single day as an Iranian American, you’re told by the media you’re no good, you’re a terrorist, that Iranians are causing problems.” Iranians, though – unlike some immigrant groups, who tend to create insular communities in America – seem hardwired for assimilation, thanks to centuries of being invaded and having to live and work alongside people from different backgrounds. “It’s a xenophilic culture,” says Mohit. “That’s a very good trait when you’re trying to establish yourself someplace, trying to be entrepreneurial.” In the ’70s and ’80s, computers offered a welcome respite. “They were my friends!” jokes Mohit, whose early alienation pushed him toward tech. The relative meritocracy of Silicon Valley was similarly inviting. “People I know have started so many companies, and there’s never been prejudice toward ‘Where’s your family from?’ ” says Twitter executive chairman Omid Kordestani, who left Iran in 1978. “It was always about your talent.” Iran’s academic system was particularly well geared to enabling future Silicon Valley success. In Iranian schools, students picked one of three academic paths after middle school: a math and physics track, for those who wanted to be engineers; a science track, for aspiring doctors; and a liberal arts track for everybody else. “[My school] didn’t even have a liberal arts path,” says Bobby Yazdani, who left Iran in 1980 and went on to found Saba Software, eventually taking it public and later becoming a prolific investor. Liberal arts, to Iranians of his generation, wasn’t for serious students. “People looked down on it. They’d say, ‘This is not a path.’ ”

For Khosrowshahi and his extended family, these factors have translated into success. Khosrowshahi’s brother Kaveh is managing director at the investment firm Allen & Company, which runs the Sun Valley Conference (the annual Davos-like gathering of media and tech bigwigs). His oldest brother, Mehrad, is president at the consulting firm Confida. His uncle Hassan founded the Canadian electronics chain Future Shop, which Best Buy acquired in 2001 for $580 million Canadian. Among his cousins: Twins Hadi and Ali Partovi were key early investors in Facebook, Airbnb, and Dropbox; Amir Khosrowshahi co-founded the AI startup Nervana, then sold it to Intel, reportedly for $400 million; Farzad Khosrowshahi created Google Sheets; Darian Shirazi was Facebook’s first intern and the co-founder and CEO of Radius, a marketing software company; and Avid Larizadeh Duggan, who was named one of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders in 2016, joined the digital-music startup Kobalt as its chief strategy and business officer in February, after being a VC for one of Google’s investment arms. “If there’s a special sauce in terms of Iranian entrepreneurs,” says Khosrowshahi, “it’s this expectation of high achievement, a worship of education, the immigrant’s chip on the shoulder, and this deep bazaari entrepreneurial instinct that you don’t necessarily associate with other immigrant cultures.” Bazaari entrepreneurialism – loosely defined as an aptitude for marketplace businesses with many buyers and sellers – has echoed throughout Khosrowshahi’s career. After earning a degree in electrical and electronics engineering from Brown University, he started his career as an analyst at an investment bank. Then Barry Diller hired him, first to work as a strategic planning executive at USA Networks and later at Diller’s tech conglomerate IAC. He held various positions under Diller – including president and CFO – but one of his main responsibilities throughout was negotiating deals and acquiring new businesses. He was good at it. “He saw that online travel was going to be super interesting as the web inevitably ate the planet,” says Expedia founder Rich Barton, who got to know Khosrowshahi when IAC moved to acquire the travel-booking giant. “He imagined something even bigger than I did, and I was the founder.”

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IAC signed the Expedia deal in mid-2001 but hadn’t yet closed on it when the September 11 attacks suddenly made the idea of buying an online travel hub seem dicey. The deal contained a “material adverse change” clause that gave the purchasers the right to renege; the 9/11 attacks almost certainly qualified. Khosrowshahi, though, stayed the course. “He didn’t get anybody panicked and came to the right strategic conclusion,” says Barton. “If the travel industry didn’t recover very quickly from this and carry on its normal upward trajectory, then [we’d] have bigger problems as humans and [the loss wouldn’t] matter much anyway.” As Khosrowshahi sees it, “Usually, great deals are ones that aren’t obvious to the greater marketplace. This kind of bazaari instinct has created a comfort for me to go against the grain. It’s allowed me to be confident and independentminded, to push to find value where sometimes others haven’t been able to explore. I’m comfortable with volatility.” At Uber, when Khosrowshahi sought to purchase Jump, the e-bikes startup he acquired for a reported $200 million earlier this year, Ryan Rzepecki, Jump’s founder, says he found Khosrowshahi “charismatic,” but “not very aggressive.” Negotiation, for Khosrowshahi, wasn’t a zero-sum game. “It was more like, ‘Come do this with me. We know you have options, but we think we have the best option for you.’ ” Former Expedia CEO Barton, who is now a partner at the VC firm Benchmark, which was an early investor in Uber but took the extraordinary step last year of suing then CEO Kalanick over control of the company’s board of directors, calls Khosrowshahi a Jedi. “He has this calming, beguiling way of getting people to think what he wants them to think,” he says. “It’s not Machiavellian. He’s a good listener.” Khosrowshahi’s great-grandfather Hadj Hassan Khosrowshahi was a prominent trader in the bazaar in the northwestern city of Tabriz before forming the Khosrowshahi Brothers Company with his sons. By 1957, Hadj Hassan had ceded operational control but remained a deeply principled figurehead. In a letter to his sons, he outlined his business philosophy in six points that were quite progressive for the time (“[Be conscious] of our responsibilities . . . Be kind to fellow employees . . .”). Hadi Partovi, whose grandfather was also one of KBC’s founders, says the family took tremendous pride that its business treated workers well, building houses and schools for them. “Those are values [we] grew up with,” he says. “That’s become part of who I am, and who Dara is.” When Khosrowshahi took over at both Expedia and Uber, he unveiled a list of cultural norms he hoped to refashion the companies around. In the case of Uber, these were things like, “We celebrate differences,” and “We persevere.” (These replaced Kalanick’s values, which celebrated “toe stepping” and “always be hustlin’.”) Khosrowshahi had known his great-grandfather but was too young to 36 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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absorb his business philosophy directly. “I really saw the values of my great-grandfather play out with my father,” he says. Khosrowshahi’s dad had managed KBC’s factories in Iran. As a boy, Khosrowshahi often visited these factories with his dad. “I remember the way the workers respected him, the way he talked to them. He knew them all by name. He’d ask about their families. He wasn’t some distant figure.” When Khosrowshahi makes his first visit to the Jump warehouse in San Francisco, only the warehouse manager and a few mechanics are there. He does more listening than talking. He asks targeted questions, learning how the Jump staff locates bikes around the city, services them, and repositions them every morning. When he rewrote Expedia’s values, recalls Neha Parikh, whom Khosrowshahi eventually promoted to be president of the discount travel site Hotwire, “they were so reflective of his own,” she says. “ ‘We lead humbly.’ ‘We’re actively interested in the success of others.’ He’s relentless about those things.” His mission is ongoing at Uber. In his first six months as CEO, he traveled widely – to Europe, Asia, South America – on what amounted to an epic apology tour. He settled an intellectual-property lawsuit from Google’s self-driving unit, Waymo, and then began musing about the possibility of incorporating Waymo’s vehicles into Uber’s network. He’s held forums to hear concerns from Uber drivers. He announced that the company would support a fee on Uber trips that would go toward a “hardship fund” for New York taxi-medallion owners whose financial security has been imperiled due to Uber’s rise. This past May, he appeared in a commercial, saying that “one of our core values . . . is to always do the right thing. And if there are times when we fall short, we commit to being open, taking responsibility for the problem, and fixing it.” Uber has fallen short, even on his watch. News broke in July that Uber COO Barney Harford was the subject of formal complaints regarding the way he talked about women and people of colour. That same month, the company’s human resources chief, Liane Hornsey, resigned amid allegations that she’d ignored discrimination complaints. Hornsey was a Kalanick-era holdover, but Harford had been Khosrowshahi’s most significant early hire. Harford released a contrite statement, vowing to improve, and remains in the job. Much of Khosrowshahi’s first year was spent cleaning up other people’s messes. Now the company’s problems are his to own. In 2015, New York City threatened to cap the number of ride-hailing vehicles allowed in the city. Kalanick responded with an aggressive campaign that included adding a “De Blasio view” feature in Uber’s app, offering a dystopian vision of the city with fewer available Uber rides. The city backed down. When the issue resurfaced this year, Khosrowshahi met with local politicians and pushed the hashtag #DontStrandNYC. But his campaign was measured, focusing on the need

for ride-hailing services in the outer boroughs. The city council approved the cap in August, a significant blow for Uber in its largest US market. The political climate is different from what it was three years ago, to be sure. But there’s no getting around the fact that it will take more than humility and diplomacy to succeed as Uber’s CEO. After the decision, Bradley Tusk, a political strategist who advised Kalanick and Uber during the 2015 campaign, criticised Khosrowshahi for, essentially, carrying a knife to a gunfight. “Dara’s long-term ambition for Uber – a less turbulent reputation heading into a 2019 IPO – may make sense in the aggregate,” Tusk told Fast Company, “but in every city across the world, it also leaves the company highly vulnerable. Passivity may turn out to be just as risky as the previous regime’s aggressive approach.” Perhaps, but there may be a different way of understanding Khosrowshahi’s approach. In Iranian culture, there is a practice called ta’arouf, which is hard to translate but basically amounts to an elaborate display of etiquette. It involves not only extreme deference toward a guest or even an adversary but also a significant amount of self-deprecation, bordering on self-abnegation. Ta’arouf is “a cultural imperative that is about manners, yes, but is also about gaining advantage, politically, socially, or economically, as much as anything else,” writes Iranian-American author Hooman Majd in The Ayatollah Begs to Differ. “American businesses and businessmen are known to succeed with brashness, determination, and sometimes even a certain amount of ruthlessness; Iranian businessmen succeed rather more quietly with a good dose of ta’arouf . . . in such a way that doors are opened before the ones opening the doors realise they have done so.” In this light, Khosrowshahi’s more tempered response in New York – along with his “retreat” in Southeast Asia and Russia, where he pulled Uber out of large, potentially lucrative markets in favour of equity stakes in local rivals – looks more like a savvy long-term play. It gives him strategic advantage he might not have had if he’d pursued Kalanick’s style of ruthless capitalism. When I point out this ideological change to Khosrowshahi, he shifts a little in his conference room chair. Part of his balancing act is to reinvent Uber without alienating those who built it with Kalanick. “There are different styles for everybody,” he says, choosing his words carefully. “That ta’arouf, or that humility, has been a deep part of how I’ve grown up. Succeed, but succeed quietly.” Although Uber is a for-profit company, in many ways Khosrowshahi sees it as a public utility, or at least a public good. Uber’s challenges in the coming years – not just changing the company’s culture but also persuading cities and countries around the world to trust it to be a vital part of urban life – demand more cooperative spirit, more reserve, more ta’arouf. “The next five or 10 years require a different way of growing,” he says. “As opposed to bursting through doors, it’s to open doors. It’s to have conversation.”

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2018/10/29 12:59

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SEC R OF THE M P RODU PE O Most Productive people Opener.indd 38

2018/10/29 14:36

C RE TS F E MOST C T IV E PLE

I N OUR A N N UAL EDITIO N, W E FEATURE THE INDUSTRY LEADERS WHO HAVE M ASTERED THE ART O F P R O D U C T I V I T Y. Discover thei r secrets – from waking before sunrise to using Excel – and up y o u r e f f i c i e n c y g a m e.

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A WHOLE NEW BALL GAME B O R N A N D R A I S E D I N C A P E TOW N , M E Y E R S WA N E P O E L S P E N T H I S E A R LY Y E A R S P L AY I N G F L A N K E R F O R W E S T E R N P R OV I N C E A N D T H E S H A R K S B E F O R E M OV I N G TO I TA LY W H E R E H E P L AY E D F O R M O G L I A N O A N D B E N E T TO N T R E V I S O. A F T E R H I S R E T I R E M E N T F R O M R U G BY T WO Y E A R S AG O, M E Y E R E S TA B L I S H E D H I M S E L F A S O N E O F S O U T H A F R I C A’ S TO P R E A L E S TAT E AG E N T S , W H E R E TO DAY H E I S K N OW N A S A N I N F LU E N T I A L VO I C E W I T H I N T H E I N D U S T RY.

BY E LS KE JOU BE RT

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY

FOR RUGBY PLAYER TURNED ESTATE AGENT, Meyer Swanepoel, being active in the real estate space is all about people. “I work with the most extraordinary range of people who are brought together by the need to move homes. With my experience in architecture, design, and photography, I am able to speak with honesty and authority rather than resorting to clichés. I am proud of what I do.” 40 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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TH E E VOLUTION THAT I STRIVE FOR I N LI FE I S TO CON STANTLY PUS H MYS E LF AN D G ROW.”

In an industry that is synonymous with mistrust, Meyer hopes to provide people with a warm and genuine approach to buying and selling homes. “I believe that a home should lift the spirits. The purpose of a building is to provide shelter, but in the hands of the right architect, it can frame space and capture light in a life-enhancing way.” Meyer’s journey thus far has been a positive one, but not without many lessons learned along the way. Commenting on his biggest challenge, Meyer notes, “My biggest struggle has been starting out in an industry that I knew nothing about. I quickly realised that it boils down to who you know, rather than what you know.” Meyer sees himself changing the traditional ways of the industry by using his love for design, architecture and digital media to tell stories about the homes he sells. “It’s easy to sell a home and to move onto the next one. What sets one apart is the ability to tell a story. With social media, and the consumer’s attention being almost 100% digital, it makes our jobs easier to gain their trust in an authentic way.” For Meyer, getting an early start is crucial in setting the tone for a productive day. “I find that running first thing in the morning clears my mind and sets me up perfectly for the day. Being awake early in the morning makes me feel like I have the upper hand, as I am able to accomplish so much more during my working day.” Commenting on who or what inspires him, Meyer says, “I admire a lot of people, but especially the kind of person who understands what it takes to make their dreams a reality; someone who knows hard work is the only variable. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, or where you are on your journey, if you have these qualities I will be your biggest fan.” And the one thing that drives him to succeed every day? “The evolution that I strive for in life is to constantly push myself and grow.” NOVEMBER 2018

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SEEKING INCLUSIVITY S O U T H A F R I C A H A S R I G H T LY B E C O M E O B S E S S E D W I T H F I N D I N G T H E B E S T P E R S O N F O R T H E J O B – N O M AT T E R W H AT T H E I R E T H N I C I T Y, FA I T H O R G E N D E R . T H I S H A S B E E N A H U G E A N D N E C E S S A RY S T E P F O R WA R D, B U T I T M I G H T B E T I M E TO B E A S I N C LU S I V E A B O U T T H E N E X T G E N E R AT I O N – T H I S M O R E T H A N A N Y T H I N G W I L L H E L P B R E A K T H E C U R R E N T D E A D LO C K O N P R O D U C T I V I T Y.

PHOTOG R APH BY AMIT AMIN & NAROOP J HOOTHI

BY R E N É C A R AYO L

THE MOST PROGRESSIVE LEADERS have started to realise it is no longer appropriate to focus solely on the best person for the job – this must move to a focus on the best person for the team. This is the biggest driver of productivity and will take them in a completely different direction – bringing new thinking and new attitudes to the business. This approach means having less of an obsession with academic qualifications and longterm experience; an approach of being fixated with only the ‘past’ of potential candidates is outdated. This has led to the executive team doors being slammed shut to a new generation of younger, more travelled, more broadly aware potential executives that are technology literate and far better equipped to deal with disruptive times. There is still a place for the more careful, judicious and heavily risk adverse executive that has seen it all before. Their learned focus of only taking cautious and small incremental steps forward is often way too slow and

René’s top tips for progressive leaders: 42 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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measured for this fast-paced world. However, when the leader is brave enough to bring in those from a new generation, with big audacious new ideas and fresh collaborative instincts, the heady combination starts to create magic and faster results. Leaving the corporate world 15 years ago to go solo as a business speaker, author and broadcaster, presented me with the opportunity and privilege to work closely with some of the world’s leading ‘blue chip’ multinational businesses, and far more importantly, some of the world’s best leaders. The Queen said I shouldn’t name drop, so I won’t, but I have worked with the likes

of Richard Branson, Mikael Gorbachev, Bill Clinton, Jack Welch and quite a few prominent leaders in South Africa, including Maria Ramos and Dr Anna Mokgokong. Today’s leaders have to be self-aware enough to know precisely what their own inherent strengths are, but they also need to have the humility to be as clear of their own limitations. Instead of the age-old practice of becoming fixated with working hard to improve their shortcomings, they focus more on the deployment of their strengths. The real leap forward in terms of productivity is to identify executives for the team whose strengths balance out the weaknesses of the leader. There was a time not so long ago when the leader could and would be expected to introduce every new business initiative and to solve every business problem. Those days are long gone. The business world has become way too rapid and complex for one person to be able to ‘call all the shots’ on their own anymore. Whilst it is no longer feasible for any individual, no matter how brilliant they are, to be that broad, it is entirely feasible for the team to be that broad. But even the best executive teams with individuals chosen for their ‘fit’ are not enough on their own – they also need ideas, suggestions and solutions coming from everyone else in the business. Therefore, another secret of these special leaders, is to abandon the old-fashioned approach of having cultures that ‘challenge down and support up’, but to foster the opposite approach of ‘challenging up and supporting down’, so that every voice is heard and valued.”

Be more realistic about what you can

conversations with all your people.

Cultivate a culture of curiosity. Ensure that every voice is heard. Push all your tasks and activities down

It will take courage to appoint and embrace those who behave and think completely different to you. You must hold your nerve and look for those who

and can’t do.

to your team – freeing yourself up for

Catch people doing things right

are able to bring ‘new age’ thinking, and maybe a completely different way of getting things done. Create an environment of psychological safety, where every voice is heard and everyone feels safe and confident.

NOVEMBER 2018

2018/10/26 13:59

TH E R E WAS A TI M E N OT S O LO N G AG O WH E N TH E LE AD E R C O U LD AN D WO U LD B E E XP E C TE D TO I NTRO D U C E E V E RY N E W B U S I N E S S I N ITIATI V E AN D TO S O LV E E V E RY B U S I N E S S P RO B LE M . TH O S E DAYS AR E LO N G G O N E .”

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SA CRICKET’S RISING STAR LU N G I N G I D I I S O N E O F S O U T H A F R I C A’ S M O S T P R O M I S I N G C R I C K E T E R S . A F O R M I DA B L E PAC E M A N , I A S K E D LU N G I A B O U T H I S G R E AT E S T C H A L L E N G E S A N D S U C C E S S E S , A N D H I S S T R AT E G Y F O R K E E P I N G T H E B A L L ROLLING.

BY E LS KE JOU BE RT

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY

Please briefly tell us about your journey thus far. My journey has been very exciting. A lot has happened in such a short space of time – from making my debut last year, to being part of an Indian Premier League (IPL) win – it has all been exhilarating and I’m just taking it in stride. What were some of your biggest challenges and successes? My biggest challenge was the passing of my father this year – that really affected me mentally, but a success worth mentioning is working through that and having been nominated as a Rising Star and Sportsman of the Year at the Gauteng Sports Awards. How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? I’m always training so that makes it easy. I’m at the gym regularly and that goes hand-in-hand with my work, so I never really have to think too much about maintaining a healthy balance. What time during the day are you most productive? Around 4 to 7 pm – that is when I’m at the gym or out running. Who or what inspires you? The hard work of my parents to get me to where I am today; and to be the person I am today is what inspires me most. Your personal mantra? “Pressure makes diamonds.” 44 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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Interactive exhibit design is quite new in South Africa. How is this nascent field helping children and adults learn more effectively? There is a general consensus and a ton of scientific evidence that the most effective way to learn anything is by being engaged and interacting with content or subject matter – ‘tell me and I’ll forget, show me and I may remember, involve me and I’ll understand’. Interactive exhibits allow for users or visitors to be ‘involved’ with content instead of just observing it. Technological innovations and devices are ubiquitous, and the argument can be made that since the rise of tech, people haven’t been as productive as they could be. Do you find this to be true? I do not necessarily believe this to be true – and regardless, I feel that people nowadays don’t need to be as productive as they’ve had to be in the past – at least not in a traditional sense. The fact that we don’t have to spend so much time researching something as we did before the internet existed means that we can spend more time doing more productive things or things that we enjoy or that improve our quality of life, like spending time with family or loved ones. That, in itself, makes for happier people and happy people are productive people.

THE RIGHT FORMULA FOR SUCCESS F O R M U L A D I S A D E S I G N C O N S U LTA N C Y T H AT H E L P S C L I E N T S F I N D I N N OVAT I V E S O LU T I O N S F O R C O N V E Y I N G I N F O R M AT I O N A N D

Do you think people are less productive now compared to previous generations? I don’t believe that people aren’t as productive as they used to be. I think that that perception exists because of the hyper-connected era we live in, and the bite sized media consumption we’ve all become so accustomed to in such a short space of time. This makes for short attention spans but not necessarily less productivity. How important is wellness to people’s productivity? Extremely. Wellness extends to the physical, environmental and mental. In our own environment at Formula D we believe very strongly in creating an environment that nurtures, supports and encourages wellness because it’s what we want for ourselves, as owners, first and foremost, and then because we know it makes for a productive team and a productive team is one that has the most potential for positively impacting society.

C O N C E P T S I N A N I N T E R AC T I V E WAY. FA S T C O M PA N Y S A S P E A K S TO T H E

Your top three pieces of advice for being more productive?

M A N AG I N G D I R E C TO R , M A R C O R O S A , A B O U T I N T E R AC T I V E E X H I B I T

Do something you enjoy. Delegate the stuff you’re not necessarily good at to someone who is better at it than you are. Don’t be distracted by devices, phones, mail, etc. When you need to focus for a certain amount of time, lock yourself away somewhere.

D E S I G N A N D T H E E F F E C T S O F W E L L N E S S O N P R O D U C T I V I T Y. BY E LS KE JOU BE RT

P H O T O G R A P H BY J O N AT H A N D U T O I T

NOVEMBER 2018

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A RISING TIDE S I S T E R S A N D B U S I N E S S PA R T N E R S N A D I A A N D Z A H R A R AWJ E E A R E B O L S T E R I N G S O U T H A F R I C A’ S S M E S E C TO R THROUGH GENUINE BONDS, COMMUNIT Y C O N S C I O U S N E S S A N D P R O S P E R O U S C O N S U LTA N C Y S E R V I C E S – O N E B U S I N E S S AT A T I M E .

BY FAR AH KHALFE

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BUSINESS-SAVVY SISTERS NADIA AND ZAHRA RAWJEE are the co-founders of Uzenzele Holdings, a niche consulting firm that specialises in helping established businesses gain access to finance. “We help businesses identify their financing options, determine their growth goals and specify the stage in which their business is in.” The process of developing banking documentation like business plans and financial models is a complex one. Thus, Uzenzele Holdings develops a customised approach for each client, tailored to the specific requirements of a business or funder. With adequate funding, businesses are able to build massive capabilities and reach their growth targets much faster. The sisters grew up in a family of entrepreneurs and bared witness to their grandfather running a small seafood importing and exporting business from an informal spaza shop in 1937, to their father and his brothers expanding it into the third largest privatelyowned food distributor in the country. “From an early age we were able to see the benefit in owning and growing something of our own,” they emphasise. However, growing too big too fast came with its own set of challenges. This is when Nadia and Zahra were approached by their father to take on the task of understanding and gaining government funding to assist in the business’s growth trajectory. Unsurprisingly, this was not an easy feat. “We found that the requirements to unlock the funding were not readily available within our father’s business and neither were the necessary skills needed to develop them. Despite being well established and an industry leader, the business had not prepared itself to attract funding. It was actually an onerous process.” Yet, through navigating these challenges, they identified a gap in the market. “We realised that knowledge of the SME financial ecosystem was extremely limited and most businesses were completely unaware of the enormous offerings in the market. We wanted to be the hand that guides these businesses in capitalising their growth.” This was where the journey to their current business began, and in 2012, Uzenzele Holdings was

formally established. “SMEs should be the backbone of the economy and a significant contributor to jobs – we’re far from where we need to be,” they say. Uzenzele Holdings aims to contribute to a prosperous SME sector in South Africa through helping small businesses achieve their goals and reach new heights with adequate financial backing. In order to do this, the business operates on a philosophy of trust and meaningful bonds. “Our clients put their businesses in our hands and trust that we will handle them with care. In the same breath, we need to have trust in our clients, that they are being honest about their business, their challenges and their prospects.” When dealing with clients, they also draw on their experience of balancing familial ties within the realm of business – a factor which they believe, sets them apart from their competitors. “Because we come from a family business, we are able to connect with our clients in a way that consultants who have only known corporates are not able to. We find that this unspoken understanding fosters a relationship with our clients that is comfortable and makes it easier to work together.” Being business owners as women of colour in a predominantly white male space is another factor that distinguishes them from the rest. While clients may appear sceptical at first, Nadia and Zahra insist: “We let our knowledge and experience in the field pave the way forward.” The self-assurance they exude stems from the nurturing they received from

their father during childhood. The wisdom he imparted – which, according to the sisters, would normally be reserved for the sons in an Indian family – equipped them to feel comfortable and excel in a male-dominated industry. This confidence not only comes from within but is fed externally whenever they see their clients succeed. There is a sense of victory in getting to witness the difference their work makes and the sisters maintain that this continues to be the highlight of their careers, despite how much success they accumulate. Allowing businesses to be productive through their services starts first with being productive themselves – and they place great importance on wellness and peace of mind to ensure this is possible. “Our mornings start with prayer before getting into our daily routine. Once we get to the office, we have our freshly made green juice and vitamins waiting for us,” they say. “We start every morning with a team meeting to set our priorities and make sure everyone is on track. A good team spirit definitely impacts our productivity.” In order to fuel motivation, celebrating a win – whether big or small – is another vital practice within the Uzenzele Holdings environment. “As a team, we celebrate all wins. This keeps us motivated to always do more. This is really important. Sometimes you get so caught up in a project and forget to refuel.” Outside of work, Nadia and Zahra both have their preferred escapes when taking time off. “If there’s travel involved, I’m happy. Any excuse to take a trip is fine by me. I’ll have my bags packed and ready to go in an hour. Throw in some retail therapy and I’m in heaven,” says Zahra. Nadia’s more inclined to discover new places, food and culture. “Traveling to exotic and interesting countries where I get to learn and experience diversity is a blessing. I also do love to dance, it’s my happy place.” When it comes to time management, they are both avid planners, using their diaries and schedules as a method of making all aspects of their lives an equal priority – be it quality time with family, work commitments, personal engagements or voluntary community service. This organisation definitely comes in handy when planning and conceptualising the future growth of their business. “The challenges faced by SMEs in South Africa are not unique. We would love to see our business grow into Africa and eventually the rest of the world,” they reveal. Nadia’s personal mantra of “paying it forward” encapsulates the ethos that underpins how Uzenzele Holdings operates as well as the services it provides – that is, helping businesses to help themselves. Inspired by the Aga Khan, the co-founders suggest that their businesses was borne out of more than just an opportunity to make money, but rather an innate desire and consciousness to elevate both individuals and enterprises for the greater good of society. NOVEMBER 2018

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GAME, SET, MATCH P R O F E S S I O N A L G A M E R G R A N T H I N D S I S C O N S I D E R E D S O U T H A F R I C A’ S F O R E M O S T G A M I N G G U R U . W E C H AT A B O U T H I S J O U R N E Y I N L I F E A N D W H AT L E D TO H I S D E C I S I O N TO ‘ P R E S S P L AY ’.

BY E LS KE JOU BE RT

PHOTOGRAPH: COURTESY

How does the South African gaming market compare to the one overseas and what could South Africans do better, if anything? Unfortunately, the South African gaming market is relatively smaller than the overseas one. We have a large financial barrier in that many people in South Africa can’t afford to play high-end games, whereas the earning power abroad is a lot more. However, the current generation is showing positive reactions to gaming, and this shows that we are taking steps in the right direction in terms of making an impact in the market. Many youngsters aren’t aware that gaming can be pursued as a career. What are your top tips for making a career out of gaming? To make a career out of gaming is very tough. People have this misconception that it’s all about playing a video game you like all day long. A career in gaming means playing very hard – it often takes the shape of playing 48 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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professionally in tournaments. Gamers have to train for an entire day with specialised software that helps with hand-eye coordination. They even have to go to the gym for a couple of hours a day. As an entertainer you have to understand what part of the industry you fit into, what your contribution is to the space, and what you can offer businesses. You have to have good business acumen because you can’t just play games and expect people to put a logo on your channel. You have to be a service provider – if you are not, people will not come to you. Can you comment on how gaming enhances problem solving and strategic thinking? Gaming is more than just sitting in front of a screen. When playing competitive games online, you often have to come up with a strategy of how you will achieve your goal, quite similar to a ‘traditional’ working environment.

In your opinion, how does gaming contribute to people’s productivity? Being productive in the gaming industry is very effective. The more you focus on your own productivity, the more credible you become, thus, your business becomes stronger and essentially you can make more money.

Quick-fire Q&A WHAT TIME DO YOU USUALLY WAKE UP AND WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO? I wake up at around 7 am after which I get the French press and prepare coffee. I then turn on my computer. One of the things that I love about my job is that I look forward to it. In the mornings I’m usually excited about what I will be doing on that day, whether it be receiving a new game or shooting a video. WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL SPACE IN WHICH YOU FIND YOU ARE MOST PRODUCTIVE? Being in a space with other people. I feed off their energy, which leads to me being more productive. During the day I will head to a coffee shop and work from there. YOUR PERSONAL MANTRA? Let your passion fill your life!

NOVEMBER 2018

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A NEW DAWN FOR DOMESTIC WORK C O - F O U N D E R O F D I G I TA L H O U S E H O L D C L E A N I N G S E R V I C E S A P P S W E E P S O U T H , A I S H A PA N D O R S H A R E S H E R J O U R N E Y TO E S TA B L I S H I N G O N E O F S O U T H A F R I C Aâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; S M O S T S U C C E S S F U L T E C H S TA R T U P S A N D I T S E T H O S O F E M P OW E R I N G WO M E N W I T H E N T R E P R E N E U R I A L A N D T E C H -S AV V Y M I N D S E T S .

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STEMMING FROM A WORKINGCLASS BACKGROUND and raised in a household in which values of hard work, diligence, and social justice abound, Aisha Pandor, daughter of South Africa’s current Minister of Science and Technology, Naledi Pandor, was encouraged by her apartheid-activist parents “to be different” – someone who never follows “sheep mentality” – and to always pursue and maintain the value of education in life. Her father in particular was adamant that his daughters were no less capable and intelligent than his sons and made a point of constantly instilling this notion. Aisha went on to gain a PhD in Human Genetics and cultivated a solid background in the science sector, while simultaneously preparing herself for a corporate career. Despite pursuing a post-graduate degree in Business Administration, she says she never envisioned herself becoming an entrepreneur. “I was actually working as a business analyst when the idea for SweepSouth came about,” she recalls. “One thing I did know was that whatever I did, it should have a positive impact on South Africa,” she says. While stuck and unfulfilled in the routine of a regular 9 to 5 job and struggling to balance the domestic responsibilities that came along with it, Aisha and her husband Alen shared a lightbulb moment in December 2013. “After struggling to find someone to help us manage our household over the holiday period, we realised how many inefficiencies there were in South Africa’s domestic services space, and how many people in the industry were desperately searching for work,” she says. This was the spark that led to them founding SweepSouth, a digital platform allowing homeowners to request cleaning services at the touch of a button – fulfilling the need for both on-demand domestic work as well as the provision of long-term employment opportunities for South African job seekers. Since launching in June 2014, the growth of SweepSouth has been phenomenal. Today, the company has operations in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and (recently) Durban, while boasting over 3 000 registered domestic workers – referred to as SweepStars – on their platform.

A unique business model and never-beendone-before product offering are the core factors that have helped propel SweepSouth to its current level of success. “We’ve put a lot of work into professionalising an industry that has largely operated on an ad hoc basis for most of its history. We’ve also introduced convenience and seamlessness into a huge but previously fragmented industry. By bringing dignity to a profession that has historically been undervalued, we’ve cultivated a loyal base of entrepreneurially minded SweepStars and customers.” When it comes to the most rewarding part of her job, Aisha highlights: “The way in which we are empowering women”. She takes pride in the fact that SweepSouth aids women from historically marginalised backgrounds to take control of their earning potential and become more digitally and financially literate. “This in turn, drives independence and agency, but most importantly, hope for a better personal future,” she reflects. “There are many women who have used the earning potential and flexibility of the platform to pay for studies and write exams to become nurses, teachers and social workers.” With all female service providers (SweepStars), a majority female customer base and an internal team made up of 60% women, SweepSouth’s composition is unconventional within the tech startup space – a reality, Aisha reveals, that has placed numerous hurdles in the midst of her path. “Visibility remains an issue. Especially early on, there were a number of occasions where people assumed that the founder of the company must be a white male and ignored me at events or spoke about

SweepSouth without realising I was the co-founder. While things are gradually improving, there’s still a lot of work to be done when it comes to making black female founders more visible, and involving more black, female investors in the ecosystem to help promote and support better diversity and inclusivity,” she says. These obstacles have not hindered her, but have rather fueled her desire to refine and expand the business. SweepSouth has numerous projects and partnerships in the works, all of which are aimed at further empowering the women who use the platform. She also wants to bring additional home services, such as plumbing, gardening and electrical work into the mix, while infiltrating other markets and countries outside South Africa. As a working mother and wife, Aisha’s role as a business owner is wedged between her home life and family responsibilities. She encourages women struggling to manage their time to take help where they can get it. “Needing and receiving help doesn’t make you a failure,” she says. A strategy she personally uses is to schedule family time into her calendar and ensuring she sticks to it. “I also block off regular thinking or strategy and planning time in my calendar, as well as ‘me-time’, or pamper time for myself every now and then,” she adds. This period of ‘me-time’ usually occurs first thing in the morning when she wakes up 30 minutes before her kids “to reply to urgent emails and get into the right frame of mind for the day.” That all-important first cup of coffee is another staple she relies on to tackle the day ahead and ensure productivity. “Productivity means finding the shortest but most effective route to achieving your goals and targets. It’s minimising procrastination and getting the most out of yourself and your team,” she explains. Constantly striving for optimum productivity can seem overwhelming and create mounds of pressure, yet Aisha reveals she thrives off of eustress. As a naturally calm person, she is far more afraid of stasis, and always tries to rationalise a situation by thinking of the worst-case scenario and then planning ahead to prepare for anything that may befall. Technology plays a vital role too in helping her remain organised and manage her day-to-day tasks. She reveals some of her favourite apps for busy people on-the-go: “I love the Slack app that keeps us in touch as a team when we’re out of office, on the run, or outside of normal working hours. I review the week I’ve just had to ensure I spend enough time on important tasks and projects. I use the SuperNote app for taking written and verbal notes, a scanning app for scanning from my phone and Asana for task and project management.” When it comes to her business philosophies, Aisha has a few, but her mantra of “keep moving” is apt for her go-getter lifestyle. “Momentum, continuous change and innovation in business are absolutely key,” she says, as is turning intention into action. With considerable growth on the horizon, we can’t wait to see a new era come sweeping in for Aisha’s business journey, while she takes her game-changing digital domestic services to new heights. NOVEMBER 2018

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RETHINKING RETAIL I S AT D OW N W I T H A N D R E W S M I T H , C E O O F Y U P P I E C H E F, I N T H E WA K E O F T H E E - C O M M E R C E C O M PA N Y O P E N I N G T H E I R F O U R T H P H Y S I C A L S TO R E . W E S P O K E A B O U T T H E M OT I VAT I O N B E H I N D C R E AT I N G P H Y S I C A L S TO R E S , T H E S TO R E O F T H E F U T U R E A N D A M A ZO N G O.

BY SA AR AH S U RVÉ

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How did the name Yuppiechef come about? It was a flash of inspiration. Shane Dryden, co-founder of Yuppiechef, went on holiday and came back with the name, colour scheme and logo (a cookie cutter). The name has worked for us. When we started, nobody was using the word ‘yuppie’. In a way it was derogatory, but in our context, we’re not chefs, and we’re not selling to chefs. To be called a yuppiechef is fine, because you’re saying “hey, I don’t know what I’m doing, but look at the cool tools I have”. It’s celebrating the fact that we’re all about having great equipment and ingredients and enjoying the process. You can say: “I don’t really know what I’m doing, but I’m trying my best, growing and improving.” What was the motivation behind creating physical stores? We’ve been online for 12 years, growing rapidly and doing well. A lot of people know about us. We would be in a room and people would say: “Oh, Yuppiechef! We love you guys. We get your newsletters.” But when we asked them what they’ve bought from us, they would answer: “No, I’ve never shopped from you.” The fact that our brand is really strong and that we’re good online, we know that we can nail the online shopping experience. But so

much retail in South Africa still happens in physical stores – some say as much as 98%. As much as we can perfect online, we were losing out on a lot of customers who would love to shop with us, but don’t trust online, or don’t think about it. Some other reasons are they need a product urgently, or they don’t know what they want, so they’d prefer to stand in a store and look at stuff. We’ve started to shift our thinking from an e-commerce company in the last year or two, to say that retail is just retail and there isn’t a difference between physical and e-commerce. Physical retailers are realising that customers want online, and the same is happening in reverse. Online retailers, like ours, are seeing customers want a physical store. It was the next step of growth and expectation from customers.

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advice from someone in-store so even if you don’t leave with an item, you have experience of the brand and you’ve interacted with people and the products. This will continue into the future – thinking about physical stores being a sort of experience, and not only about the transaction. The other part is that it has to be a single, seamless experience, integrating online and offline. We’ve got little pieces of that: QR codes on our price tags that when scanned bring up the product reviews and videos. Payment and checkout have to be quick and easy. Nobody wants to stand in queues. It’s about speeding up the whole process. All of these components working together is part of the future. Is an Amazon Go store something that you’d aspire towards? I think some of that is a little bit of hype. The reality is a little different, but there are some things that you can do that can make the process quicker, easier and slicker. If you’ve got a linked account, because you’ve created an online profile with your credit card, you can pick up the item and use your app to pay. It’s not quite as extreme as just walking out of the store. How do you get the most out of your day? The role of a leader is to try and not do things yourself. Shane and I have done everything: packed boxes, answered phones, marketing, tech and finance. As you grow, you need to try and set up the right teams and structures. A big part of our role is to try and facilitate the teams doing really good work. People say that I must be so busy with the stores, but I don’t physically do anything in the store. I like being involved and if I help out it’s because I like to do so. It’s about trying to create an environment for people to do really good things. I have a family, so I don’t try to be productive 24 hours a day. I set limits and constraints so that I can be home with my family.

What does the store of the future look like?

How do you wind down?

We’ve already got little bits of it, but it’s a continuation of some of those things. In South Africa, physical retail is an experience and in Gauteng particularly, people go to malls as safe, fun spaces to be. It is imperative to make being in a store an experience, which can mean different things. We’ve started doing demonstrations – our stores all have working kitchens, with stove tops and sinks. There is also the experience of getting good

Definitely with family. I have two boys. Kids’ activities are a good distraction. It takes you out of your normal day. Walking and reading. What book are you currently reading? I’m reading The Goal by Eliyahu M. Goldratt. It’s a novel about a guy leading a manufacturing company. He has three months to turn it around. He is going through the process of figuring out why his plant is inefficient and what he should do to improve. It’s a business book, but set as a narrative. NOVEMBER 2018

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After ensuring the success of a property startup, David Seinker sold his shares and took on the entrepreneurial world. While working on a freelance project in a business centre, he saw a gap in the market to create a flexible office space for businesses and startups to work from. This is how his company, The Business Exchange, was founded. What is your business ethos? Listen to others, as you would rather be ‘rich than right’. Stay focused and persevere. Business is a long road of ups and downs, so be prepared for the ride. How do you see advancements in technology impacting the future of The Business Exchange? Within our industry technological advancements are becoming more prevalent. We use our app for tenants to engage with each other and collaborate, and in the near future our members will even be able to unlock their offices by using their smartphones. Building a business from the ground up comes with an array of challenges and successes. What are some of your most notable ones?

CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVING T H E B U S I N E S S E XC H A N G E C R E AT E S WO R K S PAC E S T H AT I N S P I R E S U C C E S S . M E E T T H E F O U N D E R A N D C E O, DAV I D S E I N K E R , W H O B E L I E V E S A P R O D U C T I V E WO R K S PAC E I S D R I V E N BY S P E C I A L D E S I G N A N D C O M M U N I T Y C O L L A B O R AT I O N .

When building our first workspace of 3 000 square-metres, we made some structural changes which cost us time and money. We learnt from this and hit the sweet spot the second time around. Our greatest success has been identifying the value our market wanted. It has separated us from our competitors and given us the edge since starting the company. What role does technology play in enabling productivity? For us, it’s very much about our communities being connected. If our tenants know each other and what services they offer, they can quickly collaborate. What is your strategy for beating procrastination? Make sure you write things down and put a deadline to your tasks. Your top three tips for leading a more productive life? Wake up early Exercise Eat well What does productivity mean to you?

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Continuously improving.

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What time in the morning do you wake up and what is the first thing you do? As a mother of two boys, my day starts when they rise at 5:30 am. To kick-start the day, I am committed to either half an hour of meditation or journalling. What time during the day do you find you are most productive? Productivity is really based on how inspired I’m feeling at any given time. As my work is a genuine labour of love, when I begin tackling work to-dos I rarely have an issue with productivity. I also believe this is a consequence of juggling so many hats. It keeps me focused and present. How do you maintain a healthy work-life balance? I absolutely thrive on balance and am committed to making this a priority after facing a burnout about five years ago. Retreating into nature, maintaining creative hobbies and making time for family holidays are priorities that keep me balanced and inspired. Who or what inspires you?

BUILDING A NATURAL EMPIRE F R O M A N I N N OVAT I O N C O N S U LTA N T I N LO N D O N TO A S U C C E S S F U L E N T R E P R E N E U R , R O BY N S M I T H ’ S PA S S I O N F O R E C O - F R I E N D LY A N D N AT U R A L S K I N C A R E P R O D U C T S L E D TO H E R F O U N D I N G FA I T H F U L TO N AT U R E , A B O O M I N G E - C O M M E R C E B U S I N E S S B AC K E D BY S I LV E R T R E E H O L D I N G S . BY E LS KE JOU BE RT

PHOTOG R APH BY RU BY J EAN

My team and my customers are a real inspiration. To be surrounded by passionate and caring people is always invigorating and stimulating. What is your strategy in beating procrastination? As a rule, I always put the items I resist at the top of my daily list. Once I’ve ticked a few of the more ‘less interesting’ boxes, I’m feeling motivated and the rest of my work flows seamlessly. Top tips for leading a more productive life? There is an immense power that comes from feeling great. As a result, I am focused on nurturing the four quadrants of my life equally – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. It is essential to make time for each one of the four quadrants in my week’s planning. Good food and lots of time outdoors are critical to all four. I can’t emphasise enough how important balance is to leading an energised, fun, productive and successful life. Your personal mantra? There is always an answer or a way if you ask the right question. Never give up, just reframe the challenge to find the solution.

NOVEMBER 2018

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More Productivity, Less Work AT THEIR DESKS FOR EIGHT HOURS FEWER EACH WEEK, EMPLOYEES AT A NEW ZEALAND-BASED COMPANY EXPERIENCED AN IMPROVED WORK-LIFE BALANCE, REDUCED STRESS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; AND EVEN INCREASED PRODUCTIVITY. BY S I M O N C A P S T I C K- DA L E

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TEAMWORK AND COLLABORATION AMONG EMPLOYEES WERE STRENGTHENED DURING THE TRIAL. Andrew Barnes, founder of Wellingtonbased trusts and estates firm Perpetual Guardian came up with the idea for a fourday work week after reading a report which suggested people spend less than three hours of their work day productively occupied. In March 2018, he began trialling a four-day work week at his company in New Zealand’s capital city of Wellington, with the hope that productivity would remain unaffected and employees would be significantly happier. Many four-day work week initiatives tested prior required staff to work longer hours as a compromise for their ‘day off’, or they would get paid less for working a shorter week. But in this trial, tracked and assessed by two researchers from the University of Auckland Business School and Auckland University of Technology, all 240 staff were given one day off of their choice – at full pay. THE NUMBERS To the surprise of Barnes – and a bevy of media awaiting the results – the change actually boosted productivity among employees, who also reported spending more time with their families, exercising, enjoying hobbies and being outdoors. The majority of interviewees said the shorter work week helped to open up meaningful opportunities both on and off the job. Some employees said, for instance, that gaining an extra day allowed them to participate in volunteer work or pursue educational programmes. Others used the time to completely switch-off. The psychological benefits for employees of increased downtime are hardly earthshattering, but more significant was a 20% increase in productivity, varying degrees

of improvement in team and customer engagement, 24% improvement in work-life balance, and 8% drop in the stress levels of employees. Work attendance also improved, and overall, workers less frequently left the office early and took fewer extended breaks. Revenue remained stable throughout the trial and overheads such as electricity and consumables (like coffee) dropped. Added to the company’s financial benefits were those for employees, who spent less money on fuel and vehicle maintenance, and parents forked out less for childcare needs. While employee performance levels remained steady – a remarkable achievement considering they worked 20% fewer hours – there was also an attitude shift among many employees who began working smarter, but not necessarily harder. The reduction in working hours encouraged them to find ways of increasing their productivity. For example, meetings were reduced from two hours to 30 minutes – another psychological boost for most – and employees created signals for their colleagues to indicate when they needed to work without distraction. Improved focus was another positive spin-off. The consensus among interviewees was that having less time to complete tasks made them more goal-oriented. With the necessity of being more productive, they made a concerted effort to complete one task at a time, and consciously refocus whenever concentration began to wane. Teamwork and collaboration among employees were also strengthened during the trial. The majority of employees said they learnt more about the job responsibilities of colleagues, and where possible, offered their help to co-workers on tight deadlines.

BENEFITS WHICH TRANSCEND THE WORKPLACE There are gains outside of the workplace as a result of people working shorter hours, such as the environmental benefits of reduced carbon emissions from fewer commutes and carbon-consuming hours of office or factory operation. During ‘off hours’, a typically slower pace of life for employees encourages transit options like cycling instead of driving. With 20% fewer cars on the road during rush hours, traffic congestion is eased, which has positive implications for urban design. WORKING MOTHERS HAVE MOST TO GAIN Barnes also sees the trial at his company as a potential means of helping to close the gender pay-gap, supporting the notion that women should not have to negotiate about hours but rather their productivity. Should the four-day work week trial have the domino effect on organisations that Barnes envisions, working mothers stand to benefit most from the policy, many of whom return to work from maternity leave having to negotiate part-time hours, but performing the equivalent of full-time work. APPLICATIONS FOR THE FUTURE While the four-day work week was deemed a huge success for most trial participants at Perpetual Guardian, a small minority of employees did not adapt as easily. A handful of workers reported feeling increased pressure to complete their tasks within a shorter timeframe. Others reported they were bored on their off-day and missed the work environment. Whichever side of the fence you sit on, the trial has sparked international debate around its potential improved employee wellbeing, bolstered productivity and cost-saving benefits for companies. Perpetual Guardian recently implemented the scheme permanently, making the four-day week an option for all fulltime employees from November 2018. Other companies worldwide are now also beginning to explore the benefits of this work less, live more philosophy. NOVEMBER 2018

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CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS

T H E R E A R E V E RY F E W S E C R E T S L E F T I N T H E WO R L D. G O O G L E H A S A L R E A DY P R OV I D E D H U M A N S W I T H A L L T H E A N S W E R S W E WO U L D E V E R N E E D TO K N OW – A N D I T ’ S F R E E .

BY H A R RY W E L BY- C O O K E , E X E C U T I V E C OAC H AT AC T I O N C OAC H

The ‘Secrets of the Most Productive People’ are already quite freely available. Less popular though, and much more critical, is actually following that advice and implementing those secrets. Knowing isn’t sufficient enough. Doing, therefore, becomes a much more important part of your success. I thought I’d share a summary of what we see as being critical success factors across our team of business coaches and their entrepreneurial clients. To get these ‘secrets’ to work best for you, try this: read, nod, take action and repeat.

Work life balance doesn’t exist in the short-term. It’s impossible to fit everything we need to do, want to do and are supposed to do in the space of 24 hours. However, over a quarter we can probably get our work-life balance spot on. We might counterbalance towards extra hours on a project at the start of a quarter, rebalance towards family and personal time in the middle and end up with health and fitness towards the end. Over this period, we therefore easily create the balance we need.

Know what you really want and what’s really important to you. It’s much easier to commit to what’s really important when you know what it actually is. It sounds simple, but the danger is we often see our list of priorities or to-do list items as all having the same importance. Worse yet, we’ll quickly tick off the less important items (read easier and 58 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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quicker to do) than commit to the important ones (read harder ones). Find out what is truly important to you and the less important distractions will easily disappear into the background.

Understand the impact of investing across mind, body and spirit. We are human beings and not ‘human doings’. Without the due investment in our own minds, bodies and spirits, we cannot sustain periods of productivity. In their absence, distractions and self-sabotage prevail. Ensure a multifaceted approach to setting goals, priorities, plans and schedules. Make sure you’re investing in yourself across the spectrum and you’ll find much more energy, resilience and focus to be productive.

What are you measuring? When you try to lose weight it’s easy to get on the scale and check your progress. When you don’t like the progress, and what the scale is telling you, it’s just as easy to stop getting on the scale. However, if you persist with the measurement, you can’t help but start to influence whatever is necessary to change what the measurement is saying. In the same way, check what you’re measuring and start to implement the right measurements to track. Commit to the regular measurement as a start and over time your actions will start to influence the changes you need to affect a different measurement.

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REBEL WITH A CAUSE I N N OVAT I V E D I G I TA L D I S R U P T I O N R E M A I N S A KEY DRIVER FOR BOLSTERING BUSINESSES. W E S P E A K TO WAY N E H U L L , M A N AG I N G D I R E C TO R O F AC C E N T U R E D I G I TA L , A B O U T H I S PA S S I O N F O R R E D E F I N I N G H OW W E L I V E , WO R K A N D I N T E R AC T T H R O U G H N E W T E C H N O LO G I C A L E X P E R I E N C E S I N A F R I C A . BY FAR AH KHALFE

You have extensive work experience in the digital/business realm and are passionate about technological transformation. What were some of your interests growing up? Did you always know you would end up in a corporate environment? I have always been marketing and sales orientated. In terms of working environments, I started my career at Unilever, and then moved to Accenture, IBM and Cisco. In many ways, I have been blessed right from the start to be able to work in environments that have remarkable talent. A few years building and funding a startup changed my perspective on the art of the possible. What are some of the challenges you experience in implementing digital strategies and getting businesses to embrace technological change? Today, a business strategy and a digital strategy should be the same strategy – every business must also be a digital business. Executives across the business need to have a ‘digital-first’ mindset. This is still not well recognised across South Africa and many 59 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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executive teams appoint individuals in roles to lead and execute digital rather than making it every business executives’ responsibility. There are three critical challenges that we typically face as our clients move to a more digital business: re-imaging their customer experiences across their brand, products and services to be equally exceptional across all digital and physical channels, redefining their new business models whilst still growing their current business, and attracting and retaining the new millennial talent that are digital natives. In your opinion, what core characteristics are needed to achieve success in one’s career? A little bit of luck always helps. In addition, for me, it’s been a combination of ambition and hunger, brave decisions, f***king hard work and a supportive wife and daughters. If I had to advise someone I would probably say: self-belief, crazy ambitious goals, grit and hard work. What is your business philosophy?

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In terms of building and operating a business, I have learnt the following traits over time and constantly practise them: Know the market, create a distinctive position and map the business journey; Hire the best people on the planet and inspire them continuously; Decide on which clients to focus on and drive exceptional value; Drive constant and strategic innovation in all that you do; Analyse and measure everything all the time, and; Make sure there is always some level of disruption and lots of fun. Do you have any rituals for remaining focused and ensuring productivity throughout the day? If I love what I do, I can stay intensely focused and productive for long periods of time. I do keep myself focused on the big-ticket items – whether that is an opportunity or an issue, and I pick a few areas to sweat the detail. Talking to my leadership team every day – even if it is for a few minutes at a time – is a must. How do you beat procrastination? My worst behaviour is procrastinating around administration. To overcome this I make sure I have the best people in roles that can execute on that. Without that I would fail miserably where admin is concerned.

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COVERING ALL BASES BY E LS KE JOU BE RT

ONE OF FOUR SIBLINGS, YASHMITA praises her parents for the way she was raised. “My dad was a general store dealer and my mother was a domestic engineer. Together they instilled in us an ethos of hard work, perseverance and kindness.”

With these qualities firmly rooted in her life, Yashmita embarked on her academic journey. “At the time of studying, I was the only woman enrolled in the engineering course. I spent my university days in Dr. Martens boots, trying to fit in with the boys. My early career days were spent on mines as a site engineer, mingling with mineworkers and playing with explosives to build underground tunnels and dams, before I ventured into a safer IT environment, or so I thought.” Yashmita eventually decided to embark on her entrepreneurial journey. For her, a company is reflective of its owner and she found that her business and life ebbed and flowed in synchronicity with each other. “I started my business with a partner in 2003, which failed due to different values and naivety. I then founded Nihka Consulting (now the Nihka Technology Group) in 2008. The first failure was near catastrophic, having lost everything except very valuable lessons learnt.” Commenting on the ethos behind the Nihka Technology Group, Yashmita says that the core values of her company are relationships, authenticity, impact, synergy and expansion. “Our values spell ‘RAISE’ – in itself a vision for us to raise business consciousness, the skill level in Africa, the use of technology in making a positive social impact, and quality of life for our employees.” Despite being a technology company, she says there is a strong thread of humanity in her business. “Our tagline is

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W I T H A M A S T E R S D E G R E E I N E N G I N E E R I N G A N D A N M B A TO H E R N A M E , YA S H M I TA B H A N A , F O U N D E R A N D C E O O F N I H K A T E C H N O LO G Y G R O U P, WA S H I G H LY S O U G H T A F T E R I N T H E C O R P O R AT E WO R L D. H OW E V E R , S H E TO O K T H E R OA D L E S S T R AV E L L E D.

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‘Bringing EQ into AI’ because, as a company, we believe that while Artificial Intelligence may be able to simulate the human intelligence processes, a business can’t thrive on technology alone. The future is still human and technology can’t work optimally without people driving it.” Yashmita says that her road to success has by no means been an easy one. “I had two experiences with business partners that were challenging, and the main reason was a misalignment of values. In the first instance, millions were lost, and I had to start from the bottom with very little. “Both experiences taught me valuable lessons about clear expectations, governance and processes and alignment of company values. A company’s culture and value system is like its lifeblood and once that is established, the company thrives.” Yashmita won the Entrepreneur of the Year award from the Businesswomen’s Association of South Africa in 2016, and was a finalist in the Standard Bank Top Women Awards in 2018, crediting these two accolades as some of her biggest successes. Nihka Technology Group is also ISO certified, which is a significant milestone for the company. Through all of her ups and downs, Yashmita credits the birth of her three children as her biggest success and joy in life. “I have two boys and a girl. My youngest, Dhiya (which means ‘the light’), was born with Mosaic Down Syndrome. She teaches the family daily how, despite your circumstances, you can be triumphant. “Dhiya is also the inspiration for me campaigning for children with disabilities to be

Yashmita’s top tips for leading a more productive life:

included in assisted mainstream schooling.” To this end, Yashmita has established the Dhiya Development Foundation whose mandate is the capacitation of youth in digital technologies; and providing an introduction of technologies into South Africa that can have a positive social impact and include children with disabilities in mainstream education. She has also recently developed and launched She-Ra, an online platform for women entrepreneurs to provide encouragement, support, collaboration and exposure. I asked Yashmita about the unique set of challenges that comes with being a woman in a leadership role, especially in the tech industry. “While it is slowly changing, as a woman I would walk into a networking event and still be able to count the women present on one hand. You then tend to want to be a ‘stereotypical male’ – aggressive and competitive to appear to fit in with the ‘boys’. However, if you look at the qualities of a great leader – empathy, empowerment, creativity and passion – these are all qualities women possess. The challenge is having the courage to be yourself, to not be afraid to display the qualities of a woman that are needed in today’s business world.” As a female entrepreneur in a technology industry, earning respect has also been a challenge for Yashmita. “First in engineering and then technology. However building a powerful support network in the form of peers and mentors, learning to own my accomplishments and celebrate them and also having the courage to fail quickly, has earned me an incredible amount of respect.” Commenting on the role technology plays in enabling productivity, Yashmita says that a company needs employees that are productive and aligned with the overall

Do less – Create a morning routine, and use technology effectively. This might sound counterintuitive, but do less. Do less of what drains you and more of what energises you. I don’t accept every single invitation that comes to me. Quality over quantity.

strategy to ensure the success of a business. “The first step is to establish processes in the business. Then automation of these processes will allow for faster communication, faster decision-making, greater project completion rates and smoother collaboration. In a company such as ours where teams are dispersed across the country, it is essential that technology enables our processes to produce our work. Simple systems such as online collaboration tools ensure that teams can share project reports and ideas without having to meet face-to-face.” Running a successful company like Nihka Technology Group means that most of her time is invested in ensuring that the business continues to thrive. Yashmita believes in maintaining a healthy work-life design and prefers not to use the word ‘balance’ as, according to her, this makes women feel guilty about not having everything in perfect equilibrium all the time. “I believe you can have it all – just not at the same time, and that’s ok. As you morph from one stage of your life into another – a new baby, a growing company – you would either focus more on family or more on business. You design your life according to what is appropriate for you at the time.” Yashmita notes that the idea that women are and should be multi-taskers is dated. “Being mindful in the moment with what you are doing, whether it is preparing a presentation or playing with your kids, ensures quality of output and relationships. It is also unrealistic to expect a perfect balance all the time between work, family and wellness.” She maintains her design by having non-negotiable family time and implementing responsible delegation with her employees. “Trust is vitally important for a growing company and it also empowers the team.” Her strategy for beating procrastination includes doing something called ‘energy management’. “I don’t do time management anymore. Sometimes when you have looming deadlines and tasks that seem so overwhelming, it paralyses you and then you end up doing everything else but tackle them. I break up what I need to do in chunks based on how much energy it will take and how much it will energise me. Exercising first thing in the morning gives me a beautiful boost of endorphins.”

Be mindful – Avoid ‘monkey mind’

where you skip from one thought to another or one task to another. If you focus on one thing at a time you are more likely to complete it. Create a morning routine – Meditate, exercise and contemplate and envi-

sion your day. If you set clear intentions about what you want to achieve by the end of it, you will get more done.

Technology, technology, technology – Automate what you can, leave re-

quests, hair appointments, project reports, etc. This frees you up to innovate.

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LEADING SMART SOLUTIONS O F F E R I N G D E V E LO P M E N T A N D P R O D U C T I D E AT I O N , B L AC K B E A R D I S A N I N N OVAT I V E C O N S U LTA N C Y T H AT I S D R I V I N G C R E AT I V E A N D D I S R U P T I V E S O LU T I O N S . F I N D O U T W H AT P R O D U C T I V I T Y M E A N S TO D I R E C TO R S WAY N E A N D B O N G A N I .

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Quick-fire Q&A DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITE APPS THAT ARE USEFUL FOR BUSY PEOPLE ON THE GO? Wayne: I would have to go with Xero – it’s great for accounting. There seems to be an upward trend in application integrations. Bongani: Expensify – managing business receipts and reimbursement, and Chatterboss – I can talk to my personal assistant at any time. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP AND WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU USUALLY DO? Wayne: 4:30 am – three days a week I’m at the gym, on the other days the early morning is a time for reflection and meditation. Bongani: 5 am – pray. The ability to win any challenge both personal and business solely depends on the amount of prayer in the morning. WHAT TIME DURING THE DAY DO YOU FIND YOU ARE MOST PRODUCTIVE? Wayne: I’m totally a morning person. All my project-based work and strategic thinking is done in the morning and I leave admin for the afternoon when I’m less focused. Bongani: Early morning and late night. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? WAYNE: Accelerate: The Science Behind DevOps by Jez Humble, Gene Kim and Nicole Forsgren. BONGANI: Mastery by Robert Greene. YOUR PERSONAL MANTRA? Wayne: Be real, open and honest, and deliver on your commitments. Bongani: Keep it simple and have integrity.

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WITH A SHARED DIGITAL EXPERIENCE SPANNING decades, dynamic duo Bongani Sithole and Wayne Zwiers founded Black Beard, a leading technology solutions business. The company pushes boundaries in Artificial Intelligence, machine-learning, and robotics by tapping into developing formats like .net, PHP, and JAVA. “I’ve found my passion in leading new product development since starting Black Beard,” says founder and managing director Wayne, with technical director Bongani adding, “I see the culmination of all my skills and interests, which is really satisfying.” The company has found success through an organic way of thinking – the core of their DNA. Black Beard is a leading tech solutions company. How do you see advancements in technology impacting the future of the company? Bongani: Technology businesses might be impacted by a change in behaviour around full-time employment processes. There is a growing demand for the Gig economy and there is no clear view on how this new phenomenon will impact technology delivery. Technology is seemingly driving remote first delivery processes and thus enables the Gig economy. AI might grow to automate and craft business models and their technical architecture, and perhaps also grow in the coding space. This may not impact technology businesses negatively, however, it remains to be seen. At any tech solutions company, productivity is paramount. What role does technology play in promoting this? Bongani: In terms of teams and business collaboration, co-workers are no longer required to be in the same room to be productive and deliver on a common goal. Automation is certainly a key driver of productivity. AI analyses inefficiencies in business processes and models output reports to assist in focusing on areas that are more productive for business objectives.

You’ve been in the tech space for two years now. What about the industry has impressed you? Wayne: I would have to say the real-time rate of change. Within these two years of being in business, we have already expanded internationally – opening an office in Dublin, Ireland this year. We have an incredible, accelerated business model. It’s amazing to see how much we deliver in a four-week cycle and I think this is where our clients feel the difference. We insist on a quick turnaround time in all our processes, instead of an endless development cycle which is often the norm. Your top three tips for leading a more productive life? Bongani: Planning – Put tasks in three buckets: top, medium, and bottom. Top priorities should be done both in life and business in the early hours of the day. Medium priorities should be pushed out to later in the day or delegated with tight management. Bottom priorities need to be delegated. Saying ‘no’ more often is a key to productivity – I had to learn this the hard way as I was getting distracted in all areas and failing to achieve my goals. Stay focused – if it’s not making money or advancing the business in any form, I don’t get involved. What does productivity mean to you? Wayne: Focusing on items that have a high multifaceted impact. Rather focus on turning the one or two big cogs once, which will move all the others three times.

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CHANGING THE GAME S E R I A L E N T R E P R E N E U R LO U W B A R N A R DT

F O U N D E D H I S C O M PA N Y, O U T S O U R C E D C F O, TO A I D I N S T R E A M L I N I N G T H E M O R E M U N DA N E TA S K S O F R U N N I N G A B U S I N E S S . FA S T C O M PA N Y S A C H AT S TO LO U W A B O U T H I S J O U R N E Y T H U S FA R A N D S O M E O F H I S M O S T N OTA B L E S U C C E S S E S .

Can you tell us more about your business and what it entails? New technology and new ways of thinking are allowing our team to help founders rethink, automate and scale their companies. Cloud accounting technology, with its powerful plugins and machine learning capabilities, has changed the game of running a private company’s finance function. This frees up time and head space for founders to focus on building their businesses. Financial paperwork – dead. Manual staff reimbursements – gone forever. Months-long wait for management reports – over. Ugly, static financial reports – no more. The results have been that a big part of our client base has posted annual growth rates in excess of 100% year-on-year. It has also allowed them to raise significant amounts of capital to fuel this growth because their finances are streamlined, transparent and world class. What role does technology play in fast tracking service delivery? Technology has changed the game in terms of service delivery. From the very first contact 64 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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with prospective clients all the way through to final delivery, new tech tools are making things easier, faster and more productive than ever before. Entrepreneurs are disrupting their industries and challenging the status quo. Top tech tools help our professionals to deliver the kind of service that meets this high standard. To date, your SME clients have raised over R450 million in seed and growth finance. What has been the key to this success? Capital is available to those business owners who are ready to receive it. Over the last five years, our team has learnt an immense amount about funding readiness that we are now able to incorporate in our client companies. Having overseen more capital flow than any venture fund in the country, our CFOs know exactly how to help founders prepare for that next big capital raise. We have a unique process of preparing each company for fundraise, starting where they are at now and working towards where we know they need to be before connecting with investors. We also have deep relationships in the SME investment industry which enables us to

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link our entrepreneurs with the right funders when they are ready for a deal. What more can be done to ensure employee wellness, which ultimately contributes to an increase in productivity? Balance is incredibly important for professionals. The finance industry has a bad name because of long hours and high stress levels. We try to counter this with a culture focused on balance, where value is placed on deliverables instead of ridiculous hours. We also run a world class personal mentorship programme for staff, with one of the growth metrics being personal balance and fitness goals. Many of our staff compete in competitive sports like long distance running and CrossFit – which all help with balance. Employee wellness is critical in building an efficient team of professionals. What does your company do to ensure overall productivity? A lot of work goes into our company culture and conveying our core vision. When your people are brought into the impact your company is making, productivity comes naturally. Successful entrepreneurs change the world. They create economic growth, employment and social impact. We do our part by supporting entrepreneurs to succeed. I believe that we are productive as a team because we all live for this every day.

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Wellness is vital for us. At SPARK we promote healthy eating, we focus on daily physical education, and on character development – we have a social-emotional learning curriculum which allows our students to deal with everyday situations in an appropriate manner, which empowers them. What, in your opinion, makes a great leader?

LAYING THE RIGHT FOUNDATIONS P I O N E E R S TAC E Y B R E W E R I S PA S S I O N AT E A B O U T E D U C AT I O N . S H E F O U N D E D H E R C O M PA N Y S PA R K – A N E T WO R K O F I N D E P E N D E N T A N D P R I VAT E S C H O O L S – TO P R OV I D E A F F O R DA B L E , Q UA L I T Y E D U C AT I O N TO S O U T H A F R I C A N S .

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Can you briefly tell us more about SPARK and the ethos behind the company? South Africa spends a greater proportion of our budget on education and yet we fall far behind the rest of the world. We need to look at how we can change this. I did my thesis on a sustainable financial model for private schools. The whole idea behind SPARK was to find a model that is suitable and affordable for the country. How do we ensure that we can compete at an international level? We are able to do this through our blended learning model. We took inspiration from a charter school network in the US that was pioneering this model. We were the first to do this on the African continent.

sure that we start developing our human capital which could be a massive advantage for us. We need to start at primary level and build it up to tertiary level education. I believe this is the only thing that will move us forward. We can leapfrog the rest of the world in this. In your opinion, has technology and the dawn of social media helped with productivity or has it proven to be more counter-productive?

How important is quality education for the future of our country and continent?

The role of technology and integrating it into the schooling system is game-changing. Technology allows us to personalise learning, support every child’s needs, as well as support the teacher or facilitator. It also allows us to drive innovation in terms of cost efficiency, by bringing down the price of education. With technology we can become more efficient and more productive.

I think it’s absolutely essential. Everyone says Africa is ‘the next big thing’. We need to make

How important is wellness in ensuring that students function optimally?

A leader is someone who has the ability to constantly learn and take feedback. In a leadership position you’re often going to have to read between the lines, follow your intuition and understand what is not being said. I believe self-development, self-reflection and getting to know yourself – the good, the bad, the ugly – and accepting who you are is very powerful. This allows you to put your ego aside. You have to be very clear on what you stand for. As a leader, you have to have integrity in what you say and do – you need to be consistent. How would you describe your leadership style? My leadership style depends on the situation. If there is a crisis situation, people need strong direction. I love consulting with my team and getting different ideas and input. I like collaborating with them, working together to solve problems, and coming up with ideas with a diverse group of people. Fundamentally, I believe we should inspire others to become what they themselves don’t believe they can become; seeing the potential in every individual and seeing that potential come to fruition.

Quick-fire Q&A WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP IN THE MORNING AND WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO? I generally wake up around 6 am. The first thing I do (which is bad) is check my phone to see whether everything is under control. I then get a cup of coffee and start my day. WHAT TIME DURING THE DAY DO YOU FIND YOU ARE MOST PRODUCTIVE? I am a morning person so I’m most productive before 12. YOUR PERSONAL MANTRA? My personal mantra is a quote by Marianne Williamson: “And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.”

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A PR POWERHOUSE F O U R Y E A R S AG O, FA B R I Z I A E S P O S T I F O U N D H E R S E L F O N A B E AU T I F U L S T R E TC H O F B E AC H I N I N H A M B A N E , M OZ A M B I Q U E . W H I L S T E N J OY I N G T H E F R U I T S O F H E R H A R D WO R K I N T H E F O R M O F A W E L L- D E S E R V E D T WO -W E E K VAC AT I O N , I T S U D D E N LY DAW N E D O N H E R T H AT S H E H A D A LWAY S WA N T E D TO S TA R T H E R OW N B U S I N E S S . A N D, W H E N T H E P R OV E R B I A L E N T R E P R E N E U R I A L B U G B I T E S . . .

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UPON RETURNING HOME TO SOUTH AFRICA, Fabrizia hired a business coach who helped her filter through a number of viable business ideas she had developed over the years. “Public relations encompassed all my best business skills and 15 years’ worth of experience, so that was the obvious road to take.” Four short months later, Fabrizia handed in her resignation at a global sportswear company where she worked as the brand, PR and influencer marketing manager. “I was ready to start this new chapter in my life. Admittedly, the first month was a lonely and tough one, but I never gave up. And look where I am today!” she says excitedly. Since founding her PR agency, 20 Across, three years ago, the company has seen significant growth. Fabrizia credits passion as key to this success. “Passion has been my driving force and will continue to propel me to reach even greater heights. It’s not only passion for what I love doing, but also passion for people and doing great work; passion for success and sharing that success with my team. And finally, a passion for creating a legacy.” She does acknowledge, however, that hard work, determination and sheer guts are what’s needed to build a successful company. “Starting a business is not for sissies, but I can guarantee that it does build character in the long run.” The Businesswoman of the Year award Fabrizia won earlier this year is testament to the fact that hard work indeed pays off. Commenting on what this accolade means to her personally, and for her business, she says: “I knew the minute I won the award that it would be the beginning of a new era – not only for me, but also for my team. Three years of hard work are nothing compared to what we are about to experience; it was both daunting and exhilarating at the same time.” As a business, they have been able to grow their Cape Town and Johannesburg offices, as well as their client base which now consists of more lifestyle, entertainment and brand PR – all of which complements the celebrity publicity the company has become famous for. 20 Across has also successfully launched a social media management department that is already soaring to great heights. Describing her leadership style, Fabrizia

says: “My business wouldn’t be where it is today without the team I have working with me. Without the right team, you cannot lead. I have colleagues, not staff. We are all working together to achieve a common goal so there’s no reason to constantly assert my position as director of the company.” Teamwork, along with organisation and planning, are key in ensuring overall

productivity. “So much time is wasted when things are not filed properly, thought through, compiled as they should be or not delivered when they are meant to be delivered. A team is most productive when they’re organised and have a plan.” Fabrizia says equipping people with the necessary skills and training are imperative in building their confidence, enabling them to work autonomously, thus leading to an increase in productivity. “Let’s remember that no one is born ready to do anything. The ability to fail and overcome failure is a necessary skill that must be acquired before anyone – in my opinion – is ready to abandon their training wheels.” And how does one go about promoting wellness in a company? “Understanding, sharing, caring and setting a good example go a long way in building a solid team and working environment.”

Quick-fire Q&A WHAT IS YOUR IDEAL SPACE IN WHICH YOU FIND YOU ARE MOST PRODUCTIVE? From an early age, I have always been the one to disrupt the class, so I find we are all more productive when I’m working from my home office for a portion of the day. That way I don’t disturb anyone or inflict silly ‘mom’ jokes on them, and I’m able to dedicate time to simply ploughing through work. WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU? I inspire myself. If you had told me ten years ago that I would be where I am today I would have laughed in your face. When I look back and see how far I’ve come, what I’ve learned, what I’ve created, what I’ve achieved, and what I’ve shared it just makes me want to do more of it. I want to be an inspiration to others. If I can do it, so can you. YOUR PERSONAL MANTRA? “It could be worse” is what I say whenever something goes haywire or unpleasantly bombs. Whatever the situation, there is always an outcome that could be worse than the one you’re currently experiencing. It keeps me grounded and grateful.

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TALES OF TECH F O R B U S I N E S S E S TO F U L LY P R O S P E R , T H E A D O P T I O N A N D I M P L E M E N TAT I O N O F I T S O LU T I O N S I S A R G UA B LY N O N - N E G OT I A B L E A N D C A N S O M E T I M E S B E A JA R R I N G P R O C E S S . FA S T C O M PA N Y S A C H AT S TO B A S H A P I L L AY, E X E C U T I V E H E A D F O R C LO U D A N D C O L L A B O R AT I O N AT I N T E R N E T S O LU T I O N S , A B O U T S T R E A M L I N I N G T H I S T R A N S I T I O N , P R O D U C T I V I T Y, A N D H I S PA S S I O N F O R T E C H I N E V E RY S P H E R E O F L I F E .

BY BY FAR AH KHALFE

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Can you tell us a bit about your background? Your education, career journey and how you got to where you are today? I’ve been operating in the IT industry for over 25 years. I started as a self-taught developer for about five years, moved on to project and programme management for an additional three years before being appointed as a National Resource Manager. It was only after being chosen to attend a management development programme that I truly found my calling around innovation. I spent the next three years managing a team of innovation consultants who assisted with building new business ideas and teams, incubated programmes and cultivated ideas within the organisation. It was then that the entrepreneurial side of me kicked in. I broke away from the corporate environment to start my own enterprise mobility and innovation consultancy. While consulting for an organisation on their enterprise mobility strategy, I was offered the opportunity to be a business unit Chief Technology Officer (CTO) for a large ICT company that operated across the Middle East and Africa. I’ve always wanted to do more across the rest of Africa and jumped at the opportunity to be part of this dynamic organisation. Since then, I’ve facilitated various roles over the last six years, including my current role as the Executive Head of their Cloud and Collaboration Business Unit. What does your role of Executive Head at Internet Solutions entail? I manage a business that creates and deploys products and services that facilitate organisations ambitions to becoming more digital and more agile. We believe in creating rich digital experiences for our clients through leading connectivity and platform technologies while underpinned by robust security. Have you always had an interest in IT? How did you know this was a sector you wanted to be in? Interestingly enough, I actually studied Dentistry for three years before realising that technology was what I was meant to be doing. I have always had a passion and interest in the technology space. It was probably around the age of about nine when my dad bought us a Commodore 64 computer that connected to our TV, that I should have known where my calling would be. I clearly remember spending hours and hours on this unit writing lines

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of programming and the sheer joy I felt after running code and seeing the most basic of games as an outcome. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped tinkering around with technology since then.

absolutely a revolution. It’s aggressive, almost violent in nature, and hugely disruptive. Even more so, it’s exponential in terms of the pace of change happening. It is completely redefining the business landscape in the world across pretty much every industry.

What are the biggest transformations you have witnessed in the sector in South Africa over the years?

How would you describe your leadership style?

The biggest transformation I’ve been able to witness is the impact IT has made on the business world. Whereas 10 years ago, IT was seen as a grudge purchase for most businesses. Today it’s embedded in every aspect of business. In fact, what we’re seeing now is the complete opposite of what we saw 15 years ago. Initially, IT would lead the technology charge for businesses whereas nowadays, IT departments are being left behind, and it’s the business areas that are leading the charge of adopting newer and better technologies. How does South Africa fare in terms of the digitisation of industries and IoT? I believe South Africa has some of the leading minds driving the digitisation and innovation across organisations. Unfortunately, we are also a nation that is very cautious in nature and so it will take time to see the proliferation and adoption of these leading technologies. I do believe that the financial and health industries are leading this digital transformation change due to the sheer disruption that is happening across those industries today. How do you ensure that you always have your finger on the pulse of where technology is headed? In a space that is changing at such a rapid pace, it’s about being able to constantly expose yourself to the different mediums of information around you and following the leaders at the edge of this technology change. It also helps that I have a love and passion for technology and don’t see it as a 9 to 5 job so I’m constantly playing and testing new things. What is your take on the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution? I believe we’re seeing the dawn of a digital revolution. We are moving into an age where we’re seeing a fusion of the digital, physical and biological coming together. And it’s

I believe that my biggest strength as a leader is being able to identify the strengths and skills of others. My leadership style is all about bringing the right people together, exposing their strengths and then getting out of their way so that they can help us achieve what we need to. I’m all about the power of the collective and trying to build cohesive teams that are able to lean on each other when and where needed. What are your top tips for achieving productivity in work and in life? Never stop learning. Create a balance between work, play and family. Download an app called Audible and listen to books while sitting in traffic. Find 10 inspirational leaders in your space and follow them on Twitter, LinkedIn or some other social media. Learn from others. Don’t re-invent the wheel. What are some of your favourite tech gadgets that boosts productivity and time-management? I still love my iPhone and have found a good mix of apps that allow me to be productive and manage my time. With the latest updates, my phone even forces me to shut down and move off technology when needed. I also use smart assistants like Siri, Google Home and Zoom.ai to provide me with more information as and when I need it during the day. I love that I have most of the Apple ecosystem devices that seamlessly work together and allow me to move from one device to the other without missing a beat. How do you maintain peace of mind when under pressure? Surround yourself with the best people you know and remember to stay calm. I’m one of those people that actually thrive under pressure and embrace the challenge that it sometimes brings. What books have inspired you in life? On the personal front, Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom and on the work front I recently read Satya Nadella’s book Hit Refresh, which speaks to being a humble leader and trying to use your role to better the world. What is your business philosophy? Be disruptive, challenge yourself and always look to leave a legacy that makes the world a better place from whence you found it, in whatever way you can.

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EMPOWERING AND INSPIRING E Z LY N B A R E N D S , F O U N D E R O F D R E A M G I R L S AC A D E M Y, D I S C OV E R E D H E R T R U E C A L L I N G I N L I F E A S A S O C I A L E N T R E P R E N E U R , W I T H A PA S S I O N F O R WO R K I N G W I T H YO U N G P E O P L E I N O R D E R TO I N S P I R E , E M P OW E R A N D S U P P O R T T H E M I N F U L F I L L I N G T H E I R OW N P OT E N T I A L A N D B U I L D I N G A P U R P O S E F U L , M E A N I N G F U L L I F E .

BY E LS KE JOU BE RT

PHOTOG R APH BY LE BO THOK A

What led you to found the DreamGirls Academy? In 2010, I was managing my family youth education and development organisation. We ran an international internship programme where university students from the United States could volunteer to work in various positions at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Two students shared their story of how they started DreamGirls International Outreach and Mentoring Programme at their university, an initiative to expose marginalised teenage girls to higher learning and education opportunities. At the same time, I was also in the planning phase to launch a girl-focused education programme under the Dad Fund. Given our shared passion for education and the desire to start making a difference in the lives of teen girls, together with Lyndon Barends, my dad, we decided to launch a chapter in South Africa. The team, well aware that the context and needs of young girls in the country were slightly different, saw this as an opportunity to develop a more holistic programme that would imprint a deeper impact on teen girls in South Africa. It was at this point that we created a structured eight month mentoring programme which included education and empowerment on the topics of Life Design and Goal Setting, Education, Entrepreneurship and Careers, Leadership and Service, Women Wellness and Dignity and Professional Etiquette. After three successful years, the South African board made a decision to register DreamGirls South Africa as an independent entity. In 2017, it was decided that given the vast differences in the uniquely South 70 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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African programme, DreamGirls South Africa would be further rebranded and positioned as DreamGirls Academy: Empowered to Rise. What have been some of your biggest challenges and successes? One of the biggest challenges that I’ve faced was transforming my mindset to create positive experiences and a life that I love. I come from a loving family and a good upbringing, however, I struggled with serious bouts of self-doubt, people pleasing and low self-esteem. Because of that I gave my time and energy to many people, places, jobs and things that didn’t serve me well. My biggest success was taking ownership of my mind, my life and future and directing it with intention, purpose and clarity. You’re quite passionate about women empowerment. Where did this passion originate? I’m actually really passionate about youth development as a whole and am involved in a number of other initiatives that empower both young women and men. When we started DreamGirls, it came at a time of increasing research and evidence showing that gender empowerment and equality has a direct impact on a country’s economic growth and prosperity. We know that women have an inherent nature to uplift and nurture their surrounding communities and as such, we also focus on educating these young women to become agents of change in their schools, universities, places of work and communities. Please comment on the importance of mentorship in any organisation.

I believe that setting up effective mentoring platforms can further contribute to an organisation’s success because it allows for the transference of skills and knowledge through intergenerational dialogue; it’s mutually beneficial for both parties as learning occurs both ways and it provides a supportive relationship for professional advancement. Having a mentor provides a source of impartial advice and encouragement, assists with problem-solving, improves self-confidence, offers development opportunities and encourages reflection. For mentors, being in a mentoring relationship helps them build communication, leadership and management skills. They can also learn a lot from the younger generation. Overall, if someone with more experience can save another person from making certain mistakes, it can help one fast track their career trajectory. What, in your opinion, makes a great leader? I believe that leadership is a way of life, a way anyone can choose. I think being in touch with your soul is the secret of a great leader. A great leader is one who uplifts others and brings them on the journey with them. They inspire and motivate others to step into their own greatness. Leaders exist to serve others. How would you describe your leadership style? My leadership style is visionary, dynamic and empowering. Women join the DreamGirls Academy because of the inspiring vision and values that the leadership team so passionately and authentically live by. I believe that the role of a leader is to create more leaders. How important is wellness in ensuring overall productivity? Wellness is essential to productivity. I believe that one produces their best work when they are at their best and invest in their own self-care. That way one works from a place of calmness, groundedness and strength. This was a hard lesson I learned a few years ago when I suffered a burnout as a new entrepreneur. I worked around the clock and had no social life. Now, I’m very intentional about my wellness. I have at least one full day a week where I don’t do any work. Every day, I also make the time to pray, meditate, read, and relax.

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LE ADE RS E XI ST TO S E RVE OTH E RS .â&#x20AC;?

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A MASTER STRATEGIST I N A FA S T- PAC E D WO R L D W I T H E V E R- E VO LV I N G T E C H N O LO G Y, H OW D O E S T H E C E O O F A N I N F O R M AT I O N A N D C O M M U N I C AT I O N T E C H N O LO G Y ( I C T ) C O M PA N Y S TAY O N TO P O F T H E G A M E ? R É A N VA N N I E K E R K H A S L E D M E TAC O M TO S U C C E S S BY E X P LO I T I N G H Y P E R E F F I C I E N C Y A N D P R O D U C T I V I T Y.

BY WA LT E R H AY WA R D

P H O T O G R A P H BY TA R I Q C A S S I M

“I HAVE ALWAYS WORKED HARD AND STRIVE TO WORK SMART.” After a six-year stint in the military, Réan van Niekerk entered the entrepreneurial field, gaining a vast amount of business experience over the past 32 years. “Building five different companies with varying degrees of success, I continued to develop my core technical expertise in ICT.” He founded Metacom in 2001 – a specialised electronic network communications provider and the only South African company that conceptualises, designs, manufactures, installs and maintains all routers and equipment in-house. 72 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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“Part of my strategy has always been to add various vertical products and services to our core network expertise. We have therefore developed products and solutions such as internet video and radio, Wi-Fi, and the Internet of Things (IoT), to name a few. “Metacom was entirely bootstrapped, with no external capital or investors. The company has grown organically since its inception and the business model has proven to be a great success, with double digit growth annually.” How will technological advancements impact the future of Metacom? The advances in technology and discovery of new thinking paradigms continuously bring challenges for Metacom to stay at the forefront of technological developments. There are numerous technological developments in the ICT arena that I am keen to explore to further expand the Metacom product and solution offering. In the short-term we will integrate 5G, faster speeds and an even broader spread of communication technologies into our solution offering, thereby increasing our exceptional network reliability and system performance. What role does technology play in enabling productivity? The primary impact of technology is that everything happens faster in a hyper-connected world. But simply automating bad or inefficient manual systems will do bad things faster and exacerbate problems. Automating well thought out systems and processes will execute flawlessly at incredible speeds and vastly improve productivity. Technology also brings about new ways of thinking and opportunities that were not available before, for example, digital assistants that support our daily functions and become smarter over time due to integrated machine-learning and subsequent enhanced Artificial Intelligence. What is your personal strategy for beating procrastination? Take the most important task you least want to do, visualise how fantastic you will feel once it is done, and then do it… now! Don’t plan or think, just start doing! Newton’s First Law of Motion states that a body will remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force and will remain in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force. I believe this is true for the physical world as much as for our mind space. Give that task a nudge and it will start moving and keep going. Then you can apply some acceleration and speed up the process.

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Quick-fire Q&A: DO YOU HAVE ANY FAVOURITE APPS THAT ARE USEFUL FOR BUSY PEOPLE ON THE GO? OneNote – To manage my tasks, plans and thoughts. Flipboard – For a quick and comprehensive overview of current affairs. WHAT TIME DO YOU WAKE UP AND WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU DO? I wake up at 5 am, have an espresso and do some stretching. I leave home before the traffic builds up. I love to get to the office early to ensure plans and tasks are in place for the day. Although an action plan is critical for me, I remain flexible to manage the day as it unfolds. WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU? My family inspires me. I have a wonderful wife, Alice, and four awesome children. I love to work hard to provide for their needs and a bit more. My team at Metacom are incredible people with their own dreams, ambitions and the ability to work hard towards their own and our collective goals. I love people with grit, positivity, and a ‘can do’ attitude. Some of my favourite visionaries are Steve Jobs, Bill Gates and Elon Musk. I have gleaned much wisdom from books written by these iconic role models. From a previous era, Henry Ford, the Wright Brothers and Nikola Tesla inspire me, as they all had a profound vision, the ability to work hard, and the grit to grind on under extremely trying circumstances. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? Creative Selection by Ken Kocienda. Ken is the former principal engineer of iPhone software at Apple. He gives an account of Apple’s creative process during the golden years of Steve Jobs. YOUR PERSONAL MANTRA? Hyper efficiency and hyper productivity.

Your top three tips for leading a more productive life? Set Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs). Think BIG. Then ensure that all your short and medium-term actions are aligned to these BHAGs. Make every minute count. Feed the focus and starve the distractions. What does productivity mean to you? The bulk of my work requires thinking, then structuring and making notes of all my ideas and thoughts for action or further development. Amongst other things, productivity is the ability to chart a course to a defined objective, then acting and planning the actions of others to execute tasks to achieve that objective. In other words, to act in a targeted and measurable manner.

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REVOLUTIONISING LOGISTICS W I T H N E A R LY A D E C A D E ’ S E X P E R I E N C E I N TO P -T I E R C O N S U LT I N G A N D B A N K I N G , B E N J I C O E T Z E E T U R N E D H E R AT T E N T I O N TO D I S R U P T I N G A N I N D U S T RY – LO G I S T I C S . F I N D O U T W H Y S H E LOV E S M S E XC E L A N D W H Y P R O D U C T I V I T Y M E A N S M O N E Y. BY WA LT E R H AY WA R D

PHOTOG R APH BY LE BO THOK A

BENJI IS THE CO-FOUNDER AND CEO OF EMPTYTRIPS, a company she aims to make the largest provider of logistic services in South Africa. “About two years ago, I was driving down the N3 from Durban passing empty trucks and rail wagons. I thought of how my consulting clients complain about expensive transport costs eating into profit margins. “Applying economic theory to it simply didn’t make sense; excess supply leads to lower prices, or better matched demand and supply leads to equilibrium. I decided that something needed to be done – a smart market for transport was needed. Technology held the key.” Now a full-time entrepreneur aiming to disrupt the African business status quo through innovative and exponential technologies, Benji focuses on reducing waste, minimising costs, enabling trade, connecting Africa, and empowering young people. You see EmptyTrips as “the future of business”. What does this mean for the logistics industry? We are disrupting the logistics sector by applying advanced technology, Artificial Intelligence and machine-learning to digitise a legacy sector that still has more than 50% of its processes occurring in manual format, which is resource intensive and counterproductive. As a startup, what have been some of EmptyTrips’ biggest challenges and successes? Every day in the startup world is challenging. The flat venture capital market for young 74 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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African entrepreneurs is most challenging as we simply don’t have access to funding vehicles like fellow entrepreneurs overseas, and this can sometimes hinder the great solutions coming out of the continent. Thankfully, our tenacious spirit equips us to continue pushing through all challenges. Our greatest success would be the total end-to-end digital solution for intermodal and upselling of ancillary products. That is a big win, not only for us, but for all sectors where demand is growing as urbanisation increases globally. What role does technology play in enabling productivity at EmptyTrips?

On average, 45% of sales executives’ time in the logistics sector is spent on processing or collating quote information. With our technology, we reduce that time from hours to a matter of minutes. In essence, our platform is an entirely independent freight ecosystem that is wired to revolutionise the way business is currently done in the industry. Do you have a strategy for beating procrastination? When you’re on the beat and self-funded, such words don’t exist in your vocabulary. Should it creep in, we simply revert to a task sheet with our top three initiatives to be achieved daily. But, like I said, I don’t have such luxuries as I am on my own balance sheet and have a strong vision for the future of the company. Your top three tips for leading a more productive life? Win the morning, win the day. Be humble and work tirelessly to earn your seat at the table. Be driven to find solutions to the everyday needs of the market and you’ll birth revolutionary products. What does productivity mean to you personally? Money (she laughs). Jokes aside, productivity saves money for the customers and for us. It equates to earnings and so it’s a win-win for all. Who inspires you the most? My mother is the most incredible hustler I’ve ever known, and she has taught me so much about resilience, passion and being a solutionist. When I wanted to attend Teverton (a private school in KwaZulu-Natal), she raffled a big-screen TV to raise funds. After working for a period of time, I decided to do a second Master’s degree in Germany, one that combines international law and finance to fast-track my move into the investment banking space. This was an issue, as it was incredibly expensive, and local banks did not extend student loans for studies abroad. My mom wrote to Maria Ramos, CEO of Absa, motivating the case for the bank to extend me a student loan based on my merits and their surety. It worked. She has always backed me as a star jockey. Her resilient mindset has been my foundation.

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BE DRIVE N TO F I N D SOLUTION S TO TH E E VE RYDAY N E E DS OF TH E MARKET AN D YOU ’ LL B I RTH RE VOLUTIONARY PRODUCTS .”

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World’s first autonomous tram

Industrial manufacturing company Siemens is revolutionising German railroads with the world’s first autonomous tram – the Siemens Combino. The Munich-based conglomerate believes that by eliminating the human element and introducing the option of automated Light Rail Vehicles (LRVs) to major cities, it will significantly reduce the cost of tram and trolley transport for passengers. According to Christoph Klaes, senior vice-president for Light-Rail with Siemens, the employment of drivers makes up a substantial portion of the operating costs for a tramway. Thus, there is a need for rail transport to remain competitive with automated buses, which are already a reality in certain metropoles in the country. The Combino is fitted with radar and camera sensors and multiple virtual eyes used to view oncoming traffic and obstructions, while internally, it is operated with calculated algorithms. This enables it to interpret data such as traffic signals, detect pedestrians and give instructions.

H&M forges tech partnership to launch ‘try before you buy’ payment option

As part of a broader strategy to push for a seamless omnichannel shopping experience, H&M has partnered with European tech company Klarna to offer various

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methods of in-store, mobile and online payment options. This will include the popular ‘try before you buy’ approach, whereby customers can receive clothing packages, try on and model the garments before deciding if they’d like to purchase it eventually. Utilising advanced Klarna payment technology, customers assigned to H&M’s digital loyalty programme will be able to complete an in-store checkout using their smartphone. According to an H&M spokesperson, an employee at the cash register will scan a buyer’s loyalty app and inquire if they want to use the ‘pay later’ option. Customers will then receive an invoice for the purchase, if they choose to do so, and can use the app to decide how to pay at a later stage. Payment can range from debit or credit cards to bank account deposits and instalments.

Instagram uses artificial intelligence to prevent bullying

In light of the US’s National Bullying Prevention Month in October, Instagram has rolled out a new monitoring feature to help prevent cyberbullying. The photo-sharing app is incorporating cutting-edge AI technology in order to detect offensive words and phrases in users’ content and captions. Human moderators will then lay a final pair of eyes on the content that is flagged, to bridge the gap between computerised automation and innately human nuances and context. This is an expansion of the machine-learning feature Instagram launched last year, which detects and removes offensive remarks made in the comments section.

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Fast Company SA takes a look at the innovative new ideas, services, research and news currently making waves in South Africa and abroad. Laser light technolog y protects London bikers

Cyclists on the streets of London can now ride with confidence and ensure a safer presence on the road. The first product of its kind, Laserlight Core is a laser projection gadget that makes cyclists more visible to vehicles and pedestrians by lighting up a rider’s path (to the same width as a standard bicycle lane) and glowing a green bicycle icon six metres ahead on the pavement. After conducting a study on the product’s effectiveness, Transport for London (TfL) found that cyclists carrying the Laserlight Core, and who would have otherwise been in a blind spot to drivers, are 87% visible to buses, trucks and vans. This is in comparison to 65% visibility cyclists possess when carrying a standard LED light. In addition, 75% of cyclists felt more confident with the light, which has now been installed throughout the city’s bikeshare fleet.

Virgin Galactic set to reach space in a few weeks

Founder and Chief Executive of the Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, has announced that his mission to launch commercial space flights to the public is a not-too-distant reality. The business magnate’s Virgin Galactic is reportedly weeks away from embarking on its first venture into space. The firm will thereafter be conducting regular space flights for fee-paying passengers. This was originally planned for 2009 but due to delays and a fatal crash, the project was halted. Now, the mission is scheduled for 2023 and will be the first human journey to the moon since 1972. Sir Richard, who is apparently in a race with Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to launch commercial space flights, is said to be receiving astronaut, centrifuge and fitness training in preparation for the voyage, as he will be aboard the spacecraft. NOVEMBER 2018

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F A S T

E V E N T S

CX Innovation and Tech Fest

When: 12–13 November Where: The Maslow Time Square, Pretoria Cost: R13 500

Africa GCCM

When: 11–12 November Where: The Table Bay Hotel, Cape Town Cost: R7 467

Global telecom club Carrier Community (CC) is organising its 4th annual Global Carrier Community Meeting, providing profitable business networking opportunities for those in the telecommunications industry. GCCM members have the opportunity to nurture existing partnerships and forge new relationships with members from voice, data, mobile, cable, satellite and other related segments. With over 450 delegates representing more than 250 regional and international operators, the event includes interesting executive panel discussions, leisurely activities and a relaxed and private atmosphere in which registered members can mingle and talk business.

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In an era of instant gratification and technology transforming the customer experience, consumers are more demanding than ever. Businesses need to implement advanced marketing tactics and customer relationship management in order to speak to this new wave of customer autonomy. Enter the CX Innovation and Tech Fest. In partnership with the Customer Service Institute of Australia, this event aims to celebrate the people, ideas and innovation that has changed the way businesses need to attain and keep customers – with technology being the essential tool to enable this shift. With Hot Topics such as Translating Data into Customer Insights and Making Lasting Vendor Relationships, as well as knowledgeable speakers including Wally Brill, Head of Conversation Design Advocacy and Education at Google, the fest seeks to equip businesses with the information and insight needed for a smooth transition.

5G Africa

AfricaCom

The next generation of services enabled by 5G technology is making its way into Africa. The 5G Africa Conference seeks to map the continent’s journey towards a new era of cellular mobile connectivity, pushing the boundaries of what came before. The conference affords tech enthusiasts and professionals the chance to network with leading mobile network operators such Vodacom and MTN, explore 5G cases, assess feedback from recent 5G trials, and gain insight into a detailed roadmap developed for 5G deployment in Africa. Topics to be discussed include device ownership in Africa and the 4G evolution.

AfricaCom is the largest and most influential Africa-focused technology event in the world, bringing together 400 exhibitors, 13 000 attendees and 450 visionary speakers. A business-critical delegate experience incorporates a 16-track conference programme with hot new agenda topics, including blockchain, e-commerce, digital health, agritech and more, plus brand new networking experiences for 2018. In addition, 400 exhibitors offer innovative solutions to the most pressing business challenges with a showcase of some of the newest technologies across two large-scale exhibition halls.

When: 13–15 November Where: Cape Town International Convention Centre Cost: Contact for price

When: 13–15 November Where: Cape Town International Convention Centre Cost: R12 150 pp

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Women in Digital and Data Cape Town When: 21 November Where: The Forum, Embassy Hill, Constantia, Cape Town Cost: R5 999

While the digital industry is still predominantly male driven, women are making headway as key players and game changers in the space. The Women in Digital and Data forum is a convergence of industry leaders and professionals where attendees can be inspired, educated and uplifted by a vibrant community of women in tech. The conference includes a speaker line-up of over 15 women who will share their journeys in digital and data, innovative keynote sessions, and interactive panel discussions around transformation, skills development and career advancement — making it the perfect platform for women wanting to benefit their organisations and careers.

DevCon 2019 My Beauty Expo

When: 23–25 November Where: Ticketpro Dome, Johannesburg, Gauteng Cost: TBA

Be in the know about the latest beauty product updates and innovations at this year’s My Beauty Expo. Exhibiting the latest products, treatments, information and equipment, the event allows beauty industry veterans, as well as those trying to break into the business side of beauty, the opportunity to expand their professional horizons. Exhibitors range from brands, services and technologies covering everything from cosmetics, perfume, hair, nails and skin care. With a pool of manufacturers, distributors and trade buyers, the My Beauty Expo is a one-stop gateway for all businessto-business solutions in the beauty industry.

Blockchain Technology Conference When: 7 December 2018 Where: President Hotel, Bantry Bay, Cape Town Cost: R4 310 – R7 183

The innovative technology of blockchain is transforming industries as we know it. Known as a digital ledger system that is used to record transactions, blockchain represents a revolutionary intersection between the digital world, social networking and powerful decentralised networks. The Blockchain Technology Conference aims to provide a broad and deep understanding of what this invention is, what it can do for us, and how best to implement and harness all the opportunities it can provide within the realms for business in the fast-paced and dynamic era of Industry 4.0.

When: 28 March 2019 Where: River Club, Cape Town & Vodacom World, Midrand Cost: R2 614.99 (Johannesburg) & R2 350 (Cape Town) for full-price tickets. Early bird & bulk packages also available

Learn, network and be inspired at DevCon 2019. The annual conference has grown into South Africa’s go-to event for software developers and tech aficionados who want to stay on top of global development trends, tools and techniques. The one-day event aims to tackle a range of current and future challenges present within the country’s software development environment. In doing so, the conference will function as a ‘think forum’ and instill attendees with numerous tools, practices and principles with which they can transform the industry.

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“ K E E P I N G A POSITIVE MINDSET HAS BEEN THE CORNERSTONE TO M Y S U C C E S S .” PHOTOG R APH BY MALCOM DARE

Destination: Success Gaynor MacArthur is a founding member and managing director of Digicape, an Apple premium reseller and total solutions provider. She is responsible for setting the overall strategic direction of the company and meeting its objectives. She is also involved in the training and coaching of staff, and acts as a mentor to members of the team. BELOW ARE SOME OF THE INVALUABLE SECRETS SHE HAS LEARNT ALONG HER JOURNEY TO SUCCESS. Tackle your insecurities before they tackle you As far back as I can remember, my biggest obstacle has always been my shyness. The feeling involves uncomfortable silences, fidgeting, and stilted conversations. I knew very early on in life that if I wanted to be successful, I had to tackle this weakness head on. I’m sure you’re familiar with the sage adage that goes, ‘fake it, till you make it!’ – that is exactly what I did. I decided to stop avoiding social interactions and rather 80 FASTCOMPANY.CO. Z A

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practise confidence. Over time and with lots of practice and patience, I started to feel more comfortable putting myself out there, and as a result I began to feel naturally confident. Practising positivity Being an entrepreneur is not for the weak or faint-hearted, especially when you constantly need to reinvent the wheel to stay current or ahead of the game. And sometimes no matter how hard you try, some things just don’t work out; this is where practising positivity becomes crucial. Keeping a positive mindset has been the cornerstone to my success. It kept me going when

things took an unexpected turn, it enabled me to not waste unnecessary energy wallowing in self-pity, but instead learn from my mistakes – figuring out new and creative ways to tackle a problem. Coaching and mentorship I owe the bulk of my success to the on-the-job coaching and mentorship I was fortunate enough to receive early on in my career. It shaped me into the businesswoman I am today. I learnt to improve my communication and personal skills, I developed leadership and management skills, and became more empowered to make decisions. It goes to show that a strong support system really goes a long way. Adopting healthy productivity habits In this digital age of 24-hour news cycles, Instagram notifications and Snapchat filters, being productive and staying on task can be harder to accomplish than your actual work. Below are some of the ways I make room for increased productivity:

Cut your to-do list in half: Take a ‘less is more’ approach to your to-do list by only focusing on accomplishing things that matter. Set goals: Get in the habit of setting short- and long-term goals. Goal setting is a useful tool to keep motivated and inspired on things you really want to achieve. Use your mornings to focus on yourself: It’s a big productivity killer to start your mornings by checking your email and your calendar. Rather ignore your emails in the morning and get in a good breakfast, read the news, meditate, or workout. Tackle your challenging tasks before lunch: Knock out your most challenging work when your brain is fresh. Gaynor MacArthur is responsible for implementing an effective sales strategy and meeting the company’s sales targets. MacArthur and her team work closely with the procurement and marketing departments, ensuring that customer needs are met and the highest service standards are maintained.

NOVEMBER 2018

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F A S T C O M PA N Y

INSIGHTS FROM

CAMERON VAN DER BURGH / HASAN MINHAJ

ISSUE 39

South Africa

CLEAN TECH EDITION

Venture Catalyst

Arlan Hamilton has muscled her way into the boys’ club Silicon Valley will never be the same

A R L A N H A M I LT O N

CLEAN TECH EDITION 2018

S U S T A I N A B L E CO M PA N I ES A N D P R O D U CTS WE LOVE OCTOBER 2018

FEBRUARY 2017 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A

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Plus The Fortnite Effect HOW THE BLOCKBUSTER GAME IS CHANGING BIG MEDIA

R35.50

OCTOBER 2018 FASTCOMPANY.CO.ZA

Google it! HOW DESIGN FITS INTO THE TECH GIANT’S MISSION

2018/10/04 13:40

Fast Company SA November 2018 - Issue 40

Articles inside

Empowering and Inspiring

Tales of Tech

A PR Powerhouse

More Productivity, Less Work

Rethinking Retail

A New Dawn for Domestic Work

A Rising Tide

Seeking Inclusivity

A Whole New Ball Game

Building Character

An Appetite for Life

Reshaad Sha: Digital Maverick

The Art of Translation