The
2015 World’s
MOST
INNOVATIVE COMPANIES "Game of Thrones is an amazing show, and I have no problem speaking of the virtues of HBO."
P E TER DIN K L AGE Actor
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IT’S A GO FOR HBO! H O W TH E N E TWO RK I S
RE DE FI N I N G TV THRO U GH D I GI TA L E X PA N SI O N I N STAGRA M , TE SLA , N E TFLI X , VI RGI N , KI CKSTA RTE R, SA FLO RI ST, TA SKM O N KE Y, PRI CE CHE CK, M E LLO WCA B S & BI TX
DEC/JAN SPECIAL BUMPER EDITION
December January 2015/16
Contents
C OVE R S T ORY
THE WORLD’S MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES SA’S TOP 25 Our 2015 guide to the businesses that matter most Begins on page 22
INT E RNAT I O NAL H I GHL I GHT S
No. 1 / See the Future
24 Eyewear company Warby
Parker is the hottest thing in offline retail, thanks to its clever vertically integrated, buy-onegive-one business model, and its founders’ fanatical focus on brand and execution BY MAX CHAKFIN
No. 6 / Ruling the Game of Shows
34
US cable network HBO is the envy of the rapidly shifting media landscape, thanks to some deft manoeuvring by CEO Richard Plepler BY NICOLE LAPORTE 2 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
I can see clearly now “Apple … decided to focus on a few products and make sure they got those right. For us, we want to make sure we’re not jumping at whatever shiny objects appear,” says co-CEO of Warby Parker, Dave Gilboa. (page 24)
Contents
Antivirus Over the past few years, Gilead Sciences has ushered through four effective new treatments for HIV—including Truvada—as well as two for hepatitis C. (page 44)
No. 13 / Monetising the Messenger
40 Line has become one of the most profitable messaging apps. How? By being cute. And really smart. BY HARRY MCCRACKEN
No. 14 / The Speed of Need
46 Some medicines take a decade or more
to get to market. For its latest lifesaving hepatitis C medication, Gilead Sciences needed just two years BY JJ MCCORVEY
No. 15 / The Everything Market
50 A culinary school for some, a
gourmet store for others, and a restaurant for even more: How Eataly became the grocery empire to beat BY AUSTIN CARR
No. 17 / Curing Chinese Healthcare
58
Every day, thousands of Chinese doctors use Apricot Forest to digitise medical records and connect with patients and colleagues BY JULIE MAKINEN
4 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
You see a Top 35 Under 35 CA(SA) competition winner
We See POTeNTIAL
Performance THROUGH DeDICATION
AMBROS/455
BRONWYN CORBETT Ca(sa) COO & CFO: DeLTA PROPeRTY FUND 2015 WINNeR: TOP 35 UNDeR 35 CA(SA) COMPeTITION
Being the top CA(SA) under 35 means more than capitalising on opportunities, it means having a new lease on business possibilities, and the skills and dedication to turn those possibilities into results. We congratulate Bronwyn Corbett for winning the Top 35 Under 35 CA(SA) competition, as a true business asset, she is a shining example of how to take business results to the next level. Find a CA(SA) dedicated business leader today.
responsible leadership.
Contents
REG UL ARS S O UT H AF RI CAN HI G H L I G H T S
It’s Your Commerce
76 Yoco offers an easy way for SMEs
to accept card payments securely and simply—at the store or on the go
Food For Thought
88
How Green Cell Technologies, with its Dynamic Cellular Disruption, is feeding and fuelling the world
10 Editor’s Note 12 The Recommender 120 The Great Innovation Frontier
The nationwide student protests indicate the need for innovation in addressing education challenges BY WALTER BAETS
118 Fast Bytes
Streets Ahead
90
African Public Bicycles, Mellowcabs and WhereIsMyTransport are changing the way South Africans get around their cities
A Culinary Culture
94
The Lazy Makoti teaches the modern Afropolitan the lost art of preparing authentic, traditional African dishes
Active Duty
96
How Discovery Vitality is making society healthier in order to keep medical expenses down
Better Save Than Be Sorry
106 Sanlam’s #FutureFWD campaign brought young South Africans up close and personal with the realities of retirement
110 THOSE THAT ALMOST MADE THE LIST
6 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
Sowing seeds of hope Green Cell CEO Roy Henderson believes, “People don’t need more food, they need better and more affordable food—and Dynamic Cellular Disruption can make this happen.” (page 88)
Experience Extraordinary There is a place where conferences are transformed from ordinary gatherings into extraordinary experiences. A destination, at the tip of the mighty African continent, where two oceans meet in the shadow of one of earth’s seven natural wonders. Here, creativity comes to life, today’s ideas and visions become tomorrow’s reality, and impressions and bonds are created that last forever. This place is Cape Town International Convention Centre. And to experience it is to experience extraordinary.
To transform your special event into an extraordinary experience contact CTICC: +27 21 410 5000 sales@cticc.co.za www.cticc.co.za
PUBLISHER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Robbie Stammers
robbie@fastcompany.co.za
ART DIRECTOR
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ADVERTISING SALES EXECUTIVE
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Lauren Lancaster, Nicolas Berger, Jared Soares, Daniel Shea, Brosmind, Matjaž Tančič, Crystaline Randazzo, Damien Maloney, Andrew Tingle, Tomi Um, Max-o-Matic, Colin Hayes, Jessica Haye, Clark Hsiao, Adrian Nakic
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Louise Marsland, Anneleigh Jacobsen, Prof. Walter Baets, Pepe Marais, Alistair King, Koo Govender, Abey Mokgwatsane, Kheepe Moremi, Herman Manson, Ellis Mnyandu, Thabang Skwambane
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Cover: Contour by Getty Images Getty Images, Dollar Photo Club, Uber, Stacey Storbeck-Nel, Paul Jung, Amanda Ringstad, Tavis Cobur, Chris Philpot, Chloe Aftel, Jeff Brown Matteo Berton, Dan Monick,
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Joe Mansueto Mansueto Ventures
EDITOR
Robert Safian
PUBLISHER
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EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS
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No article or any part of any article in Fast Company South Africa may be reproduced without the prior written consent of the publisher. The information provided and opinions expressed in this publication are provided in good faith, but do not necessarily represent the opinions of Mansueto Ventures in the USA, Insights Publishing or the editor. Neither this magazine, the publisher or Mansueto Ventures in the USA can be held legally liable in any way for damages of any kind whatsoever arising directly or indirectly from any facts or information provided or omitted in these pages, or from any statements made or withheld by this publication. Fast Company is a registered title under Mansueto Ventures and is licensed to Insights Publishing for use in southern Africa only. 8 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
From the Editor
A broader definition According to Pascal François, innovation can be “a process that brings together various novel ideas in a way that they have an impact on society.”
What is innovation? The year has passed by so quickly. It seems like just yesterday when the Fast Company SA team was deliberating, debating, hotly contesting and ultimately agreeing on the Most Innovative Companies list for 2014. This year our arguments were more intense and reflected more experience. In the end, we included companies we felt truly deserved to be recognised for their game-changing efforts. Innovation is one of the most used words in the modern era. What is innovation? What defines an innovative company? Is it the breathtaking and groundbreaking technology that will ensure we discover another planet? Is innovation essentially linked to tech: if a company ‘invents’ a robot capable of doing all our chores, despite the fact that we may actually prefer doing our own tasks? Does that render the company highly innovative? These questions formed the premise of some of our debates. The definition of innovation by Dr Pascal François, a professor in finance at HEC Montréal, set my heart at ease: “Innovation is a new idea, more effective device or
10 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
process. While a novel device is often described as an innovation, in economics, management science and other fields of practice and analysis, innovation is generally considered to be a process that brings together various novel ideas in a way that they have an impact on society.” Fast Company US editor Robert Safian puts it perfectly when he writes, “What have you done for me lately? That is the demanding filter we use to assess candidates for our annual Most Innovative Companies list. It is a brutal, unyielding framework—directly in keeping with today’s business reality.” Tough, but true. The innovative companies of today have one thing in common: They have all supplied a product, service or process that is needed by the human population. Made in Kigali has redefined fashion in Rwanda and created employment, because it was greatly needed; Levi’s has stretched its influence beyond jeans; TaskMonkey has taken over running our errands, at the touch of a button; Warby Parker has elevated a smart concept and committed itself to providing eyewear for the poor. Our Most Innovative Companies for 2015 have all taken into consideration the needs of our fast-paced society. Their decisions have been bold and progressive—challenging the norm and redefining the future. We congratulate and salute the companies that have made the list. They are a reflection of the current speed of change and the resilient power of ambition. Enjoy this issue, critique it, debate it—but above all, take something from it.
Evans Manyonga evans@fastcompany.co.za @Nyasha1e
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The recommender What are you loving this month?
Kojo Baffoe
Co-founder, director, Project Fable
Favourite get-around-town vehicle
BMW R1200R: This bike is light and nimble
enough for daily commuting while also comfortable and powerful enough to travel longer distances. It’s a stripped down, barebones roadster with quite a bit of technology under the ‘hood’, including different riding modes, a digital gauge with on-board computer, heated grips for winter, and LED daytime running lights. Being a newbie biker, it isn’t overly intimidating, and there’s something about experiencing the world on two wheels: The sights, sounds and smells cut through the air without obstruction. FAVOURITE BOOK Shaun Harry
International business developer
The 4-Hour Work Week by Timothy Ferriss: The book has allowed me to see work and revenue as multifaceted elements, and not just a single source or way of attracting revenue via a salary. Once you create income from your passion and the things you love, you attract and receive more than you’ll ever expect. I’m the captain of my own destiny, and I need to start betting on myself as the brand and business by working smarter. The book allows you to think differently about the unchanged concept of work, and how you could adjust your mindset to break the standard mould of a typical 9-to-5 work model.
12 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
FAVOURITE TECH Gareth Crocker
Best-selling author, director of Jongo, Africa’s first superhero TV show
Ronin DJI: This small piece of filming tech is allowing us to shoot amazing flying shots for our show. Only a few years ago, film crews would have to set up major rigs to give the camera its ‘flying movement’. Today, with a skilled cinematographer, it’s as easy as gliding alongside your actors. Even better is that the Ronin can be used in confined spaces such as private jets, caves, basements and many other tricky locations that are critical to our show.
The recommender
FAVOURITE LEARNING TOOL
Favourite fashion accessory
Emma Dicks Founder, Code4CT
Treehouse: For curious minds or those wanting to shift into more technical roles at work, learning code is a hot topic. I love Treehouse.com, as it tailors lessons to your goals, is easy to dive into, and is a well-respected place to get industry-ready skills.
FAVOURITE CHOCOLATE Sean Miller Founder, Simplifyd
Lindt Refreshing Lemon: One of the very first countries I ever travelled to alone was Switzerland. What character, charm and history! But for me, the best part of Switzerland has to be Lindt chocolate. While I can’t get to Switzerland every day, I can get a taste of it through Lindt’s amazing range. I’m totally in love with its latest Creation gem, Refreshing Lemon. It should come with a warning, because one piece is just never enough!
Tanya Kovarsky
PR & communications lead, Core Group
Knomo Audley: Pronounced ‘nomo’, this brand has a stylish and functional
range of organisers and bags, and its new Audley tote is my favourite ‘it’ bag for my devices and accessories. It’s spacious enough to work as a day bag and has room for a 14-inch laptop. It also has an organiser for your tablet and bank/ store cards. Made from soft, full-grain leather, complete with gold style zips and supple leather pull-tags for a full luxury finish, the Audley is awesome for work and play—and hard-wearing too.
FAVOURITE BEAUTY PRODUCT Carol Mashigo Singer, radio personality, blogger
Dermalogica Daily Microfoliant: Exfoliating is important, but I’ve found most scrubs actually make my skin worse. This product is perfect, because it’s a powder that you mix with water, so it’s not harsh on the skin. It leaves my face feeling amazing afterward.
FAVOURITE CLOTHING ITEM WITH A CAUSE Robbie Brozin Founder, Nando’s
Goodbye Malaria pyjama pants: These funky pants are saving lives through impact, empowerment and creativity. Proceeds go directly to support on-the-ground malaria elimination programmes in Mozambique. Wear them, become part of the movement, and you never know where they’ll take you—hopefully to some unexpected places. Check them out at www.goodbyemalaria.com. DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 13
The recommender
App Alley Tseliso Rangaka
Executive creative director, Ogilvy & Mather Cape Town
WhoSampled: As a maniacal hoarder of
music, I sometimes find myself trawling the web for different versions of songs I really like. WhoSampled was created to aid in this madness. The app lets you explore the music connections in your collection, so you’re able to see who remixed, sampled or covered your favourite tracks. You can also manually search for artists or songs. It’s not only great for creating themed mixtapes, but it will also tell you just how much Kanye West ‘borrowed’ from your granddad’s record collection.
Vera Khumalo
Head of marketing, Public Display Technologies
Airbnb: This app
showcases listed apartments, houses or rooms all around the world. If you’re lucky, you can get great accommodation at a much cheaper price than hotels. If you’d like self-catering accommodation, it’s quite affordable to go this route. You can also list your accommodation for others to rent.
Kelly Jackson
GM, Contiki South Africa
Hemingway:
Nick Davies
Business, leadership & productivity coach, Leadership Management International
Todoist:
Time is the most precious resource you possess for increasing your personal productivity, and your most valuable asset because your performance is a direct measure of how wisely you invest your time. This app has great features that allow you to set and manage daily and weekly tasks and goals. Use this app and you’ll be surprised how much your productivity will increase, by allowing you to focus on the right things at the right time.
14 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
I’ve been looking for an app to help me with my writing in the growing online world where content is king. I use Hemingway, which has helped me become a better writer. I use it every time I compose a new article, blog or even certain emails.
Bob Skinstad Chief marketing officer, Seartec
Citymapper:
This fantastic app was recommended to me in London. You open up to an integrated Google Map with a transport network framework. You plug in where you want to go, from where, and it gives you all the modes of transport and times to get there.
Fast Company promotion
Nurturing tomorrow’s designers The SA B S Design Ins titute is commit ted to suppor ting the realisation of new ideas into sus tainable enterprises
The SABS Design Institute, the official body mandated to develop South Africa’s national design capability, believes design is the catalyst needed to increase all elements of the nation’s competitiveness. It does this by linking the public, business and government together to design the products, services and systems that create new socio-economic value for South Africa and the world. For decades, the SABS has enabled the South African economy through standards and related quality assurance services—a valuable contribution that has afforded the Design Institute a close association with the manufacturing and fabrication sectors. Responding to the challenge of youth unemployment, it saw fit to leverage the technical base of the SABS and reposition the institute to play a role in creating a pipeline of future industrialists. Group head at the SABS Design Institute, Gavin Mageni, sat down with Fast Company SA and explained more about what the institute has been doing.
Fast Company: Do you feel design has a ma jor bearing on a country’s economy and holistic well-being?
Gavin Mageni: Design is the glue to innovation. At the centre of each product or service lies design. Excellent design creates products,
16 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
services, systems and experiences that appropriately fulfil their purpose. Excellent design will lead to the designing of better systems, processes and spaces for service delivery in all spheres of government; designing of more equitable and transformed social structures in South Africa; better design of businesses to increase the country’s economic growth, and allowing the country to benefit more from its cultural and natural heritage. How ha s t he in stitute cont ributed towa rd e rad icati n g pove r ty a n d u nem ploym ent, wh ile a l so i nc rea si n g de sig n awa rene ss?
Our programmes are designed to support entrepreneurs in developing sustainable enterprises that will create employment and eradicate poverty in our country. How do you n u r tu re u p -a n d - com i n g de sig ne rs?
Within the Design & Innovation Entrepreneurship Centre lies the Design Incubator where we develop young designers. Every year we recruit graduates straight out of university and train them for a period of 12 months. The incubator programme ensures these young designers gain sufficient experience to prepare them for
future opportunities. This is one way of ensuring we give an opportunity to young designers who at times struggle to get employment due to lack of industry experience. Doe s t he in stitute g ive a ny i n put i n e n su ri ng in novation a nd de sig n a re sta ndout ele m e nts i n t he national system of in novation?
The current national system of innovation experiences a chasm as it focuses on research and development, and excludes design. Design excellence should be positioned nationally as the organising principle to execute the existing plans and systems successfully. Therefore, better design practice needs to be applied within South Africa’s government structures to address the effective execution of the National Development Plan and the effective functioning of the National System of Innovation (NSI). Thus, for the past two years, we have been working alongside government structures in developing the national design policy, which will address the fragmented nature of the NSI by easing the navigation between its entities. Wh ic h ca m paig n s a re you cu rre ntly ru n n i ng?
Design is the catalyst needed to increase all elements of the nation’s competitiveness
The Moving Ideas and Young Movers competitions in association with Transnet, and other campaigns in collaboration with City of Tshwane, SEDA and the Department of Science and Technology.
Do you feel you have m a nag ed to act a s a national c ha ng e ag ent t hat facilitate s va l u a ble socio econom ic i m provement? If so, how a nd to what extent do you feel you have succeeded in t h i s?
Designed for success The institute aids individuals and SMMEs who have difficulty finding the appropriate channels to put their ideas into practice, says group head Gavin Mageni.
Our results over the past two years bear testament to the work we have done. Developing in excess of 200 SMMEs in a period of two years is sufficient proof that we have managed to act as a national change agent that facilitates valuable socio-economic growth/improvement. SMMEs create jobs, job creation eliminates poverty and improves societal conditions, and we are in the business of supporting our government in realising our NDP goals of creating better lives for our people. Tell u s more a bout you r De sig n & In novation E nt re p re ne u rsh i p Ce nt re.
The Design Institute believes that new businesses start with the right combination of person, idea and business model. It therefore uses a holistic approach to developing all three along a structured design process. The Design & Innovation Entrepreneurship Centre develops new entrepreneurial businesses and increases the success of existing businesses, using a design-based approach. A key strength of the offering is that it is highly adaptable. This enables the institute to solve its clients’ most pressing problems, whether they are new entrepreneurs, SMMEs or large organisations in need of corporate innovation. The Creative Exchange acts as a springboard for existing craftspeople. This entails entrepreneurial development through the Design & Innovation Entrepreneurship Centre and linking to the appropriate exit partner. It also offers manufacturer development, with exposure to different designers who enable them to improve the quality and desirability of their products. We also provide quarterly Go-to Hub sessions where aspiring entrepreneurs receive free idea-generation and assessment lessons.
Can you give us one or two success stories?
Siyanda Mbele joined the Design Institute’s programme in 2014 with a product that had not sold any units. He needed assistance in redesigning his product to improve his business. He creates hand-painted furniture inspired by the uniqueness of South African cultures. The business model is to create high-end furniture pieces for individuals with a love for design and African aesthetics. Mbele came to the Design Institute with a business model that was not sustainable, which created an unprofitable product and poor ability to upscale. By applying the design process, a new retail strategy was defined to assist him in improving his business model and increase sales. In addition, Mbele’s product was redesigned with the appropriate manufacturing cost and with sustainable mass-production construction. Abel Chetty came to the Design Institute in 2012 with the intention of improving his construction toy for children. Tugo combines the concepts of play and education in one environment to develop lateral thinking, concentration, gross and fine motor coordination, as well as cognitive skills in children at
early stages. Chetty wanted to improve the configuration of his product and to improve its marketing and branding. By applying the design process, a new retail strategy was defined. An improved brand and marketing strategy was developed to assist him in increasing sales. In addition to unlocking more opportunities, the design process ensured the closing of a R4-million deal with a reputable retailer, as well as a partnership agreement with a packaging company. Chetty has been actively trading online and in retail stores.
enabling environment to those individuals and SMMEs who have difficulty finding the appropriate channels to put their ideas into practice. We endeavour to fulfil this social obligation by reaching out to the innovation community; reaching out to industry through various platforms and events; engaging with relevant government agencies to integrate design into their execution processes; and to support unique SMME development through a bouquet of services that the whole of the SABS has to offer.
What a re you r goa l s moving for wa rd?
Contact details www.design.sabs.co.za www.makeideashappen.co.za www.facebook.com/SABSDesignInstitute twitter.com/SABS_Design instagram.com/designinstitute
Our vision for the Design Institute is to create a one-stop design hub. We will ensure we are geared to offer a solution-
DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 17
WHO ARE WE? The Climate Innovation Centre South Africa is a strategic Green Economy initiative of The Innovation Hub Management Company (TIHMC) and one of the pillars for the Gauteng Province to achieve its objective of job creation, industrial development, technological innovation and improved environmental performance and shift to “Green Economy”. Housed at The Innovation Hub’s BioPark@ Gauteng, CICSA is one of seven CICs located in various developing countries around the world, with the main goal of accelerating locally owned, locally developed solutions to climate change. In order to achieve this, the CIC focuses on the development of cuttingedge technologies, enterprise development and creation of business models for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The CICSA is also of the World Bank infoDev (www.infodev.org) network of Climate Innovation Centres and The Climate Technology Program.. The CICSA operates as a technology and business incubator dedicated to supporting technologists, scientists, entrepreneurs, and SMEs operating in the green economy space by offering financial assistance, technical and business advisory services, and market access to help South African clean-tech entrepreneurs pro actively and profitably develop advanced climatesmart technologies that meet local needs.
OUR MISSION Our Mission is to provide an integrated set of financing, venture acceleration services, market development and networking activities that build the quality and quantity of South African entrepreneurs and startups delivering innovative climate and clean energy solutions to local and international markets.
IMPACT The CIC is here to deliver a mix of economic, environmental and social results, including job creation, reduction of carbon dioxide emission, greater climate resiliency, and access to clean
“The Climate Innovation Centre is an ideal platform to identify synergies to ensure social, economic and environmental sustainability. Our partnership with infoDev assists in the efforts to develop an inclusive green economy that addresses challenges of food security, climate change and unemployment.”
energy, safe drinking water, better sanitation and strengthened technology transfer and local innovation capacity.
SERVICE OFFERINGS The CICSA offers the following services to companies in the green economy • Access to finance • Technical and Business Advisory • Access to facilities • Enabling ecosystems • Access to information and markets
WHO SHOULD PARTICIPATE AND WHAT CAN YOU DO? The centre is seeking to work with: Entrepreneurs and SMME’s: to support them in developing innovative climate change solutions, including renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies, water management and purification solutions, micro-hydro projects, technologies for adaptation (flood/drought control), sustainable Agri-business and bioenergy solutions. Financial institutions: to partner with banks and micro finance institutions (MFI’s) to improve access to financing for innovators/ start-ups and increase the supply of capital. Government: to work with policy makers to develop an appropriate and enabling legal and regulatory landscape to support the adoption of clean technologies in South Africa.
The private sector: to facilitate collaboration between private sector clients, local and international businesses as suppliers, partners, licensees, investors or acquirers. Academia: to work with universities and research institutions, forging linkages between innovators and academia to generate valuable knowledge and technologies. For more information contact us on: Tel: 012 844 0000 Fax: 012 844 1107 Email: CIC@theinnovationhub.com
MR MCLEAN SIBANDA, CEO OF THE INNOVATION HUB
Fast Company promotion
Contributing to a better society How Siemens is helping shape the development of South Africa
Siemens believes companies can only truly succeed if they help to fulfil the needs of the society in which they operate. Besides helping to drive a country’s economic growth, the technology giant believes businesses should add lasting value to communities. The company recently invested in a study to determine its contribution to South African society, named: “In South Africa, For South Africa—The Business to Society Report”. Companies like Siemens must demonstrate how their business interests are aligned with the country’s national development agenda, and play an active role in economic and societal development. “This requires us to measure corporate success by much more than profit,” says Sabine Dall’Omo, CEO of the Siemens Southern and East Africa operations. “In South Africa, we are putting ourselves under scrutiny and trying to understand our role and responsibilities to society in a more structured and complete manner. “Rather than viewing the country from the perspective of Siemens and its own operations, we looked inward at Siemens from the perspective of South Africa and its particular social, economic and political circumstances. We recognised almost immediately that only by understanding what is important to South Africa can we really evaluate our place in society,” she explains. Dall’Omo argues that governments don’t always innovate, but engineering businesses do. She also feels that South Africa needs creative and collaborative solutions to many pressing challenges,
20 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
including the country’s power and water crisis—which she believes technology companies can help solve. “For our study, we started by looking hard at what matters most to South Africa. The economy matters, and our Business to Society report showed that we directly and indirectly contributed R6.8 billion of value to South Africa. An important aspect to note was that approximately 80% of that value stays in South Africa,” she adds. By controlling the movement of 175 million tonnes of material for the coal, platinum, gold, iron ore and diamond industries, Siemens plays a role in half the value created by mining—generating products worth R140 billion. “Our technology sits behind more than 20% of South Africa’s rail and pipeline infrastructure, and we are involved in the manufacture of about 50 % of the cars made in South Africa.” Dall’Omo continues: “In our report, we didn’t hide from the hard truths of the impact of our business on the environment. Water is scarce in South Africa, and we used 88 700 kilolitres last year. We also used 8 700 megawatt-hours of electricity and produced 9 300 tonnes of carbon dioxide. Also we enable industries that consume water and power, and produce waste. That, too, is part of our responsibility.” She argues that it’s the responsibility of both government and business to aid the racial transformation of industry. Siemens has 30% black ownership in South Africa; 15% of that figure is owned by previously disadvantaged employees through the company’s employee share ownership programme. “We have found that transformation is good for business. Historically disadvantaged people make up 56% of our 1 460 staff, and every job at Siemens is linked to 10 more jobs in South Africa. We are developing a solid base of black engineers, and the bottom line is that making transformation part of our business strategy has been a winning strategy. It’s clear to us that being a good business is good for business,” she says. “We’re in a long-term relationship with the countries where we do business. Business and society need each other more than ever, as we build a country, engineer the future and empower a nation. It’s a humbling and rewarding opportunity.”
“Whatever we do, it must add lasting value and deliver benefits—for shareholders, for employees, for customers, and for our partners in business and society.” —Joe Kaeser, CEO of Siemens AG
WHAT MATTERS TO SOUTH AFRICA? It goes without saying that South Africa is a country recovering from injustice, inequality and uneven development. It has huge opportunities and significant challenges. There is an urgent need to develop new infrastructure, to create industrial opportunities and employment, and to
tackle endemic poverty and inequality. Through its external research and analysis unit, Siemens identified six key pillars that set the focus of its impressive impact assessment and provided the framework used to measure the company’s contribution to South Africa.
THE SIX PILLARS ARE: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
DRIVING THE ECONOMY DEVELOPING LOCAL JOBS AND SKILLS VALUE-ADDING INNOVATIONS SUSTAINING THE ENVIRONMENT SUPPORTING TRANSFORMATION FUTURE CHALLENGES AND COMMITMENTS
Our contribution to the sustainable development of South Africa
Driving the Economy
Developing Local Jobs and Skills
Value-adding Innovations
Sustaining the Environment
Improving Quality of Life
Supporting Transformation
GDP contribution: Contributed R6.8bn in direct and indirect GVA to the economy
Job Creation: 1,460 people directly employed with 15,600 jobs enabled
Electrification: 31,000 MW of SA’s total installed base and 20% of green electricity managed with Siemens technology
CO2e offset: 1,300 kt of CO2e offset with our carbon saving innovations
Health: 34,000 patients benefit daily from healthcare based on Siemens equipment
Compliance: >R18m invested in Integrity Initiative over last 5 years
Mining: Enabled ~50% of SA mining value (R140bn)
Employment Equity: 56% of employees are historically disadvantaged
Automation: ~20% of SA’s total industrial processes enabled with automation control systems (>20,00 processes)
Energy used: 8,700 MWh of electricity consumed and 9,300 tons CO2e generated
Employee Wellbeing: 78% employee engagement score
Ownership: 30% B-BBEE ownership
Transportation: Enabled ~20% of total rail and pipeline infrastructure (>5000km)
Employee Training: 3,900 training days and R40m invested in employee up-skilling
Digitalization: Insights from 640bn pieces of process and operation information generated from smart products
Water used: 88,700 kilolitres of water used
Long Term commitment: 155 years in South Africa
Procurement with QSEs / EMEs: >30% of procurement spent with QSEs / EMEs
Automotive: Enabled ~50% of total car production (240,000 cars)
External Training: 1,751 suppliers and customers trained
Waste generated and recycled: 670 tons of waste generated and 80 tons recycled
CSR: R100m invested in Mandela School of Science and Technology supporting 700 learners
B-BBEE: Level 2
by 2016
(Petro-)Chemicals: Enabled ~90bn SA base chemicals & gases industry value (8m tons)
SIEMENS VALUE MAP As a dynamic developing nation, South Africa faces political, regulatory, labour and economic issues that have hampered foreign investment and economic growth—both inside and outside the country. Siemens recognises this may reduce the growth and scale of the key industries to
which it supplies technology and engineering competence. However, the company remains committed to adding local value through its manufacturing and service facilities in South Africa, particularly in the energy, rail and industrial sectors. It shows that Siemens is much more than a business. “We are also a partner in the development of South Africa as a fair and prosperous nation. We are most certainly in South Africa— for South Africa,” concludes Dall’Omo. Areas of continuous improvement
Focus areas of improvement
Note: All figures are for 2014, unless otherwise stated.
Learn more about the Siemens Business to Society Report at www.siemens.co.za.
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THE WORLD’S 50 MOST INNOVATIVE COMPANIES
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Photograph by Amanda Ringstad
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01 Warby Parker
FOR BUILDING THE FIRST G RE AT MADEO N -T H E INTERNET BRAND
Quite a spectacle Co–CEOs Dave Gilboa (left) and Neil Blumenthal combine analytical rigour with looselimbed fun in running their wildly popular eyewear brand.
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M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
By Max Chafkin
Over the past five years, scads of e-commerce startups have shown early promise and then promptly crashed back to earth. Groupon added new markets around the world without, apparently, bothering to pay attention to whether customers were actually happy with the service. But Warby Parker has avoided this fate—not thanks to its clever vertically integrated, buy-one-give-one business model, but because of its founders’ fanatical focus on brand and execution.
Photographs by Paul Jung
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
On the boulevard Warby Parker’s store on Abbot Kinney Boulevard in Venice, California fits in the cool, eclectic neighbourhood.
“We’re often asked why Warby has been successful,” co-CEO Neil Blumenthal says. “If we sum it up in one word, it’s deliberate.” David Gilboa finishes the thought: “We just want to make sure we’re not making mistakes.” You wouldn’t know it, except by looking at the results. Annual revenues at the five-year-old company are “well over” $100 million (R1.4 billion), according to a person familiar with its finances. Meanwhile, its two CEOs, who founded the company with two other Wharton classmates, have transformed what was a niche web shop into the hottest thing in offline retail, with 15 stores so far and sales-per-square-foot figures that rival those of Tiffany & Co. “When we launched, a lot of people bucketed us as an e-commerce company, but we never thought of ourselves as an e-commerce company,” Gilboa says. “The only products we sell now are glasses, but we think our brand can stand for much more than that over a long time period.” That’s an ambition that many e-commerce companies have talked about. Warby Parker is the only one so far that seems likely to pull it off. In each store, customers gravitate to the full-length mirrors and the glasses, which are stacked invitingly on open wood shelves. They try on frame after frame—a librarian-style number in aquamarine, a pair of titanium aviators, JFK–style shades in clear acetate. Most take a selfie and put the frames back, but a few actually buy something: A salesperson discreetly sidles up, withdraws an iPad Mini from her jacket pocket, processes a credit card, and places a new pair of sunglasses into a branded tote bag. It all looks so effortless—and, one may be tempted to say, so perfect. But not if one were Gilboa or Blumenthal. The two men, both 34, share the same unorthodox title and the same eternally self-critical brain. There’s an element to this in any good party: What looks effortless is actually laboured; what looks tossed off is deeply considered. Italians call this concept sprezzatura, and it’s the key to understanding what has made Blumenthal and Gilboa so successful. “Neil and Dave are more disciplined about brand than any other entrepreneurs I’ve ever invested in,” says Ben Lerer, a managing director of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, the New York venture-capital firm. Lerer, who also serves as CEO of Thrillist Media, the guy-focused online magazine and retailer, compares the two men to hospitality savants like The Standard hotels founder, André Balazs. “They sweat every detail and every touchpoint.”
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Although this trait is found in most great brand builders, today’s tech cognoscenti tend to venerate swashbuckling rule flouters like Uber’s Travis Kalanick and prolific experimenters like Square’s Jack Dorsey—and with good reason. Innovation is often the product of mistakes made, of caution thrown to the wind. And yet, the ability to be disruptive and quietly meticulous may just be the difference between a bubble-fuelled fad and a business built to last. By designing and manufacturing their own frames and selling directly to consumers over the Internet, Warby Parker is able to charge as little as $95 (R1 300) per frame—a fraction of what a similarly nice pair of glasses would cost at a typical optical shop. That price also includes prescription lenses, shipping and a donation to the non-profit
VisionSpring, where Blumenthal previously served as director. On the surface, the business plan can be replicated, which is why entrepreneurs have applied the Warby model to everything from mattresses to men’s shoes. Then there are the out-and-out copycats such as EyeFly, Made Eyewear and Jimmy Fairly. Yet, none has caught on the way that Warby has. “The knockoffs— all they do is try to sell eyeglasses,” says Joel Cutler, a co-founder of the venture firm, General Catalyst Partners, and an investor in Warby. “Neil and Dave are inventing this idea of what a technologybased lifestyle brand is.” In July 2014, just four years after their launch, Blumenthal and Gilboa announced they had distributed their millionth pair of glasses, up from 500 000 just a year before. The fashion press has
been impressed and so have investors, who have put in more than $1.2 billion (R17 billion) as of May this year, which Blumenthal and Gilboa are investing in an expanded product line that includes progressive lenses and, of course, a fast-growing retail presence—with four more stores planned to be launched before year-end. I spent more than three months embedded within Warby Parker to try to understand the making of this made-on-the-Internet brand. Among other things, I watched employees decide on frames for their summer season, wrestle with the nuances of their burgeoning retail strategy, and obsessively plan an employee pingpong tournament. Social media videos are used during company orientations partly to indoctrinate newcomers—a data analyst, a technology recruiter, a graphic designer, a creative consultant and me—into how Warby Parker approaches marketing and customer service, and partly to convey that all employees, even data analysts, are expected to be stewards of the brand’s identity. All new hires are issued a copy of Jack Kerouac’s The Dharma Bums (a nod to the fact that Warby Parker’s name is an amalgamation of two early Kerouac characters) and, more important, a neatly bound “Style Guide” that includes suggestions about usage and grammar but also encourages everyone, when they communicate with customers, to “write like Warby Parker is the person you’d want to be next to you at a dinner party.” Our orientation group is ushered into another conference room, where some of these ideas are expanded upon. “A lot of subtleties go into a brand,” says Sasha Tulchin, the company’s director of creative services, who came to Warby by way of Tory Burch and Cole Haan. Tulchin invokes the dinner-guest metaphor as well, imagining the Warby Parker brand as “quick-witted, but wears her intelligence lightly. Looks sharp without planning to. Takes a dare. Always offers to help with the dishes.” Tulchin goes on to cover Warby Parker’s preferences in graphic design, colour palette, and serif and sans serif fonts (Utopia and Proxima Nova). “The Warby Parker voice is witty, intelligent, informative, playful, delightful. We are not trite, pretentious, sarcastic, long-winded,” she says. “Every time we create a piece of copy, every time we create something
new for marketing—every time it’s either in our office or externally projected—we do it with these filters.” This carefully cultivated persona is at least in part Blumenthal himself, who still reads (and rereads) every written word that his company puts out into the world. “This is five years in, a 500-person company, and the CEO is approving every marketing message the company puts out,” Lerer says with awe. “Every CEO does that in the early days. You do it with 10 people, and if you’re good you do it with 25 people. You don’t do that when you have 500 people. Neil still does it.” Blumenthal has long been the company’s public face, but it was Gilboa who first landed upon the idea that became Warby Parker. Born in Sweden to a pair of doctors, Gilboa is even-tempered, quiet and analytical, speaking with an uninflected precision that can seem at once removed and intense. As a teenager growing up in San Diego, Gilboa tells me, he’d often accompany his father to the hospital, hoping to learn as much as he could about various medical specialties. “I was 100% convinced I was going to be a doctor, and I was just trying to decide which kind of doctor,” he recalls. While he was a premed student at the University of California, Berkeley, Gilboa learnt about health maintenance organisations, which convinced him that he might want to look for other options. He wound up in business, first at Bain Capital and then the boutique investment bank, Allen & Co., before returning to school to enrol simultaneously at Wharton and in a biomedical engineering master’s degree programme at the University of Pennsylvania’s engineering school. (“He’s the smart one,” Blumenthal says, chuckling, as Gilboa tells his story.) A few weeks before starting school, Gilboa left a pair of $700 (almost R10 000) Prada frames in an airplane seat-back pocket. “I’d just bought the iPhone for $200 and it did all these magical things that people wouldn’t have believed even a few years earlier,” he recalls. “Meanwhile, a pair of glasses: The technology has been around for 800 years. It didn’t make sense that I was going to have to pay that much for a new pair of glasses.” He complained about this to Andy Hunt, his study-group partner, who was, like Gilboa, a former finance guy and a glasses wearer. “We started talking about why glasses were so expensive,” Gilboa continues. “Then we learnt a little bit about Luxottica.” Founded in 1961, the Milan-based company takes in about $9 billion (R128.1 billion) a year, running the eyewear business for most major fashion houses including Armani, Chanel, Prada and Ralph Lauren. Luxottica markets its own frames, too: Oakley, Oliver Peoples, Persol and Ray-Ban are all Luxottica brands. Consumers find these frames for sale at LensCrafters, Pearle Vision and Sunglass Hut, all of which are (you guessed it) Luxottica subsidiaries. Luxottica also happens to own one of the top vision-medical aid companies, EyeMed—which, if you have coverage from Aetna or Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, is your carrier. Luxottica is, in fact, so powerful in the R925-billion-per-year eyewear industry, that Gilboa and Hunt likely would have moved on to other ideas had they not heard about a kid in their MBA classes who knew more than pretty much anyone else in the world about how to work outside of the traditional eyeglass-supply chains. “There’s always a moment of serendipity in any startup,” Hunt says. “For us, it was meeting Neil. The company couldn’t have existed without him.”
THE WARBY PARKER BRAND IS “QUICK-WITTED, BUT WEARS HER INTELLIGENCE LIGHTLY. LOOKS SHARP WITHOUT PLANNING TO. TAKES A DARE. ALWAYS OFFERS TO HELP WITH THE DISHES.”
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(The fourth co-founder, Jeffrey Raider, happened to be sitting in the computer lab next to Blumenthal when Gilboa and Hunt broached the idea. He worked at an investment bank after Wharton and eventually cofounded Harry’s—the Warby Parker of men’s grooming.) In person, Blumenthal cuts an unusual figure. He has a tendency to speak in the looping manner of Woody Allen dialogue, and he’s physically goofy with a geeky affect that is heightened by the (non-prescription) glasses he wears every day. Yet, he is remarkably lightfooted in social settings. The son of a tax consultant and a nurse, he grew up in Greenwich Village—a savvy New York City kid with an entrepreneurial streak. As an 8-year-old, Neil persuaded his parents to order him an As-Seen-on-TV food dehydrator and attempted to start a dried-fruits stand on Mercer Street. By high school, he was taking advantage of the city’s lax attitude toward underage drinking, and moonlighting as a club promoter. “You partied for free, you got paid—and you got to deliver this amazing service to your friends,” he says, flashing a sheepish smile. “So maybe that was my first triple-bottom-line business.” (Since 2011, Warby has been a certified B Corporation, considering its environmental and social impact in addition to its profitability.) In college at Tufts, Blumenthal double-majored in international relations and history, and dreamt of becoming Secretary of State. He wound up with a fellowship in El Salvador, where he helped shape VisionSpring’s now-famous market-based approach to philanthropy: Rather than simply give away free eyeglasses, the organisation supplies frames to entrepreneurs to sell to their neighbours. (The strategy has won numerous accolades including three Fast Company Social Capitalist awards, and has been adopted by organisations such as Toms Shoes and Matt Damon’s Water.org.) “That’s when the entrepreneurial thinking kicked in for me,” Blumenthal recalls. “I was trying to understand how we could get entrepreneurs to spend more time selling glasses, doing margin analysis, going over to China to try to source glasses at lower cost.” In other words, Blumenthal’s experience was a perfect match for Gilboa’s idea. When Warby Parker launched, it included a buy one, give one feature through a partnership with VisionSpring. Although Blumenthal technically oversees Warby Parker’s stores and marketing while Gilboa tackles customer service and technology, the duo are jointly responsible for all major decisions. The arrangement allows them to be more hands-on than may be possible in a typical high-growth startup, but it also means both men must be constantly in sync—a feat that is particularly impressive given that they are, in some sense, polar opposites. “Dave and Neil are left brain, right brain,” says Hunt, who is now a venture capitalist with Highland Capital Partners. Gilboa and Blumenthal say that their decision to run the company together as co–CEOs grew out of a desire to put their friendship before the business. “The thing
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about a co–CEO structure,” Blumenthal says, “is that with big strategic decisions, you have two brains working on it.” Gilboa continues the thought: “Being a CEO can be a pretty lonely job, so it’s great to have someone to trust and bounce ideas off,” he says. “Plus, it makes it a lot more fun.” Blumenthal and Gilboa conjure a perfect portrait of millennial insouciance—among the interview questions they always ask prospective job candidates is, “When was the last time you wore a costume?”—but they’re surprisingly hardheaded as managers. Every week, every Warby Parker employee must complete a “15Five” report explaining what they accomplished in the past week and what they plan to achieve in the following one. They must also rate their happiness and proffer an “innovation idea”, no matter how small. Twice a year, in addition to the typical semi-annual performance review, all Warby Parker employees must rate the performance of his or her manager and of several co-workers on a 1-to-10 scale. This rigour is evident in the company’s customer service department—its largest division and, arguably, its most important. High-touch customer service operations, like the much-praised one run by online shoe seller, Zappos, typically cultivate a freewheeling atmosphere that encourages employees to express themselves individually with the hope that they’ll have long, happy careers answering phones. At Warby, the model isn’t Zappos, but rather the intense, success-driven culture of Bain Capital’s associate programme. Call-centre employees are recruited straight out of college, with the expectation that they’ll answer phones for a couple of years and quickly rise within the organisation. On a winter afternoon, on the fifth floor of Manhattan’s Puck Building, a grand Romanesquerevival landmark that was once home to Spy magazine (as well as the venue for Blumenthal’s bar mitzvah), I observe Eamon Wall: a recent Middlebury College graduate and one of 100 or so customer service reps. Wall is answering a customer’s email about pupillary distance—a measurement of the length between one’s pupils that is necessary to properly cut a pair of prescription lenses—by scrolling through a list of pre-written responses. “The copy team puts this stuff together,” Wall says, reading over the text quickly and making a couple of modest adjustments before hitting send. “Hang on, I got a call. Hi, Warby Parker!” On the other end of the line, a woman named Michelle explains that after purchasing frames online, she’d received an email from the company offering her thinner, high-index lenses for an additional $30. (Although it could probably be handled on Warby Parker’s website, Gilboa and Blumenthal prefer that these add-ons happen over the phone to avoid undercutting their image of dead-simple pricing.) Wall explains the situation coolly; Warby Parker’s default tone is savvy rather than bubbly. “Yeah,” he says, “in my experience when the prescription is over minus-four, the standard polycarbonate starts to look thicker.” Michelle agrees, hands over her credit-card info, and signs off gratefully. It’s easy to watch this routine transaction and forget that eyeglasses are a medical product, requiring a level of sophistication to sell effectively. Many retailers are, after all, optometrists—doctors, basically, who have spent years getting comfortable with concepts like high-index lenses and pupillary distance measurements.
“THE THING ABOUT A CO–CEO STRUCTURE,” BLUMENTHAL SAYS, “IS THAT WITH BIG STRATEGIC DECISIONS, YOU HAVE TWO BRAINS WORKING ON IT.”
M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
Moreover, eyeglasses are high-gross-margin products— most big glasses companies generate more than 60%— meaning that Blumenthal and Gilboa can afford to hire people like Wall. When I suggest to Joel Cutler, who sits on the Warby board, that the Puck Building call centre, with its Manhattan views and highly educated staff, may well be the most expensive one in the world, he agrees. But, he adds, “if you look at it another way, it’s probably cheap. If you’re building this lifestyle brand, you need wonderful people to develop a relationship with your customers.” Blumenthal tells about the 70th birthday party he attended in the Hamptons for J.Crew CEO Millard Drexler, who is part of the Warby Parker board of directors. This budding friendship with arguably the greatest living merchandiser—in the past three decades, Drexler orchestrated the rise of Gap and the resurgence of J.Crew, and he played a role in the launch of the wildly successful Apple Store, which now takes in roughly twice as much revenue per square foot as any major chain in America— is telling for a company where, according to Blumenthal, web and mobile purchases account for the “vast, vast majority” of total sales. Drexler tells me he decided to invest in Warby Parker the moment he laid eyes on a makeshift shop Blumenthal and Gilboa had been operating out of their offices in 2012. Despite the fact that the store was on the fifth floor of a commercial office building, the place was packed. “I couldn’t believe how many customers were coming in there,” Drexler recalls. “I’d seen showroom sales, but this was not a showroom sale. It was a store. It was very, very crowded.” Drexler says he didn’t bother trying to calculate the effect of this density, but Blumenthal and Gilboa did: $3 785 (almost R54 000) in sales per square foot—a figure that would put Warby Parker behind only Apple in terms of retail efficiency. Though those numbers have dipped somewhat as Warby Parker has grown, the company is still averaging about $3 000 (R42 000) per square foot of retail space—a figure that’s in the same breath as Tiffany’s estimated $3 043 (R43 300). For Blumenthal, stores are not profit centres as much as marketing collateral, giant advertisements for Warby Parker’s website. “They’re synergistic,” he says, noting that almost 90% of Warby retail buyers have already browsed online. This puts Blumenthal and Gilboa in a position that is both enviable and fraught. The only rational response is to build more stores—but how many? “We believe in sustainable growth,” Blumenthal says. Meanwhile, they’re still trying to figure out what implications their expanding portfolio of stores will have on other parts of the business. During a meeting to narrow down possible frames and colours for several new collections, I watched Blumenthal seemingly struggle to balance the demands of marketing glasses in stores and on the web, at times telling employees to “see these on a shelf”, and at other times reminding them that Warby is dependent on online sales. “We’re still early days in terms of trying to understand how retail and e-commerce interact,” he admits. “I think we’re head and shoulders
FRIENDS OF WARBY A few of the brand’s famous fans wearing their wares. Instagram, or it didn’t happen!
Oprah Winfrey GL A SSES
Holt in Blue Slate Fade
Jon Hamm GL A SSES
Beckett in Jet Black Matte
T.I. GL A SSES
Burke in Tennessee Whiskey
Karlie Kloss GL A SSES
Clara in Heirloom Gold
Ryan Gosling GL A SSES
Preston in Sandalwood Matte
Emmy Rossum GL A SSES
Duckworth in Marine Slate
above everyone else, but these journeys between stores and the web aren’t exactly clear yet.” These questions seem increasingly pressing now that Luxottica—which had plodded along happily for the past decade with enormous profits and unquestioned market dominance—is acting with a sense of urgency. In January 2014, the Italian company acquired Glasses.com, which apes many of Warby Parker’s features and offers a few additional ones including a slick 3D virtual try-on app. In the weeks that followed, Luxottica unveiled a Warbylike rebranding of the retail chain, Pearle Vision. Gilboa and Blumenthal say they are mindful of the Italian conglomerate, but aren’t worried. “Luxottica has such an entrenched cost structure to support their current business that if they responded to us directly, they’d be cannibalising their own sales much more than ours,” Blumenthal asserts. Luxottica could also try to buy Warby Parker, as it has done with a slew of hot, smaller eyewear brands in the past. (As at end October 2015, the Italian company had net sales of more than $2.3 billion/ R33 billion.) Blumenthal and Gilboa smile when I bring this up. “We have our own brand and our own distribution,” Gilboa says. “We control our own destiny.” When I ask about the future, they say there will be many more stores, for sure, and a product mix that slowly encompasses pretty much anything you could buy at your local optical shop—thinner lenses for those with extreme prescriptions, frames that mix acetate and metal, and even clip-on sunglasses, which are apparently set to have a moment for the first time in 30 years. (Blumenthal and Gilboa don’t plan on releasing contact lenses any time soon, because lens prescriptions tend to be brand-specific, and because that market is already dominated by 1-800 Contacts in the US.) In the coming years, the plan is to diversify their glasses selection further, for example expanding into children’s frames. They’re also investing in futuristic technologies to conduct eye exams online which, if regulators comply, may make optical shops, in Blumenthal’s words, “irrelevant”. When the two men are really dreaming, they see Warby Parker as a sort of next-generation Ralph Lauren, expanding into new categories in the same way that Lauren far transcended its origins in neckties. On the other hand, they know they must resist the temptation to move too fast. “We want to create a brand that creates a lot of possibilities, but we don’t want to be acting on those possibilities,” Gilboa says. “Apple could be selling TVs or hundreds of different products, but they decided to focus on a few products and make sure they got those right. For us, we want to make sure we’re not jumping at whatever shiny objects appear.” There’s a paradox here, of course—and a lesson for any brand builder. To thrive, and to avoid the fate of companies like Groupon, Blumenthal and Gilboa must have the imagination to see Warby Parker as more than a glasses seller, and also the discipline to focus on the opportunity in front of them.
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02 Apple
For creating magic with minutiae When people think about innovation at Apple, they think of genre-defining products such as Apple Watch. But the under-
03 Alibaba appreciated truth is that many of the company’s most meaningful accomplishments don’t make for memorable stagecraft. They’re subtle refinements that often make existing hardware more useful. If you’ve upgraded to iOS 9, for example, you might have noticed the apps now use Metal—delivering faster scrolling, smoother animation, as well as webpages and pdfs that
GIANTS
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render more quickly. Based on the apps you use most often, Proactive Assistant is able to give suggestions for what you may want to do, even before you ask Siri. With ambient light and proximity sensors, your iPhone knows if it’s facedown on the table, and prevents the screen from turning on. Sometimes innovation happens while you’re waiting for the next big thing.
For helping people save, spend and be entertained The West has a simplistic understanding of Alibaba: mega–IPO for the Chinese eBay-Amazon-PayPal hydra. But in China, the company run by CEO Jack Ma is far more interesting. Last year, it began targeting and remaking some of the country’s most moneyed industries, from banking to entertainment. Its Internet finance services look to have the earliest impact: Customers of its Yu’e Bao can also invest in a money market fund that
usually nets higher returns than state-run banks’ interest rates. Starved for investment options, the masses have responded in droves, putting in $86 billion (R1.2 trillion) in the first year. Ma also made growing one’s nest egg even sexier with his next offering, Yu Le Bao, a crowdsourced filminvestment fund that lets ordinary folks become movie producers—with much less risk than that would normally entail.
M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
04 Google
For making the hit laptop nobody saw coming When Chromebooks debuted in June 2011, they were underpowered, chintzy laptops that were utterly useless without an Internet connection. So how did 5.2 million units sell in 2014, a number that analysts at Gartner believe will triple by 2017? The OS got a lot better—fast. Apps such as Gmail, Drive and Calendar now work offline, making it a fully functioning—albeit basic—laptop. Then manufacturers started
Illustration by Tavis Cobur
selling them for $300 (around R4 000). “Usage is growing fast and defying the more general decline in PC sales,” says Caesar Sengupta, a VP of product management of Chrome OS. US K–12 schools snapped up more than 1 million Chromebooks in the third quarter of 2014. Google is hooking kids into its ecosystem early: a strategy that Apple once used to much success.
MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
05 Instagram
FOR ITS BEAUTIFUL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FASHION INDUSTRY
During New York’s Fall Fashion Week in 2013, Instagram erected massive digital screens around town that showed posts tagged with #nyfw. Then came 2014: “Did we need screens again?” recalls Sara Wilson, who manages Instagram’s fashion and lifestyle brand partnerships. “Absolutely not.” The photo-sharing app had a bigger way to mark its place in the R1.4 trillion–plus global fashion industry: The September cover of Vogue, one of the business’s most valuable pieces of real estate, featured social-mediasavvy models Cara Delevingne, Joan Smalls and Karlie Kloss—dubbing them the “Instagirls”. Back in 2011, when Oscar de la Renta and his peers were Instagramming backstage at Fashion Week, the platform’s involvement was pure luck. But now it actively positions itself as the fashion world’s infinitely scrolling newsreel, one sign of how it stokes its hypergrowth and is creating a premium product inside Facebook. In 2013, when industry doyenne and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour Instagrammed herself reading her own September issue, Wilson “encouraged” Vogue to challenge its fans to make the same pose. Thousands did. Many involved babies and dogs. “I call it the moment Anna blessed Instagram,” Wilson says. Within months, Instagram had hired its first dedicated fashion and art community leader: advertising agency vet Kristen Joy Watts, who had previously co-launched Lens, the photo blog of The New York Times. Their team spotlights the most creative fashion houses, off-duty models, professional photographers, bloggers and tastemakers to inspire others to see Instagram as having the power to transform their popularity. Last year, for example, Marc Jacobs put out a call for models for an upcoming ad campaign using the hashtag #CastMeMarc, and 70 000 non-professional models posted photos, hoping to secure a spot. When Wilson approached the Council of Fashion Designers of America to pitch a Fashion Instagrammer of the Year award, it was an easy sell. The organisation chose eight nominees for a
32 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
public vote. Inaugural winner Patrick Janelle (@AGuyNamedPatrick) got to Instagram the annual CFDA Awards. “It always evolves from a conversation,” says Watts. “It truly doesn’t work unless the person we are working with gets inspired and runs with it.” Instagram’s growing fashion clout has also influenced the features it develops. “Explore” once pulled up random posts popular across the entire network, but it wasn’t a hit. Last year, it relaunched as a tailored survey of user interests: handbags if you follow Rebecca Minkoff, couture gowns if you follow Dior. In August 2014, Instagram introduced Hyperlapse, an app that generates time-lapse videos. Runner-up for Apple’s 2014 App of the Year award, it’s another gift to the fashion world—ideal for a makeup artist applying
eyeshadow, say, or the final adjustments to a photo-shoot tableau. Now fashion companies are seeing Instagram as not just a place to promote their wares, but to advertise them as well. Instagram’s first ad launched in November 2013; it was with Michael Kors, and subsequent campaigns have been with the likes of Levi’s, Macy’s and Burberry. Users are liking and sharing the ads just as they do with other content, and that’s proved Instagram’s worth in a big way: It made a deal in 2014 in which global ad giant, Omnicom, promised to buy a reported $40 million (R564.8 million) in advertising, and the photosharing app is a major component in Facebook’s multiyear ad deal with Publicis Groupe. And with that, Instagram’s fashion partnerships come into full focus: The industry brought intrigue to the platform, and now it’s going to bring the revenue, too. —Emma Whitford
Added colour Instagram’s Hyperlapse app could be used for making time-lapse videos of the final adjustments to a photo-shoot tableau, for example.
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06 HBO
FOR RULING CABLE AND STREAMING TV
30-SECOND BIO Be st k n ow n fo r. . . His role as Tyrion Lannister on HBO’s Game of Thrones
H o m e tow n Morristown, Mendham Township, New Jersey
E a rly l i fe
PETER DINKLAGE
Dinklage says his childhood was “uneventful”; his father was an insurance salesman and his mother taught music. He was born with achondroplasia, a common form of dwarfism. He attended the Delbarton
School, an all-boys Catholic institution where he “didn’t really fit in”—though he picked up a passion for acting from an eccentric priest with an extensive VHS collection. He also attended the liberal-arts Bennington College in Vermont.
Fa m i ly His wife, Erica Schmidt, is a theatre director and accompanies him to many events. The couple live in Manhattan with their
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4-year-old daughter.
Ca ree r t ra c k Dinklage worked nearly seven years at a company called Professional Examination Service. “I still don’t know what the company did,” he admits. “I just, like, plugged information into a computer”. He continued to pursue a career in writing and acting. Standing at 1.35 metres, he refused to audition for or accept gigs that would cast him
as a leprechaun or elf. His breakout came in 2003, when a screenwriter-friend wrote a leading role with Peter in mind—Station Agent. He kept busy for the next 10 years with small film roles and TV cameos. When Game of Thrones co-creator David Benioff approached him with a role in HBO’s new series, Dinklage was cautious. “Because of the fantasy genre, I told him I didn’t really want a long beard and pointy shoes, but they
assured me this character and this world wasn’t that,” he says. “They told me about his complexity—the fact that he wasn’t a hero or a villain, that he was a womaniser and a drinker— and they painted a flawed and beautiful portrait of him. So I signed on.”
Awa rd s Dinklage has won, among others, two Emmys, an Empire Hero Award and Golden Globe for best supporting actor.
M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
The premium US cable network’s subscriber base grew more in 2014 than in any year in the last 30, thanks to its continued international expansion, a string of hit shows (Game of Thrones, Silicon Valley, True Detective), and CEO Richard Plepler’s deft manoeuvring that makes HBO the envy of the rapidly shifting media landscape.
It unleashed its streaming service, HBO Go, in 2010. Viewers were able to purchase access to HBO programming and archives. Then came HBO Now in April this year: a video-on-demand service that does not require an existing TV subscription to use. Plepler has been opening up the network for a while now. Witness
AT&T’s offer from September 2014: broadband, a year of Amazon Prime, and HBO Go for $39 (R550) a month. In April that same year, HBO signed a surprising deal to license some of its shows to Amazon. “I had a hunch that there were a lot of voters out there who were undecided because they didn’t fully understand the range or
the value of the brand,” Plepler says. “We want to work with our partners, but we also want to work with new partners.” Plepler, a 22-year HBO veteran, drives innovation through groups he calls Team Bs; it’s an idea he says he stole from an old CIA playbook. “Team Bs were essentially groups of smart people inside the CIA whose purpose was to
challenge conventional wisdom and look at all options with an open mind,” he says. Attracting artists is more straight forward: “When talent is treated with the love and respect that I think our culture treats them with, that becomes very catalytic. They tell colleagues, ‘I just had an experience there that was remarkable.’ ”
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SHARED GOAL: HAPPIER FLIERS
VIRGIN A MERIC A
2. Feedback encouraged
1. New destinations
3. Like Facebook for fliers
The airline assembled a team of 30 frequent fliers to help it develop new ideas.
30 000 passengers signed a petition to give the airline two gates in Dallas. It worked.
A social network connects passengers—on the same plane, other planes, and at destination.
07 Virgin America
FOR PERFECTING CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR AN INNOVATIVE CLIENTELE
2 3
Virgin America is the only airline based in Silicon Valley, and it has learnt to think like its disruptive clientele: It experiments with in-flight experience, ticketing and destinations, and was rewarded with revenue of $410 million (R5.7 billion) in the third quarter of 2015 and an IPO that raised $306 million (R4.3 million) last year. Virgin returned the love—and cash—to its believers; it offered stock options to frequent fliers before the company went public.
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08 IndiGo
FOR MAKING IT FEEL GOOD TO FLY CHEAP
SHARED GOAL: HAPPIER DRIVERS
INDIGO
1. Quick turnarounds Flight crews rapidly clean after landing; domestic flights can r eboard in 20 minutes.
Step-less ramps cut down boarding times.
Tech such as sign-reading cameras make it the most advanced semiautonomous car on the road.
Tesla is building the R70-billion Gigafactory 1, which could make lithium-ion battery packs for 500 000 cars annually. . .
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1
FOR LEADING THE WAY IN FUEL-CELL TECHNOLOGY
36 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
. . . reducing battery prices 30% and moving Tesla toward its goal: a $35 000 (less than R500 000) electric car by 2017.
2
10 Toyota
In October this year, Toyota became the only manufacturer to roll out a hydrogen-fuelled car globally. It’s the $57 000 (R800 000-plus) Mirai, which was released in California, Japan and Europe. It intends to do for hydrogen what its Prius did for hybrids: use a sporty design to make the new tech ubiquitous. (And like Tesla, Toyota has opened its fuel-cell patents to all.)
3. Affordable future
2. Factory boom
FOR PUSHING THE LIMITS OF AFFORDABLE BATTERY POWER Tesla’s Model S, its first mass-market luxury sedan, can travel up to 265 miles per charge. And the company encouraged the competition to join the electric revolution—by making its patents available to all. The luxury Tesla SUV, Model X, was launched this September, with the crossover slated for early 2016.
Proprietary system updates ground on flight status to ensure flights run on time.
TESL A
1. Model S upgrade
09 Tesla Motors
3. Efficiency controls
2. Better entry
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TOYOTA
1. Shorter waits A boost converter ups the car’s energy, enabling a smaller (and cheaper) motor and fuel system.
2. Better entry Toyota helped develop hydrogen-refuelling stations in California, New York and New England.
3. Efficiency controls Hydrogen is so efficient that, in an emergency, the Mirai can also power a home for up to a week.
CHRIS PHILPOT (VIRGIN AMERICA/INDIGO)
India is forecast to become the world’s largest aviation market by 2030, and IndiGo is best suited for the boom: It’s a rare Indian airline to turn a profit, with 550 daily flights, and last year it reached a market share of 33%. But prices are kept low—not by cheaping out like SA’s Mango or the British easyJet, but with innovations meant to cut costs while also pleasing customers.
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11 DJI
FOR CREATING THE GOPRO OF THE SKY Illustration by Matteo Berton
Drones have gone from creepy military gear to consumer- friendly video tool,and it’s almost entirely due to DJI—one of the world’s fastest growing drone manufacturers. The China-based company makes the ubiquitous Phantom line, a relatively inexpensive (around R14 000 in SA for the
Phantom 2) remotecontrol camera quadcopter. In the past few years, sales grew by a factor of 125. The small and light drones—which dominate YouTube and made cameos on TV shows—can fly up to 56km/h and soar more than 250m in the air. They have GPS and
stabilising sensors, can hold their position in the air, and return to where they launched if they lose contact with the remote. All that, says director of aerial imaging Eric Cheng, has made drones appealing for “everything from archaeology to roof inspections, sports training to firefighting.”
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
Moneymaker People can request loans from Siroya’s InVenture for working capital, emergency purposes and some consumer purchases.
12 InVenture
FOR INTRODUCING TRUST TO AN UNSTEADY ECONOMY
Microfinance banks generally give small loans to people with no credit scores, but that means “there’s no real data to answer the question, ‘What’s my basis for investing in this person?’ ” says Shivani Siroya. She’s the CEO of InVenture, a certified B Corporation (one that uses the power of business to solve social and environmental problems) with an inventive solution: software that prospective borrowers willingly download onto their Android phones, which monitors and crunches 10 000 indicators of
each person’s level of responsibility. For example, are the majority of someone’s calls longer than four minutes? Good: They may have stronger relationships and be a better credit risk. And this is helping Siroya make the right bets. In 2014, the software’s first year, InVenture accepted 50% of applicants, for a total of more than 6 000 loans. Most were between $20 and $100, with no fees and just 5% interest. The repayment rate was 85%, and more than 75% of applicants returned for a repeat loan. InVenture currently operates in Eastern Africa,
India and South Africa, where 2.5 billion people have no credit score— and where, because many banks won’t help these data-free borrowers, loan sharks have free rein. Siroya observed this during her years working on emerging markets and microfinance at investment banks, the UN and UNICEF. “I just wanted to solve this problem,” she says. And now InVenture goes even further, offering mobile and web tools for individuals to help manage their finances, their businesses and, eventually, their newfound savings.
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S Grown-Ups 3 The LINE messaging app distinguishes itself with its cartoon characters. Users express themselves —in texts, if not in bars— with digital stickers of them.
13 LINE
FOR MARRYING MESSAGING WITH PERSONALITY—AND A BUSINESS MODEL 40 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
By Harry McCracken Photograph by Jeff Brown
When the young people of Tokyo want to go shopping, they head for Harajuku. A fabled wellspring of youth culture, the neighbourhood offers international retail chains on its main streets and tiny purveyors of bleeding-edge fashion in its back alleys. On a Saturday morning in midDecember, a throng of extremely excited twenty-something men and women crowd into the grand opening of a 155-square-metre shop located just across the street from H&M and Forever 21. A pair of staffers stationed in front of
the store welcome guests while dressed as a deadpan bear and an exuberant rabbit. This new store, called LINE Friends, is different, to put it mildly. For one thing, it’s not owned by a retailer but by a social media company called LINE which—in just four years— has become Japan’s hottest phenomenon by offering an app that provides free messaging as well as video- and phone calls. Those characters are two of the cartoon personalities who live in the app as giant emoji called stickers, which LINE offers for
use when texting. The shoppers crowded inside are snapping up a beguiling, bewildering range of items featuring the characters from the stickers; for ¥200 (about R440) you can snap up a pad of sticky notes in the shape of that bear (known simply as “Brown”), but if you spend ¥390 000 (R850 000), you can take home a Swarovski crystal-encrusted version of the rabbit (who’s called “Cony”). Everyone in Japan is familiar with LINE, not just the busy shoppers buying into the mania this winter morning. Less than
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L I N E I S H E A D Q UA RT E R E D in Shibuya Hikarie, a gleaming high-rise in the heart of Shibuya, Japan. I’m here to meet Takeshi Idezawa, who was promoted from COO to CEO of LINE Corp. in December 2014. The offices are reminiscent of the Harajuku store, with larger-than-life-size figures of Brown, Cony and their animated compatriots in the hall. Idezawa tells me LINE’s humble origin story, how it was born from a three-person team in the Tokyo office of the Korean Internet powerhouse Naver. The goal: Devise a new business opportunity. The brief: “It had to be for smartphones,” he says. “Number two, it had to be useful for communication.” As the team was considering its options, disaster struck: the worst earthquake ever recorded in Japan, the magnitude-9 Tōhoku quake, which hit off the country’s coast on March 11, 2011. People turned to social networks such as Twitter to stay in touch, but those services also became breeding grounds for rumours about the quake and its aftereffects. Seeing both the promise and pitfalls of social networking led the team to decide that its new app should emphasise private, one-to-one conversation. LINE went live on June 23, 2011. The market for apps that let users send text messages to friends and family without paying a wireless carrier’s per-message fees was exploding, especially in Asia. But LINE’s original incarnation didn’t stand out from the pack. “The turning point,” Idezawa says, “was when we released stickers.” Think of stickers as the third generation of illustrations designed for texting. First came text-based emoticons like :-). Then came emoji pictograms like a wrapped gift or a smiling pile of poop.
42 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
STICKER SHOCK LINE’s ultraexpressive, supersized emoji are extremely popular, and good business. 2 billion Approximate number of stickers that LINE users send each other daily.
100 000 Number of sticker sets available for LINE users to choose from.
11 000+ Number of stickers submitted during a contest in the US to create stickers for LINE.
1 LINE’s rank for top-grossing apps in the Apple and Google app stores worldwide, October 2014, according to analytics firm AppAnnie.
R420 million Gross revenue from LINE’s Creators Market in its first seven months.
$2.49 (R35) Cost for a sheet of physical stickers featuring LINE’s Brown the Bear.
Stickers are big enough to show an entire character doing almost anything. The Japanese call cuteness kawaii, and find it surprisingly meaningful. Kawaii imagery is “used to soften things, making them more palatable and even more friendly,” says Ashcraft, the expat cultural attaché. “That’s why it’s not uncommon to see cute characters in everything from public safety posters to home-loan brochures.” LINE’s stickers exude kawaii and effectively express emotions that would be difficult to sum up in a text. Its first sticker star was Moon—a smiley face that’s sprouted a torso, arms and legs. Despite their cherubic appearance, these characters are explicitly adults. Cony and Brown the Bear are a couple: One sticker set shows them on a dinner date, watching a 3D movie—and lying in bed together. Because of the LINE stars’ vivid personalities, people bond with them in a way that they don’t with emoticons or emoji—or with stickers from other apps that cribbed the feature after it took off on LINE. “Stickers like Cony and Brown are fun to use because they have a wide range of emotions, without many limitations,” says Melissa Palacios, an artist whose own sticker featuring a tabby named Tora was voted Best Sticker in the Universe by LINE users last year. Users send close to 2 billion stickers a day, and LINE constantly adds new ones, often in digital sets that are offered for free or for purchase with digital ‘coins’ that users can buy or accumulate by winning online games. There’s also a bevy of licensed properties available as sticker sets, ranging from Snoopy to Elmo, Doctor Who and local favourites Hello Kitty and Doraemon. LINE’s Creators Market lets anyone submit and sell stickers, and the company splits revenue with artists 50-50. Says Naotomo Watanabe, manager of LINE’s sticker business planning team, “We really needed local people to express their own feelings in their own way, not just the Japanese way.” This nod toward globalisation has inspired creators from 145 countries to make 30 000 sticker packs in seven months. Users bought a total of 1.4 billion of these stickers in that period, for a gross of about $30 million (R420 million). ST I C K E R S A R E L I N E ’S second-biggest source of revenue, but they fuel the rest of the company’s business. LINE’s relationship with Disney illuminates how this works. The two companies first worked together when LINE licensed Mickey Mouse for a sticker pack in 2012. More than 50 other packs have followed, featuring characters from classic Disney movies and Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars classics. “Because we were having so much success around stickers, we decided to talk about what else Disney and LINE could be doing together,” says Jimmy Pitaro, president of Disney Interactive. “That conversation very quickly revolved around gaming.” LINE, like Tencent, recognised early the potential for using its messaging platform to market and distribute games. The company entered gaming in July 2012 and it’s now the majority of its revenue. As with most popular
Photographs by Lauren Lancaster
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four years after its launch, the company says more than 560 million people worldwide have registered as members, with the app’s greatest resonance being in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. Around 212 million users log in to the LINE app each month (as at end October 2015). While that’s a smaller user base than WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Tencent’s WeChat, LINE has done the best job of turning its popularity into a diversified business. Its reported revenue of $224 million (R3.1 billion) in the second quarter of 2015 comes from a range of sources that few rivals can match. LINE stands out for the way it has used pop culture to turn its app into a fully fledged platform. Its influence is huge. “In Japan, young people often swap LINE IDs like only a few years ago they’d swap email addresses or phone numbers,” says Brian Ashcraft, the Osaka-based co-author of Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential. The app “is by far the default form of communication for anyone in Taiwan,” says Ben Thompson, who writes about technology at Stratechery.com from Taipei. “It would be difficult to function here without it.” LINE has held off on an IPO until it can prove it can be as relevant everywhere as it is in Japan, Taiwan and Thailand. Already, it has almost 30 million US subscribers signed up. The question now is simply how far this strange mix of Disney-meets-Skypemeets-Facebook can go.
M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
mobile games, LINE’s are free to play, with the option to pay to progress more rapidly than you could through raw skill. As Disney and LINE talked, the director of Disney Store in Japan was already in the process of launching Tsum Tsum, a kawaii-to-the-max version of such Disney characters as Mickey, Stitch and Winnie the Pooh that renders them as pillow-like blobs. Disney worked with LINE to develop a game featuring the Tsum Tsum characters and launch plush toys in its stores. The game, called LINE: Disney Tsum Tsum, debuted in Japan on January 29, 2014—and by the end of the year, it was a top-five download in Japanese app stores. Disney has stated that it sold almost 2 million plush toys in Japan. Unlike social networks such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter—which let companies participate for free and then try to sell them ads—LINE charges for access to its users. An official account lets a business or celebrity blast out messages to users who have followed them. If the account’s proprietor wants LINE users to be able to respond, that too involves a payment. So do sponsored sticker packs. Official accounts and merchandise make up the rest of LINE’s revenue mix. Official account holders can also use a service that LINE launched in February 2014 called Business Connect, to build their own automated consumer experiences. Japan Post, the Japanese mail provider, created a service that lets LINE users send photos that it turns into printed New Year’s cards and delivers via snail mail. The company announced a number of extensions this year, aiming to turn LINE into an all-encompassing platform that spans the digital and physical worlds. LINE Pay is a payment service that supports offline retail purchases (like Apple Pay or Google Wallet) and will soon offer person-to-person money transfers (like PayPal). LINE Wow, available at first only in LINE’s own neighbourhood of Shibuya, is a food-delivery service. L I N E H AS A long way to go before it will achieve its most audacious goals. To become a true powerhouse, it will need more than cute new features; it will need global scale. “Different regions have different cultures,” Idezawa says. “When we localise, we really have to see what’s going on and try to suit their needs.” Localisation is a novel concept in messaging. Only LINE has thought about how it should tailor its service in every country it enters. Some of these actions can be rather simple. In the Italian version, for example,
Moon adopts a classic local gesture when he flicks his fingers under his chin to indicate “I don’t care”. There’s arguably no other Western country that means more to LINE’s future than the US, but the company hasn’t rushed into the market. LINE USA’s members are a meagre percentage of Americans compared with LINE’s saturation in Japan, or even Spain. The prime architect of LINE’s American strategy is Jeanie Han, its CEO for Europe and the Americas. She admits that initially she was nervous that Westerners wouldn’t bond with LINE’s spirit. But when she launched it in Spain in 2013, she discovered that “Cony and Brown are the most downloaded sticker packs in the app. So they’re not too Asian.” Still, some westernisation has been required. For example, her LA–based design team hired one artist, Dan Woodger, to crank out 1 000 new emoji in a 10-week sprint. In the US, Han is also tempering kawaii with a big dollop of pop music. So far, the US version of LINE includes only a smattering of official accounts, but among them are Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and the members of Maroon 5. “Of all the messaging apps in this space, LINE has the most soul,” says Kavi Halemane, executive VP and head of digital at the Collective, Linkin Park’s management company when the band joined LINE last year. Co-founder Mike Shinoda, a former art student, even helped create a sticker pack featuring cartoony versions of himself and his Characters welcome bandmates. “Soul is not a technical In LINE’s Times Square shop in New term, but when I’m using the app, York, its personalities are rendered in crystal, pin, plush and plaster forms. I can see why it’s been successful so far,” Halemane says. Phase two of Han’s US launch came in December 2014 when she opened a pop-up LINE Friends store in New York’s Times Square, rejiggered for local tastes. A still greater sign that LINE has arrived may be a piece of software in the iPhone and Android app stores. Its name is Stickered, and it lets you decorate photos with stickers—very much like a LINE app called LINE Camera. Its publisher? Facebook, whose radar for potential threats is finely tuned. There’s no greater validation of a new social behaviour than Mark Zuckerberg taking note of an innovation and cloning it. The difference is that Facebook’s stickers feel like a sideline, not a core feature. They make no effort to match the charm and humour of LINE’s cast of characters. Mimicking another app’s features may be easy, but stealing its soul is not. Additional reporting by Matt McCue
DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 43
KWIK
COOL IN SUMMER - WARM IN WINTER - COST EFFECTIVE MAXIMUM ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT An interlocking block building system that allows for a quick construction process. Used for boundary and retaining walls, septic tanks, french drains, soak-away pits, water storage tanks and swimming pools
Building is as simple as stacking blocks on top of each other and cuts construction costs considerably. 25m2 of vertical walling can be built per day
For more information contact: Sipho Phala Cell: 072 286 4410 Email: sipho@malala-tau.co.za
There really is something for everyone: history and politics, art galleries and museums, restaurants and shopping – you will find it all here. Go down a mine shaft, or up in a hot air balloon, fly like a bird on a canopy tour, or walk with elephants, take a bicycle ride through Soweto, or ride the high speed Gautrain, drive on modern highways, or visit quiet gardens. Discover yourself at the Cradle of Humankind, or get up close with cheetahs and wild dogs. Try your hand (or feet!) at traditional tribal dancing or party the night away in Soweto, and meet a mixture of people from all over South Africa, and the continent.. Our services range from local transfers in and around Gauteng, to destinations further afield like Sun City, Madikwe, and the Waterberg region, the Drakensberg, the kwaZulu-Natal Battlefields and the Kruger National Park. These are only some of the places we regularly travel to. In fact, we can get you to any destination accessible to a two-wheel drive vehicle. Our range of day tours around Gauteng includes all the popular attractions and activities. For the business
traveller, a vehicle and guide can be provided to get you to your business meetings. All our services are provided on a pre-booked, private basis - no shuttles or shared services!
SIGHTSEEING TOURS
We offer a wide variety of sightseeing tours in and around Gauteng, with something to suit every interest. Tours can also be customized, by selecting one of our Go-as-you-Please options - for either3, 5, 7, 9 or 12 hours. All our tours are operated on a pre-booked,
+27 11 038 1133 • Fax: 086 696 3888
private basis - we do not operate any scheduled or “seatin-vehicle” tours. On some tours where a specific attraction is visited, guests may join up with other travellers on a conducted tour, e.g: Gold Reef City.
TRANSFERS
Our transfers are always provided on a pre-booked, private basis - we do not do shuttles or shared transfers. Our vehicles can accommodate one suitcase / bag and one piece of hand luggage per person, at no charge. Excess
luggage or golf bags may require the use of a luggage trailer, for which there will an additional charge. All transfers include complimentary bottle of still water. At airports and train stations our drivers/guides identify and meet our guests by displaying printed signboards and will not leave their destination until satisfied that the hotel or guesthouse has confirmed the reservation. We will pick-up and drop-off at hotels, guesthouses or private residences.
Email: info@malala-tau.co.za • Website: www.malala-tau.co.za
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14 Gilead Sciences
FOR DEVELOPING LIFESAVING MEDICINE AT THE SPEED OF NEED
Antiviral messaging An artist’s dramatisation of Gilead’s Truvada drug as it attacks an HI virus
By JJ McCorvey
Illustration by Nicolas Berger
Before visiting the chemistry lab at Gilead Sciences in Foster City, California, I don the mandatory blue smock and safety goggles that obscure half my face. When I enter, I notice that someone has diagrammed molecules on the lab’s glass cabinets with dryerase markers. Countertop machines whir loudly as they boil down chemical compounds to their most potent forms. And Darryl, a research scientist, isn’t wearing his lab coat. “You busted him—that’s awesome,” one of his colleagues laughs. When you’re bringing lifesaving drugs to market almost as fast as you can develop them, you’re going to forget your jacket now and then. Over the past few years, Gilead has ushered through four effective new treatments for HIV alone. In late 2013, the company released a drug called Sovaldi, a breakthrough treatment for hepatitis C, which affects at least 130 million people globally, ravages the liver, and claims up to 500 000 lives annually. Sovaldi is the first antidote to this virus, boasting a 90% cure rate. During the first three quarters of 2014, the drug generated sales of more than $8.5 billion (R119 billion) and helped Gilead more than triple its net profit from the previous year to nearly $3 billion (R42 billion). Sovaldi is now the fastest selling new medicine of all time, according to several estimates. It has unseated AbbVie’s drug Humira— which has been on the market for more than 10 years—as the highest earning medicine of 2014. And last October, less than a year after Sovaldi’s release, Gilead put out an even more powerful sequel, Harvoni, which put up $2.11 billion (R29.5 billion) in revenue in its first quarter on the US market. “These drugs are completely changing the prognosis for hepatitis C patients, and that has been long overdue,” says Rena Fox, an internist and professor of clinical medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “It’s revolutionising a whole segment of care.” Meanwhile, Gilead has three more HIV medications in the works and several more to treat liver disease. When this many lives are in the balance, they know it’s important to innovate quickly. DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 47
G I L E A D, W H I C H E M P LOYS 7 0 0 0 P E O P L E on six continents, was founded in 1987 by Michael Riordan, a medical doctor who had contracted dengue fever while working at a clinic in the Philippines and who experienced firsthand the persistence of viruses, which replicate quickly and commandeer healthy cells. (Dengue fever must run its course; he recovered.) Riordan set out to develop transformative antiviral medications. He hired John C. Martin as chief scientist; he’s now Gilead’s CEO. The company’s first blockbuster was Viread, based on a molecule it acquired from a European lab in 1991 which became one of the most widely used components of other HIV medications. In 2003, Gilead acquired a struggling company called Triangle Pharmaceuticals, which produced a drug that could be combined with Viread to make Truvada, which was approved by the FDA in 2004. Immediately after that, Gilead entered a joint venture to combine Truvada with a drug from competitor Bristol-Myers Squibb to create Atripla—the first once-a-day single tablet to treat HIV. “Our scientific expertise is about figuring out what’s best in the world and trying to bring that into Gilead,” says John Milligan, the company’s president and COO. The company applied this same strategy against hepatitis C. In 2011, at a medical conference, a small New Jersey–based biotech firm called Pharmasset showed that hepatitis C patients who used its treatment—then called sofosbuvir—for 12 weeks would see cure rates of nearly 100%. Less than two weeks later, Gilead acquired the company for $11 billion (about R150 billion). “We’d never seen anything like that before,” Milligan says. Acquiring Pharmasset was a gamble: Gilead’s stock price tanked after the announcement, and sofosbuvir had not yet completed clinical trials. But it was also a huge opportunity. The ageing baby boomer population will bring a large pool of new infections, and nearly a third of people infected with HIV are co-infected with the hepatitis C virus. These people, who are living longer thanks to antiretroviral drugs, are more prone to the longterm risks of hepatitis C, including cirrhosis and liver cancer. Existing treatments only offered cure rates between 45% and 80%, and required patients to take them for up to 48 weeks. They also involved injections of interferon, a highly toxic drug with side effects—nausea, stomach pain, personality disorder—that were often as bad as the disease. Not only could sofosbuvir improve patient outcomes and halve the duration of treatment, but early studies had shown success in patients who were not responsive to interferon injections. Gilead had to get the new drug, now called Sovaldi, to market quickly, before competitors like Merck and Vertex—which had also released treatments that year—could catch up. “We compressed the clinical time frame way down,” Milligan says. “And it’s risky. If you’re wrong, the money goes away. You’re never going to get that back.” It can take up to 15 years to bring a drug to market. Gilead did it in two. First, sofosbuvir was well into development when Gilead bought it. Second, the FDA is often willing to expedite approval of drugs in areas not typically prone to innovation. (“The common
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THE S O VA L D I SOLUTION How the breakthrough hepatitis C drug has changed lives and boosted Gilead Sciences’ fortunes 500 000 People with hepatitis C who die each year.
170 000 Patients, as of end 2014, who have been treated with Sovaldi— which has been shown to be 90% effective in curing hepatitis C.
R150 billion Amount Gilead paid to acquire Pharmasset (maker of an early-stage Sovaldi).
R119 billion Revenue generated by Sovaldi in its first nine months on the market.
10 Months between Sovaldi’s commercial release and FDA approval for Harvoni, Sovaldi’s sequel, which creates a oncedaily pill that’s even more effective than the original.
28 Other medicines in Gilead’s pipeline.
denominator is high unmet need,” says Saurabh Aggarwal, principal and co-founder of Novel Health Strategies, a firm that advises companies on bringing drugs to market. “Gilead has a high focus on that, which helps it get early approval.”) Third, Gilead’s top executives—all accomplished chemists—were quick to recognise the drug’s potential and submitted Sovaldi for “priority review” (the FDA commits to take action within six months instead of 10). The FDA then requested that it be submitted as a “breakthrough therapy” (which involves FDA collaboration) and advised Gilead to do away with 48-week clinical trials, since the previous data had already shown improvement upon the standard of care. Meanwhile, Gilead was developing other applications for sofosbuvir, including Harvoni—which combines sofosbuvir with another drug in the company’s portfolio—to create a once-daily pill that proved to be even more effective than Sovaldi. Patients had cure rates of up to 99%, and many only needed to take the drug for eight weeks as opposed to 12. In October 2014, not even a year after Sovaldi hit the market, the FDA approved Harvoni, which did away with interferon completely. “It’s rare that you’re working on a replacement before you even have your drug approved,” Milligan says. “That’s how fast development was going.” It’s exactly what the company had done to transform HIV treatment—synthesising a multi-pill ‘cocktail’ into one superior pill that was more effective, improved patient compliance, and decreased side effects. Former military technician and Lockheed Martin avionics specialist Gavin West, 59, spent a year on interferon and other drugs in 2006. “It was the most excruciating, miserable experience of my life,” he says. Fatigue and cognitive impairment from hepatitis C had forced him to leave his job. The drug cocktail actually made him worse, and two months after he finished the regimen, the virus came back. “They told me, ‘Hang in there,’ ” West says. “I was just waiting to die.” He remembers getting the call from his physician’s office about Harvoni. “I went in and there was one pill,” West says. He took it and waited for the nausea, headache and muscle pain. Nothing. He felt better, and when he went to refill the bottle, the clinician told him he was done. “I felt like crying,” he says. A little over a year later, he remains free of the disease. G I L E A D ’S H E PAT I T I S C D R U G S are revolutionary. They’re also very expensive. A 12-week course of Sovaldi costs $84 000 (more than R1.1 million)—that’s R14 000 per pill. A 12-week course of Harvoni generally costs $94 500 (R1.3 million). Gilead predicts that future versions could require shorter lengths of treatment, which will thereby bring down costs. And by taking these drugs, patients are less likely to be hospitalised or undergo costly liver transplants. Plus, Gilead charges the same or less than its rivals do for their less effective treatments. Still, Gilead has experienced backlash. Insurance companies, medical aid schemes and benefit managers such as Express Scripts have accused Gilead of trying to
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bankrupt the healthcare system, while other groups such as the Philadelphia transit system have gone so far as to sue the company for the amounts they’ve had to pay for employees’ therapies. “They don’t have to be as expensive as they are,” says UCSF’s Fox, acknowledging that Sovaldi is priced the same (and even lower) than similar and specialty medications for other diseases. “When these drugs come out, almost everyone is eligible right away. There’s a pipeline of people waiting,” she says, which results in billions that insurance companies and medical aid schemes must pay at once. Economists would say that high return is what creates a competitive, and therefore, more innovative market, because pharmaceutical companies are incentivised to invest in tackling the most challenging diseases. “We’re getting into a situation where drugs are geared to more and more [specific] conditions, they’re hard to make, and they’re going to be priced high because of that,” says Craig Garthwaite, an economist and strategy professor at the Kellogg School of Management. Besides, he says, “we’ve been complaining for a long time about how all pharmaceutical companies are doing is creating me-too drugs,” he says, referring to scores of treatments for more mundane conditions like heartburn. “No one can argue that this is not real innovation. They’re doing everything that we’ve asked them to.” Milligan says that Gilead warned insurers, medical aid schemes and pharmacy benefit managers about the volume of patients that would be eligible for Sovaldi. The company also offers tiered pricing for its hepatitis C medicines in developing countries (Sovaldi costs just $300 [R4 000] per bottle in Egypt, where more than 10% of the population is infected with the disease) and provides a patient assistance programme for those without insurance or medical aid, or whose schemes have denied coverage. Christine Breit, a 56-year-old real estate property manager in San Francisco, had severe fatigue, nausea and cognitive impairment while taking interferon. She heard about Sovaldi at a seminar, but she says Blue Cross Blue Shield refused for two months to cover the drug, which prompted her to call Gilead, which directed her to the programme. “I would get these bills for $32 000 [almost R450 000],” she recalls, “and it would say, ‘Pay this amount: $0.’ ” Breit says that before she started Sovaldi, her doctors considered putting her on a liver transplant list. As of November last year, she’s had no detectable trace of the virus in her body. Pricing isn’t the only reason Gilead has faced opposition. Its HIV drug Truvada—shown in
Photograph by Jared Soares
studies to be up to 100% effective in preventing the transmission of HIV when taken regularly as PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis)—has come under fire by activists arguing that the drug encourages unsafe sex. Gilead’s loudest opponent is Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who has called Truvada a “party drug”. Last year the AHF ran an ad campaign asking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which endorsed the drug, in big bold letters: “What if you’re wrong about PrEP?” “What we know in the community is that there are already [people] who are putting themselves at risk,” says Ernest Hopkins, director of federal affairs at the non-profit, San Francisco AIDS Foundation. He points to a recent trial showing that PrEP users engaged in less-risky behaviour while on the medication. In a bold declaration in June 2014, Governor of New York State Andrew Cuomo announced a three-pronged plan to eradicate HIV/Aids in New York—once considered the focal point of the epidemic—that included encouraging people at high risk for infection to use PrEP. He also announced that Gilead had negotiated supplemental discounts with the state’s Medicaid programme to increase access to HIV medication. F O R A L L O F T H E C O N T R OV E R SY over pricing, Sovaldi
and Harvoni are having an energising effect on the market: In December last year, Express Scripts announced it would no longer cover Gilead’s medicines for most patients due to an exclusive deal with AbbVie to distribute a new four-pill hepatitis C treatment called Viekira Pak. (It retails for $83 319 [R1.1 million], but Express Scripts negotiated a “significant discount”.) Gilead fired back the next month by announcing that CVS, one of the US’s largest pharmacy benefit managers, would exclusively sell Sovaldi and Harvoni. Several days later, the insurance provider Anthem announced a similar deal. When there’s innovation in medicine, however controversial, the benefits can be a matter of life and death. “If you don’t like an iPad, you don’t have to buy it,” says Norbert Bischofberger, Gilead’s chief scientist and head of R&D. “But health and survival, that is a right.” The company has just received FDA approval of TAF/Genvoya, an HIV drug it says is safer on the bones and kidneys. Its new drug Zydelig can halt the progression of certain blood cancers. And Gilead is currently ushering through phase-3 clinical trials of GS-5816: a sequel to Harvoni that aims to work the same across all genotypes, and is targeted toward patients in developing countries. “We are motivated by what we do,” says Bischofberger. “There’s nothing more precious than health.”
A PATIENT’S STORY
“TR UVADA HE LPE D S AV E MY LIF E,” S AY S 3 5 -YEA R- OLD NICK GOURDINE.
A new start Gourdine is a programme manager in Washington, DC, and has been taking Truvada PrEP for three years. He is HIV-negative.
“I was inspired by fear. At first, it was fear of HIV—I was exposed after an intimate relationship with someone who failed to disclose their status. That was scary. And then I heard about a possible study that involved taking daily medication and some counselling and, well, that was concerning too. What was this medicine? Were there side effects? And, quite frankly, I worried that AfricanAmerican males can be treated as guinea pigs in medical studies. But the more I thought about it, the more I realised that I had been putting myself at risk for a long time, and there were habits I needed to break. So I signed up and began taking what turned out to be Truvada PrEP. In counselling, they asked me things like how many people I’ve slept with who are potentially HIV-positive, and how many partners I didn’t use a condom with—and I realised that I didn’t know. That’s alarming. Now I just have a regular prescription for Truvada; insurance pays for it. And I hope this drug inspires other people to get tested, and to ask themselves hard questions. HIV is a disease that does not discriminate, and the African-American community in particular needs to make some corrections. But we cannot correct what we do not confront.” —As told to Nikita Richardson
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
15 Eataly
FOR BUILDING A GROCERY EMPIRE THAT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE A GROCERY STORE W HAT I S E ATA LY LI K E I N TWO V E RY D I FF E R E NT C ITI E S ? W E S E NT A P H OTO G RAPH E R TO CAPTU R E S H O P P E R S (AN D T H E I R G O O D I E S) I N N E W Y O R K A N D I STA N B U L New York
Istanbul
Nicola Farinetti sucks down the last of his coffee, whirls his hand in the air, and hits my shoulder for the third time in minutes. The excitable 30-year-old CEO of Eataly USA is showing off the buzzing “piazza” of Eataly New York, his family’s 4 600-square-metre Italian grocery market-cumrestaurant emporium-cum-enoteca slash bakery slash cheese shop. We’re at the heart of the light-drenched store, where customers can hang out at a dozen marble countertops while scarfing down prosciutto, homemade mozzarella and chilled oysters—or, should they be longer term thinkers, wander off and shop for groceries. According to Farinetti, the piazza didn’t exist in the weeks leading up to the market’s opening in 2010. “But all of a sudden we realise,” he says, and then, in his thick Italian accent, begins to break apart syllables for emphasis: “People-ah want-ta drink-ah wine!” Farinetti gestures around the open space, which is crowded with drinkers even early on a Tuesday afternoon. “It’s unbelievable!” Farinetti has good cause to be so excited: Eataly’s business is booming. This location, across from Manhattan’s Madison Square Park, is doing $85 million (R1.1 billion) in annual revenue. Its even larger counterpart in Chicago, which opened in late 2013, is on pace to hit $50 million (more than R700 million) this year, nearly matching the gross sales of its 50 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
Photographs by Daniel Shea
E AT A LY NEW YORK NAME
Erika Rae Shuster PURCHA SED
Olives, blackberries, satsumas, yoghurt
E AT A LY ISTANBUL NAME
Kayhan Yenibas PURCHA SED
Turkish bagels, organic pomegranate juice
E AT A LY NEW YORK NAME
Marcela Villareal PURCHA SED
Buddha hand lemon
Feast for the eyes To go deeper into the shopping baskets of Eataly customers in New York and Istanbul, visit fastcompany.com/ MIC.
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E AT A LY NEW YORK NAME
Yafan Chang PURCHA SED
Bread and cheese
E AT A LY ISTANBUL NAME
S. Sahika Sahin PURCHA SED
Cheese, bananas, salad greens
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E AT A LY NEW YORK NAME
Anthony Lee PURCHA SED
Portobello mushrooms
E AT A LY ISTANBUL NAME
Doya Çetin PURCHA SED
Dried apricots, eggplants, butcher meatballs, hind of cow, haricot beans
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
“TO ME, THIS ISN’T A MARKET OR A RESTAURANT, BUT SOMETHING ELSE ALTOGETHER, WHICH GIVES ME MUCH MORE ROOM TO DO CRAZY THINGS,” SAYS FARINETTI.
Istanbul
New York
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flagship store in Turin, Italy. That’s on top of the 15 other Eataly locations in Italy; the 11 in Japan; two in South Korea; one each in São Paulo, Turkey and the UAE; and large-scale outposts soon opening in London, Hong Kong, Moscow, Munich, Paris, Sydney and Toronto, among other cities. In fact, Farinetti has just come from an hours-long design meeting with the architect of Eataly’s second New York location at the new World Trade Center. “It’s going to be wild,” he teases. Farinetti’s father, Oscar, launched the first Eataly in 2007. The family previously owned consumer electronics stores in Italy, through which Farinetti says they learnt an experience-based approach to retailing— understanding that a “washing machine wasn’t a washing machine, but this white magic box where you put dirty stuff in and it comes out clean, which changes people’s lives!” With Eataly, the aim was to build a store that harked back to old-style markets such as the bazaars of Istanbul or the fish markets of Sicily, where Farinetti says “there is no distinction between restaurant and retail: You can eat and buy, or buy and eat.” That first location was 10 000 square metres, and Eataly could certainly have been accused of being a modern-day megastore—but its embrace of high-end ingredients and foodie culture made it feel special. Farinetti describes the store as “bringing the quality and service of Jean-Georges [signature restaurant of Trump International Hotel]” to the supermarket. To import the concept to the US, the Farinettis partnered with Mario Batali’s B&B Hospitality Group; together they launched Eataly New York in 2010, which features seven sit-down restaurants and a rooftop beer garden, along with cooking workshops and styles of pasta that “Michelinstarred restaurants can’t even afford”, Farinetti boasts, perhaps a bit hyperbolically. “For one guy, it might be a market; for another, a restaurant; and for another, a culinary school.” Ultimately, Eataly’s key ingredient is recognising that shopping is not a chore but an experience—and that food experiences can build upon each other. “The first thing customers do, they try a restaurant,” Farinetti says. “They realise there is something different between us and most of the pasta restaurants all over the world, so they buy one of these pastas and bring it home. And they realise it’s something they can do, and they’re going to be curious and want a lesson [in how to cook]. Then you’re a foodie, you don’t even realise it, and you get stuck with us.” Most remarkable is that Eataly’s success comes at a time when others in the space are struggling. Whole Foods was one of the worst-performing stocks of the S&P 500 last year. Though its stock has slightly rebounded, its once-unique layout increasingly feels stale as it becomes ubiquitous. Eataly customises itself in each new city, which makes each one feel like a destination—and perhaps explains why 40% of Eataly’s customers in New York are tourists. “To me, this isn’t a market or a restaurant, but something else altogether, which gives me much more room to do crazy things,” says Farinetti, as we chat near an art exhibition in the New York store, one of many more to come at Eatalys across the world. “Imagine if I tried to do a crazy event at Whole Foods. People would get mad, like, ‘I just came here to shop!’ But because this is Eataly, I can do all this stupid stuff and people understand it.” —Austin Carr
1500992M/E
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16 Fuhu
FOR SERVING KIDS IN WAYS THE TABLET GIANTS DON’T The tablet era began in 2010, but one of the biggest winners isn’t Apple, Amazon, Samsung or Google. It’s Fuhu, which has grown 159 000% bigger by revenue. How does it thrive? “By ensuring that our brand speaks to families in a genuine voice,” says Robb Fujioka, Fuhu’s president and founder. Its tablet, called the Nabi, is made for kids, and comes loaded with 17 000 lessons for preschoolers to sixth graders. But Fuhu is winning on more than clever programs. The Nabi also has novel features such as a curfew time that parents can set, and even a virtual currency—
redeemable for movies, music and other digital goodies—that parents can use to reward children for chores completed or good behaviour. “Safe discovery; rich, engaging experiences; and making good choices are at the heart of everything we create,” Fujioka says. Some classrooms are buying Nabis for students, but most sales come directly from families—and Fuhu keeps them coming back by making tablets in several different sizes that cater to different age groups. Last August, it unveiled a giant 24-inch tablet, designed for the entire family to use together.
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Illustration by Brosmind
MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
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17 Apricot Forest
FOR SEEKING THE CURE TO WHAT AILS CHINESE HEALTHCARE
Medicine man “I thought I could have a more rewarding career by bridging the medical and tech worlds,” Apricot Forest’s Zhang says.
The Chinese fable of Dong Feng tells of a skilled and generous medical practitioner from the Three Kingdoms period (AD 220–280) who treated the impoverished for free. In return, patients planted apricot pits. An orchard grew, and Dong Feng traded the fruit to the public in exchange for rice, wheat, corn or millet, then distributed that grain to the poor. “Our goal,” says Dr Yusheng Zhang, whose healthcare startup, Apricot Forest, takes its name from the story, “is to help as many doctors as possible to become like Dr Dong.” It’s an utterly unreasonable mission, given the circumstances. Most physicians in China work for state-run hospitals, where entry-level doctor wages are about $500 (R7 000) a month, on par with a taxi driver’s earnings. Workers like these aren’t exactly primed for pro bono labour. But it’s also a laudable and much-needed goal: China’s doctors are routinely juggling caseloads of 50 to 60 patients a day, which leads to trouble. Chinese hospitals experienced an average of 27 assaults in 2012, as fed-up patients beat, stabbed and even killed the doctors who failed to meet their expectations. In this climate, any tool that improves care— or even speeds up a doctor’s day—is a humane benefit to all. Photographs by Matjaž Tančič
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
Apricot Forest offers a suite of three apps that aim to fix some of the core inefficiencies in China’s medical system. Twenty-five percent of China’s 2.5 million doctors now use at least one of the apps, as do about 2 000 new physicians every day. “I thought: What impact could I have if I could change the reality of Chinese people standing out in the cold all night in Beijing just to book an appointment?” says Zhang, 32. “If I could help make doctors’ work easier and more efficient?” The primary app is MedClip, an all-in-one patient service system. Doctors can photograph, store and organise patient records; dictate notes directly into a patient’s chart; send patients reminders and educational materials via China’s popular Weixin (aka WeChat) messaging system; and consult with other doctors on difficult cases. The second, e-Pocket, contains reference materials such as medicine formularies and specialised calculators. And the third, Medical Journals, helps doctors stay up to date on the latest research literature. The apps are the product of Zhang’s long interest in medicine, which began when he fell seriously ill at age 12. Born in Sichuan province to parents who worked in a steel mill, he won a spot at the pre-eminent Peking University in Beijing, and went on to the top-notch Peking Union Medical College. A clerkship at Massachusetts General Hospital led him to Johns Hopkins University, where he received an MBA and a master’s in Public Health. “I came to realise that healthcare is in trouble in the US and in China, but for different reasons,” Zhang says. “In the US, it’s too expensive; in China, quality and access are more pressing issues. There are not enough well-trained doctors or incentives to work for patients.” While interning at Resolution Health, a data analytics subsidiary of WellPoint, Zhang realised that China’s doctors need more data—about patients, their records and their illnesses. He returned to China in 2012;
“IN THE US, HEALTHCARE IS TOO EXPENSIVE; IN CHINA, QUALITY AND ACCESS ARE MORE PRESSING ISSUES.” —YUSHENG ZHANG
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after a weekend at the Beijing Tech Hive startup accelerator, he had offers for $500 000 (around R7 million) in seed money. Apricot Forest was born. Zhang’s clients are the cash-strapped doctors of China, not the rich insurers who dominate the US health system. So he makes money in other ways. Pharmaceutical companies place ads inside his apps to reach doctors. Apricot Forest takes a slice of the sales of books and other publications made accessible through e-Pocket and Medical Journals. And the company intends to charge patients for follow-up phone calls with their physician via MedClip. (Why do both sides agree to this arrangement? Because patients can’t currently connect with doctors easily, and the app lets doctors keep their phone numbers private and control the amount of contact.) Zhang ultimately envisions aggregating the data that physicians upload to MedClip, analysing it and selling the reports to companies that research, design and market medical products. China doesn’t have the exacting patient-privacy laws of the US, but Apricot Forest says it follows US privacy laws because Zhang would like to make his products available internationally. To see how Apricot Forest works to solve doctors’ problems, I join two employees at a meeting with Dr Chen Kui, an epilepsy specialist at Beijing Friendship Hospital. Friendship is ahead of many public hospitals in digitising patient records, but that just means it has turned old paper documents into PDFs—which aren’t searchable by keyword, and can only be accessed via shared computers in the hospital. “Some of my fellow doctors have to stay until 11 p.m. just to finish up with the record-keeping,” Chen says. It’s this kind of inefficiency that made him an Apricot Forest user. For two hours, the Apricot Forest employees get feedback from Chen as he walks from room to room of the sparsely furnished neurology ward. Chen is bespectacled and dressed in a white lab coat, and he speaks calmly and quickly—though his tousled hair gives some sign of the frenetic day he must have had. The MRI resolution, he tells them, should be higher; a photo he snapped of a brain scan didn’t display on his phone as clearly as he’d like. He’d also love patients to be able to upload videos and documents they want to share with him. As the Apricot employees take notes, Chen pulls a few 5cm-thick binders from his filing cabinet to show the paperwork that patients participating in clinical trials must fill out daily and bring back to the hospital every two weeks. “If they could just tap this into their phones every day, the data would be here faster,” he says. The Chinese government is reforming its healthcare system, and Apricot Forest believes it is well positioned to capitalise. The changes would liberate more doctors from their state-hospital positions, allowing them to be selfemployed or to work at multiple sites. That means Apricot Forest apps could become a travelling office, helping doctors manage patients on the go. And that would ideally unleash a bumper crop of better, more responsive doctors. Doctors more like Dong Feng. —Julie Makinen
GROW WITH ARBOR CAPITAL Entrepreneur focused capital growth strategies | High touch from concept to fruition | Established over 18 years ago | Listed 4 ALTX companies in the last 18 months
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rbor Capital is an entrepreneurial business, which was established some 18 years ago and is owned and managed by its executive team. They provide a comprehensive range of financial services, through complementary, closely coordinated businesses across various industries. Their clients include large public companies through to smaller owner-driven businesses.
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Their services include: • Corporate Finance • Listing Services • Incentive Funding • Company Secretarial Services
Arbor Capital is a hands-on company and prefers to get involved in the execution of projects on behalf of their clients as opposed to just advising on projects.
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Ground Floor | One Health Building | Woodmead North Office Park | 54 Maxwell Drive | Woodmead | 2191 | +27 (0) 11 480 8500 Unit 7 | 6 De Havilland Crescent | Persequor Technopark| Persequor Park | 0020 | +27 (0) 12 349 2695
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“We are a hands-on company and prefer to get involved in the execution of projects on behalf of our clients as opposed to just advising on projects. This philosophy has served us well and has resulted in many long standing client relationships, some already in excess of 15 years.”
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NEW PLATFORMS
19 Kickstarter
FOR FOSTERING EVERY FORM OF CREATIVITY 18 SoundCloud
FOR CREATING AN AUDIO EMPIRE SoundCloud has transformed itself from a simple audio repository into the largest phonic platform in the world— the preferred place for DJs, musicians and other audio creators to find gigs and collaborators, and reach 175 million unique l isteners per month. Its iPhone app aims to help listeners discover new audio, and a deal with Twitter (a rumoured SoundCloud acquirer)
lets the SoundCloud player be embedded in tweets and play from a user’s timeline. Last year, SoundCloud gave all those creators, who upload 12 hours of content every minute, a way to score more than listens: It began inserting ads before audio clips, and shares the revenue. “That, for me, c ompletes the circle,” says cofounder Eric Wahlforss. “If an artist is really big on SoundCloud, they should be able to make a living off that.”
Kickstarter may have defined the crowdfunding movement’s first wave, but it did so with capricious rules about the kind of projects it would host, limiting its growth. After a leadership change in late 2013, co-founder and new CEO Yancey Strickler has reengineered Kickstarter to encourage creativity— whether it’s an art project or a startup. He also expanded the platform from a fundraising tool into a publishing and distribution system, launching deals with the MoMA Store, iTunes and
the Steam gaming site to promote and sell Kickstarter creations. The company has passed the $2 billion (R28 billion) mark in money pledged to projects. Kickstarter pays off: Last year, two of its alums, O culus VR and SmartT hings, were acquired by Facebook and Samsung, respectively, for $2 billion and $200 million (R2.8 billion).
Rocked out Gumroad founder Lavingia at Eli’s Mile High Club in Oakland, California—just the kind of club his sellers might play.
21 Gumroad
FOR MAKING E-COMMERCE AS PAINLESS AS TWEETING 62 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
If you make physical objects—onyx earrings, eco-friendly wagons for kids—there are plenty of places, such as eBay or Etsy, to hawk them online. But what if you’re a musician or an author with digital wares and no marketing budget? That’s what three-year-old Gumroad is for. More than 10 000 sellers— mostly authors, instructors and
musicians—used Gumroad last year to sell directly to fans, and the service even attracted some big-name acts including Eminem and Bon Jovi, and the publisher Hachette. In addition to selling mixtapes and albums, some artists are using Gumroad to sell physical goods: Eminem sold limited-edition tour merchandise and Bon
Photograph by Chloe Aftel
Wave runner The art on this page is a digital waveform from “Faded” by Zhu, a SoundCloud artist who began 2014 as an anonymous producer. His work was discovered last year, and Zhu is now signed to Columbia Records. To watch an animated video of “Faded”, which has been played 25 million times on SoundCloud, go to www.fastcompany.com.
20 Wandoujia
FOR SOLVING CHINA’S MOBILE-APP PROBLEM Android is the most popular mobile operating system in China, but everything else associated with Google is l iable to be blocked by the government—including the Google Play Store. Former Googler Junyu Wang created Wandoujia to d esign a reliable app store for C hina’s Android users—and although he has l iterally hundreds of competitors, Wandoujia has outflanked them all
by evolving into a multimedia marketplace designed for Chinese needs. Smartphone owners in China crave music and videos, but many are cost-conscious and can’t afford to stream content all-day long. So the company developed a robust media search engine, and helps users avoid massive data charges by conveniently downloading movies,
videos and other large files via Wi-Fi or syncing with a desktop. Wandoujia can also help users compress videos they already own. Wandoujia charges developers for prominent promotion in the store— and then splits in-app revenue.
Jovi offered fans a premium album bundle with an autographed CD, T-shirt and iPhone case. What’s more remarkable, though, are folks like Kyle T. Webster, an illustrator who has made six figures selling custom Photoshop
brush packs starting at $4 a pop. “Empowering creators to sell directly is the best model for them,” says 22-year-old CEO and founder, Sahil Lavingia. Gumroad’s appeal lies in its simplicity. After
signing up, creators upload their audio, PDF or app files to the website, which generates a custom sales web page. That link can be shared anywhere— and if it’s on Twitter, fans can simply click buy right in the tweet. Gumroad
offers clear, unambiguous pricing, taking 5% of each sale plus 25 cents per transaction. It also encourages extensive communication with buyers, so a comic-book author, for example, can be notified when someone
spends a certain amount on his titles, and then reach out directly to offer a thank-you. “On Amazon, you make a sale. That’s the end of the relationship,” Lavingia says. “On Gumroad, you know that person forever.”
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22 Made in Kigali
FOR HELPING TO BUILD AN INDUSTRY FROM SCRATCH “In Rwanda, everyone wears a very classic and conservative style,” says Scorpio Ramazani Khoury. “The younger generation is out there trying to be stylish, but there is no establishment that sets trends.” So this 26-year-old, a mineral trader by profession, is trying to lead the way— and in the process, boost Rwanda’s reputation as a global exporter (of textiles, of course, but also minerals). Her fashion house, Made in Kigali, expanded in a year to employ nearly 50 tailors, and is currently working with the minister of trade on a large-scale training centre in Kigali that could handle 3 000 tailors. “We need to grow the industry so that by the time the tailors are ready, two or three years from now, the market will be waiting for them,” she says. Most of her business is industrial clothing— simple garments for construction, mining
Kigali couture Khoury in Rwanda, wearing a piece from her fashion line
and hospitals. Smaller scale projects, though, garner international attention. One line combines brightly coloured, East African wax fabrics with Western silhouettes, adjusted for Rwandan body types. Khoury, who was raised in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and studied graphic design in London, also mentors local designers and helps them produce capsule collections. And she constantly travels the world to show her wares. “For us to have a fashion industry in Rwanda,” she says, “people need to know that we exist.”
Photograph by Crystaline Randazzo
23 Netflix
FOR MAKING STUFF WE’RE GUARANTEED TO LOVE
The entertainment company is giving fan groups unexpected gifts—a Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon sequel, say, and four new Adam Sandler films. Random? Nope. “We are creating a product that appeals to local tastes in the more than 50 countries we operate in,” says chief
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Photograph by Crystaline Randazzo
content officer, Ted Sarandos. With its trove of data about international viewing habits, for example, Netflix knows that even though Sandler can be a US box-office dud, his films stream like crazy in areas like Latin America. Hollywood may miss that insight. Netflix won’t.
M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
24 AnyPerk
FOR BRINGING FACEBOOKSTYLE BENEFITS TO THE MASSES
Some companies have free on-site haircuts and nap pods. For everyone else, there’s AnyPerk. The startup is essentially an outsourced HR benefit programme: For $10 per employee per month (or less, depending on the scale), AnyPerk connects companies with goodies its workers want. In only three years, AnyPerk has scored more than 2 500 clients—including Pinterest and Cushman & Wakefield. Revenue grew five times between 2013 and 2014.
CEO Taro Fukuyama launched AnyPerk after talking to startup founders who wanted to hire people away from lavish places like Facebook and Google. “I asked them what perks they had, and they didn’t have anything,” he says. At the same time, he discovered that larger companies had trouble negotiating for and managing their employee perks. Fukuyama created a software platform that enables workers to access a large network of benefits—including deals on sports tickets, dating-site subscriptions, spa treatments and localised deals such as ski passes. Now AnyPerk is working to make sure employees don’t forget about all the cool stuff. Fukuyama’s team is devising GPS–based notifications so that if someone is shopping at an AnyPerk vendor such as the coffeehouse, Intelligentsia, its app pings them a reminder to use their 20% discount.
Perked up AnyPerk CEO Fukuyama in San Francisco
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Photograph by Damien Maloney
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Searchable mall Currently being tested in Australia, this desktop and mobile function helps potential shoppers locate desired items at the mall. Users can then put together an electronic shopping list to plan the trip.
Easy parking In London, the company launched an app that visitors can use to check the number of available parking spots prior to arrival, and then pay via their phone.
25 Westfield Labs
Online purchasing
FOR GIVING THE MALL A HIGH-TECH MAKEOVER Westfield Corp. is a $27.7-billion (R386billion) global s hoppingcentre behemoth based in Australia, but its innovation arm, Westfield Labs, is very different. To start, it’s in San Francisco. And its chief digital officer Kevin McKenzie is free to admit something like this: “It’s easy for people to have a vision of a mall as dead,” he says. Westfield Labs is charged with
rehabbing old retail hubs; VP of creative services Rayna Wiles calls it “using digital to amplify the physical”. And in just two years, Westfield Labs’ crew, which has grown to more than 55 employees, has put into motion several ideas to show how malls don’t have to be a relic of late-20th-century American commerce. Projects are tested in shopping centres every-
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“Searchable mall” users can opt to buy online and have their item fulfilled through a store’s stockroom. Westfield Labs is also exploring an option to have purchases delivered by sameday couriers.
where from London to Sydney, with the goal of upgrading the company’s 40 malls worldwide and baking these innovations into its most ambitious effort yet—the $1.4-billion (R19.5-billion) World Trade Center retail complex in Manhattan, with stores set to open in the first half of 2016. On these pages are a mix of its global experiments. Illustration by Tomi Um
Food court In San Francisco, locals can use an app to order from the mall’s food court—and when they arrive to pick it up, they skip the queue.
Wayfinding This mapping service offers directions between stores. And if shoppers opt in and share their favourite brands and stores, a Westfield app can alert them to nearby sales.
Interactive store windows In New Jersey, these big digital mall ‘windows’ are mostly used for two things: fashion (users can view new lines, and select images for more info and to see where in the mall they’re sold) and video games (just for fun).
New-product zones
Event venue
Three areas—one with large screens, another with touchscreens and a 280-square-metre store—are for co-workers and event holders to showcase their wares.
Old malls had dumpy common spaces. Westfield’s San Francisco mall has a private, 1 600-square-metre space that holds up to 1 200 people. It’s wired for anything from fashion shows to hackathons.
Co-working space In May, an area with 200 desks—along with offices, conference rooms and Silicon Valley–style amenities like a climbing wall and court for bocce (similar to bowls)— opened in the middle of the San Francisco mall. Areas inside “Bespoke” are easily convertible into pop-up shops.
M OST IN NOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
SHARED GOAL: HAPPIER HOMES
IKE A
1. Easier to assemble
2. Functional forms
The Regissör series (which i ncludes a bookshelf) can be put together without tools, and in minutes.
26 Ikea
3. In-store surprises
A standing version of its Bekant desk adjusts its height using an electric motor.
A London artist makes mealtime fun for kids. In the US, animal cutouts promote pet adoptions.
FOR DELIGHTING CUSTOMERS AT EACH AND EVERY TURN 2
More than 770 million shoppers visit an Ikea annually, and more than twice that visit its website. The $38-billion (R530-billion) Swedish home giant works harder than any other big-box retailer at making its stores charming—inspiring c ustomers to bring that joy back home.
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27 Samsung Electronics
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FOR BRINGING INTERNET INTELLIGENCE TO MORE THINGS Samsung has seized the leading role in creating the Internet of Things. The global technology firm has built dozens of smart appliances, and last September it acquired SmartThings: a kit that makes it easy for consumers to connect to light bulbs, speakers and other devices. “The vision,” says SmartThings founder Alex Hawkinson, “is that it’s super easy for an everyday person to make their home a smart home.”
28 Perfint Healthcare
FOR ATTACKING CANCER WITH ROBOTICS Doctors’ weapons against cancer have traditionally been surgery, chemo therapy and radiation. India-based healthcare technology firm, Perfint, has developed a fourth: image-guided robotic systems. Perfint’s
product, called MAXIO, helps doctors through delicate procedures— enabling them to better see, say, how to insert needles to enter a tumour, and then assist in guiding the needles into a patient’s body, and monitor their
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2
SAMSUNG
1. Open platform SmartThings connects Samsung devices, but also to certain security-door locks, light bulbs, home audio etc.
2. Universal control Users can manage Samsung’s robot vacuum with a smart watch, Galaxy or (gasp) iPhone.
placement and the effect on the tumour. MAXIO has been used more than 1 500 times in renowned hospitals in the US (where it received FDA approval last May), as well as in India, Germany, Russia and Australia; this year it launched commercially in Japan, Korea and, notably, China where liver cancer is particularly prevalent.
Illustration by Max-o-Matic
3. Contextual smarts A refrigerator that texts when the door’s open; a washer cycles when it’s cheapest to do so.
When Anki DRIVE debuted during an Apple press conference in 2013, its iPhone-controlled race cars looked like a solid entry in the long but mostly disappointing legacy of toy robots. This past year, Anki transcended its hype: Players have since put more than 1 million
kilometres on the little racers. The toys function like a dystopian vision of Google’s autonomous cars, steering themselves around a flat vinyl track that players lay out on a floor. Onboard sensors scan the track 500 times per second, and algorithms determine how aggressive and
competent each vehicle is. From an app (both iOS and Android), users fire virtual weapons in a sort of tiny death match, battling each other or computer-driven cars. But Anki is thriving because, unlike a Tonka truck, its cars evolve. The company pushed a series of free downloads last year that
added game features and upgraded performance. By collecting data from the vehicles, Anki is able to track when user interest flags and how successful each strategically timed update is at pulling players back to the game. A major upgrade, Anki OverDRIVE, was launched
in September and features a modular race track that can be taken apart and reassembled by users via magnetic connectors. New robotic “supercars” race around the track, with players challenging more than 25 enemy “commanders” to become champion of the OverDRIVE tournament.
29 Anki
FOR USING AI TO REINVENT SLOT CARS Petal-size metal Anki’s race cars measure 8.25cm long. This one is called Spektrix, and costs R2 314 on Wantitall. co.za. An Anki DRIVE starter kit— which includes Boson and Kourai, plus a starter track— costs R6 489. Expansion cars are also available.
Photograph by Andrew Tingle
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The Makeup Genius app lets users digitally apply more than 500 products.
30 L’Oréal
FOR TURNING SCREENS INTO APPLICATOR BRUSHES 70 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
The $30.5-billion (R425-billion) cosmetics giant, L’Oréal, is smartly investing in a future where makeup isn’t sold predominantly amid the din of department store cosmetics counters. Last June, L’Oréal USA’s tech lab launched its first product, an app called Makeup Genius, which uses a phone’s front-facing camera to host the digital equivalent of a counterside makeover. It recruited the firm behind many
jaw-dropping visuals in the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to create startlingly realistic effects when users move and pucker. “Seeing is believing,” says Guive Balooch, VP of L’Oréal’s Connected Beauty Incubator. (As at September this year, 14 million global consumers have downloaded the app.) It’s just one of the ways L’Oréal stays au courant. To appeal directly to YouTubers, L’Oréal gave video star Michelle Phan her own line, EmCosmetics, and acquired cult-favourite brand NYX Cosmetics after it became favoured among a wide swath of video bloggers who routinely mention and wear it—something L’Oréal CEO Jean-Paul Agon calls an inspiration”.
Photograph by Jessica Haye & Clark Hsiao
HAIR: MAKIKO NAR A/ WALTER SCHUPFER MANAGEMENT; MAKEUP: WILL LEMON/BRIDGE
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SA’ S TOP 25 COMPANIES 2015
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Yoco
Yoco offers an easy way for SMEs in South Africa to accept card payments securely and simply at the store or on the go, with a choice of two mobile card readers that connect to a phone or tablet (iOS/Android) and which transform it into a card-acceptance terminal. Because Yoco runs from a phone or tablet, a merchant needs only a device and an Internet connection to operate it. The solution goes beyond payment processing, in that it includes a free point-ofsale app and business intelligence portal, enabling business owners to monitor store performance. Fast Company SA talked to the four co-founders of Yoco: MD Katlego Maphai, commercial director Carl Wazen, financial director Bradley Wattrus, and product & technology director Lungisa Matshoba.
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FOR HELPING SMALL BUSINESSES P L AY T H E I R CARDS RIGHT
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Fast Company: What inspired the idea for Yoco? KM: South Africa has a massive payment acceptance gap. There are lots of cards in the market, but not enough places that accept them. Millions of businesses in South Africa still struggle to accept money in a country with over 75% card penetration. We believe that running a small business is difficult enough; there are a plethora of challenges faced daily, and accepting money should not be one of them. We first saw Square in 2011, during a visit to San Francisco. A year later we saw it everywhere. The light bulb moment or propagation of the seed was seeing a lady, managing a run-down eatery with great barbecue fare, take a card payment. With no point-of-sale or till on the countertop, it was the type of place you wouldn’t expect to accept cards—but the lady whipped out a Square card reader, attached it to a pretty basic Android phone, and processed a $40 transaction with ease. The impact this could have on small businesses back home in South Africa became clear. We saw a massive opportunity, and we jumped in head first. How did the four of you get together, seeing as you have such diverse business backgrounds? KM: I knew Lungisa from childhood; we randomly reconnected at the University of Cape Town in 2002 where we studied for the same degree, Business Science, and became part of the same core group of friends, which has endured until today. I always knew I wanted to work with Lungisa on a project. I met Carl Wazen at Delta Partners, a TMD [telecoms, media and digital] advisory firm I joined in late 2008. We worked on a carrier network relaunch project in Johannesburg. We became good friends, making a pact to start a venture in Cape Town after a great vacation in the city with friends in 2011. Bradley and I met each other at Rocket Internet. We joined the Cape Town team in early 2012. Both of us were assigned to incubate an e-tailer in Nigeria called Jumia. The experience was gruelling and humbling, really preparing us for the challenges to come with pulling up Yoco. The four of us knew we wanted to work together, and went exploring for a business model that attracted us. We went through a range of business ideas, including a wine bar. In the end, we settled on point-ofsale payments. What do you intend achieving with this venture? KM: The possibilities are endless for what we can do through our platform and how we can enable small businesses like never before in emerging economies. Small business owners and entrepreneurs are incredibly passionate and hardworking people. They, however, find themselves spending a disproportionate amount of their time on repetitive, mechanical tasks that do little to improve their business and their customers’ lives. Accepting money should not be a time-consuming, manual task—it should be in the background. Same
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goes for tracking sales, cashing up and monitoring performance. The list goes on. By developing smart technology, applying insights and delivering radical simplicity, we are making it easier to do business. We want small business owners to spend less time on low pay-off activities, and more time improving their customers’ lives, more time growing and realising their business’s true purpose. Due to the payment acceptance gap in South Africa, we saw payments and point-of-sale as a logical first step. Where do you see Yoco in the near future, and beyond?
“MILLIONS OF BUSINESSES IN SOUTH AFRICA STILL STRUGGLE TO ACCEPT MONEY IN A COUNTRY WITH OVER 75% CARD PENETRATION.”— KATLEGO MAPHAI
CW: As mentioned, our goal is to simplify business. We built a solid foundation on which any business in South Africa can now easily accept card payments, track their sales and monitor their store performance in real-time. Our short-term focus is on expanding our presence and growing our community of merchants across the country. We will continue to innovate in the areas that matter the most to our merchants and target customers: the merchant sign-up process, the payment experience, as well as the features and insights that our merchants can access on our platform. And last but not least, we will continue to invest in delivering proactive personal support to all our merchants. It’s something they value, and we will always be there for them when they need us. The future is about building a platform that gives small businesses easy access to the tools, services and insights they need to run their business better. We have an exciting road map ahead, centred on our merchants, and we are still at the beginning of our journey.
Could you sum up Yoco’s capabilities? LM: Yoco’s platform is by far the easiest way for a business in South Africa to start accepting card payments. Signing up for Yoco is an entirely paperless and painless process. You go to www.yoco.co.za, click “Get Yoco” and, after filling in a few fields, you can buy your card reader which then gets delivered to your door in less than four days. You get to keep your existing bank account and you don’t need to sign any lock-in contracts or pay any monthly rental on your device. Beyond card acceptance, we offer the tools and data to run your business better by providing a free point-of-sale app (iOS/ Android) that lets you send receipts to your customers via email and SMS, track cash and card payments, manage your staff and create your own item/product library. We also allow you to scale this all up with our TabletPOS (powered by iKentoo) integration, which is a fully integrated point-of-sale and payments solution for restaurants including table-side ordering and cloud-based reporting. To top it all off, we offer real-time business insights via the Yoco Business Portal: a free web business intelligence service for a business owner to monitor performance and make better business decisions. Why the name Yoco? CW: Yoco is a blend of the words “Your” and “Commerce”. Our company is centred on You, the customer—and it’s about simplifying your commerce, your business.
M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
What was the greatest hurdle when trying to get the company off the ground? KM: For most startups, raising capital and execution are the main challenges. In our case, there were many components needed to pull together the venture, most of which carried heavy external dependencies: Attaining a licence to operate, raising capital, building the product, integrating to the payments network, and getting certified by the card networks were all required before going to market. Our model did not allow for an MVP [minimum viable product] approach, so we only had one chance to get it right. All these elements were interdependent, too—some possessing chicken-andegg dynamics. An example was applying for the licence to operate as a third-party payment facilitator, a process that took approximately a year. As part of the due diligence with our partner bank, we needed to have investors on board—however, to solicit investors, we needed to show that we had a licence. Without the licence, we couldn’t start any product development work. We only knew a year or so into the venture that we could even build the business. We were a bit crazy, but believed in what we were doing. These experiences taught us patience and how to chip away at a large problem by deconstructing it, going one measured step at a time.
What further challenges do you foresee? BW: The next challenges are linked to growth and reaching scale. Sometimes we expect things to get easier as the company grows—and in some ways it does as our business becomes more predictable—but it also becomes tougher to keep flexible and continue innovating. We have to continually adapt and innovate to take our business and ourselves to the next level. What worked to get us this far won’t necessarily be all that we need in the next quarter or year to achieve our goals, and keeping up with these changes as we grow is a challenge. It really helps that we are passionate about designing products and services, and finding innovative ways to get them to our customers; without this passion for what we do, it would be a lot tougher. As a business, some of the biggest challenges for us are likely to be finding the right capital to support us in our growth, and expanding the business and team into multiple locations and countries. It’s important we can do this without compromising the company culture or losing sight of our vision to make it easier for our customers to do business.
Four heads are better than one The co-founders of Yoco: commercial director Carl Wazen, product & technology director Lungisa Matshoba, MD Katlego Maphai and financial director Bradley Wattrus.
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
Uber South Africa
FOR DRIVING A NEW MODE OF TRANSPORT
Uber is evolving the way citizens move, work and live— seamlessly connecting riders to drivers through smartphone technology. The poster child for disruptive tech, it aspires to transforming the way we connect with our communities and bringing reliability, convenience and opportunity to transport systems. Bringing a new innovative and disruptive idea to the African market can never be considered seamless or easy.
Two years ago, Alon Lits was appointed Uber SA’s first GM in Africa. It was uncharted territory and there were many factors to consider. “When we arrived in South Africa to launch Uber, our biggest challenge was that people didn’t believe South Africans would adopt such a technology into their daily lives. There’s a huge culture around car ownership, and a hesitance among South Africans to store their payment information online,” he explains.
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Today, Uber has created more than 2 000 work opportunities for driver-partners. In 2014, it facilitated over a million trips in South Africa and now in 2015 it has more than tripled that number before year-end. “Uber was founded to provide people with a reliable ride, wherever and whenever. For decades, neighbourhoods traditionally served by taxis have had no option for easy, reliable transportation. Now, with a GPS-based dispatch, it simply sends the nearest driver to the requesting rider—for any neighbourhood.” Lits argues that Uber is becoming a word synonymous with mobility in South Africa. Perhaps the company’s greatest challenge has been bringing in disruptive technology while evading the huge resistance that always arises in such scenarios. “There are a large number of existing metered taxi operators who make use of Uber’s technology to supplement their existing businesses, reduce their downtime and increase their earnings. We believe
“WE BELIEVE A REASON FOR THE SUCCESS OF UBER [IN SOUTH AFRICA] IS THAT, BEFORE ITS LAUNCH, MANY SOUTH AFRICANS WERE VERY RELIANT ON THEIR VEHICLES TO GET AROUND AND WERE JUST WAITING FOR AN UBER-TYPE SOLUTION.”
Whenever, wherever “With a GPS-based dispatch, we’re creating a new way to get around South Africa, as [Uber] simply sends the nearest people now know they get safe and reliable rides within driver to the requesting rider— for any neighbourhood,” says minutes, no matter where they are.” Uber’s GM for Africa, Alon Lits. Despite Uber facing legal challenges and lobbying by traditional taxi operators—as it has in many of the other cities it has entered—South Africa has been one of its fastest growing territories. “Since launching here, the uptake has been incredible. In a short space of time, we’ve been doing tens of thousands of trips per week, with thousands of drivers in our system. South Africa is a really great example of Uber’s growth in a marketplace. We believe a reason for the success of Uber here is that, before its launch, many South Africans were very reliant on their vehicles to get around and were just waiting for an Uber-type solution. In the same way, our driverpartners have adopted our tech as a means to facilitate a powerful entrepreneurial opportunity,” Lits explains. He has been humbled by the rate of growth and believes Uber will only get stronger. “Since January 2015, we’ve seen phenomenal growth across all cities and we’re well on track to achieving the growth targets of over 15 000 jobs within the next two years.”
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Uber will be adding other options in order to make the platform stronger. “Once you can deliver a car in five minutes to collect a person, the opportunities are endless. We’re experimenting with a number of products globally, from UberRush [product delivery] to UberEats [food delivery] and UberPool, which makes it easier for people to share rides, thus reducing costs and congestion. “In sub-Saharan Africa, we foresee having Uber in all major cities in Africa—providing people with another transportation option and providing driver-partners with further economic opportunity,” Lits believes.
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The concept of cutting out the middle man and directly connecting with consumers digitally is how many businesses will operate in the future. Johan Cilliers’s company, TaskMonkey, is one of the first of these companies in South Africa. Cilliers is an entrepreneur who started his entrepreneurial journey at 15 and then pursued a career in the pharmaceutical industry. This, however, became too monotonous for him, as he did not see it as challenging enough. He subsequently decided to leave the pharmaceutical
world and start a new, fresh venture: TaskMonkey. Similar to Uber, TaskMonkey is a website and mobile application. Users log onto the site with whatever task in mind and allocate the task to a ‘monkey’, who does the task for you. It was created for people who cannot run their own errands due to busy schedules, and also as a businesses opportunity for those who have the time and expertise to do these errands.
TaskMonkey has been active for more than six months and the activity has been outstanding. “It blows my mind that a simple idea I had a few months ago has grown into this amazing business and that people have come to love the company like they do,” says Cilliers. “It is a great honour for the whole TaskMonkey team and myself to even be mentioned as one of the top innovative companies in South Africa.”
He believes TaskMonkey will become a source of finance for the massive unskilled workforce in South Africa. “Everyone has some sort of skill, and we believe everyone should have the opportunity to use that skill to earn extra money. Poverty is not an unsolvable problem; I can only hope TaskMonkey will make a dent in the poverty problem that faces our beautiful country.” Cilliers is optimistic about the future and has
many expansion ideas in the pipeline. “The future is very bright for TaskMonkey, and there are so many ideas that will ensure that soon everyone will know the brand. At the moment, we will focus on the expansion of the brand and creating more public awareness—but all this does not worry me, as we are still baby [Task] Monkeys and soon will grow into a thriving business. I honestly just want to help our country and try and improve people’s way of life,” he says.
TaskMonkey
FOR RUNNING OUR ERRANDS
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At your service TaskMonkeys are on standby to finish your unwanted everyday tasks such as doing deliveries, going shopping, washing the dog or setting up your WiFi.
M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
Air conditioning is a fact of life in our modern sprawl of office buildings. But with environmental pressures increasing daily, comfortable offices must find more sustainable ways to remain cool or warm, calm and clean. Rickard Air Diffusion is bringing that greater sense of efficiency and sustainability to air conditioning in South Africa. Marketing director Mark Rickard explains: “Our airconditioning outlets need the pressure in the system’s ductwork to be about half of what is required in the typical alternative. The lower pressure requirement results in a 70% fan-
energy saving and a 20% saving in a building’s airconditioning energy bill. “Our outlets are what we call variable volume diffusers; this means they reduce the volume of air into the room when less air is required to maintain its temperature. This reduction contributes to the massive energy savings we are able to achieve. Our diffusers also monitor whether the office is occupied. When the occupant leaves the office, the diffuser closes completely to save further energy. “Rickard is the only system available to offer an electronic control system, and free commissioning and diffuser management
software that allows the user to maximise comfort levels and energy savings, and make management of multizone installations possible. Our controls integrate seamlessly with a building’s management system so that the entire building’s mechanical systems—including the air conditioning—can be managed intelligently through one system.”
According to Rickard, the business owes much of its success to its attention to design detail. “Rickard Air Diffusion has its own design department and a team of design engineers who work constantly on improving, adding to our existing product or creating new product that is unique to the industry. Rickard has been in business for 36 years and attributes its success to
our passion for innovation, our focus on service and the way we treat our staff.” The company recently won the Cape Chamber of Commerce & Industry’s Exporter of the Year Award in the innovation category. Because of this innovation in design— coupled with a dual goal of reducing cost and increasing efficiency— Rickard appears poised to lead its field for the foreseeable future.
Rickard Air Diffusion
F OR CRE ATING A G RE AT ATM O S P H ERE
Cool and calm Rickard’s diffusers save fan and heating/cooling energy to keep employees, the environment and the company’s budget happy.
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Lumkani
FOR RAISING THE ALARM ABOUT SHACK FIRES The sight of homes ravaged by fire in informal settlements is a very common feature in South Africa during winter. A large number of call-ins received by various emergency centres are due to accidental fires caused by domestic slip-ups in these densely populated areas. The degree of damage depends on various factors, one being how soon the fire is detected. But due to the prevalence of these settlements, and the living conditions there, the danger of accidental fires continues beyond the cold season; it is a constant threat. Lumkani is the organisation behind a low-cost early-warning system invented specifically to help reduce the destruction caused by fires in informal settlements—in South Africa and around the world. The Lumkani detector uses rate-of-rise temperature technology to accurately measure the incidence of a fire hazard. An alarm is triggered inside the home to alert its inhabitants of the danger before the fire becomes unmanageable. The radio-frequency devices are networked
within a 60-metre radius so that when a fire breaks out, all devices in this range will ring together— enabling a communitywide response to the danger. This buys time for communities to respond quickly and efficiently. Smart centralised devices, which gather information about the detector mesh network, constantly check the health of the system; in the event of fire, they store GPS co-ordinates and simultaneously send textmessage warnings to members of the affected community. The next phase will involve sending, in real-time, the co-ordinates of fires to the municipality’s emergency response personnel. David Gluckman, a director at Lumkani, believes the device possesses “a great deal of potential in being instrumental in addressing this problem”. An economist by profession, Gluckman graduated from the University of Cape Town and began his career in the private sector with giants such as Ernst & Young and First National Bank. “I wanted to make a career shift, as I had spent time in purely profit-
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driven environments. I thought getting involved with projects that could bring about social impact would be more fulfilling,” he says. “I gained a lot of vital experience while working with a management consultancy firm in a strategic role. I wanted to use that exposure with projects that had a direct impact in society. I found that Lumkani paralleled exactly those ideals.” Initially, Lumkani was born from research done by co-founder Francois Petousis for his electrical engineering thesis at the University of Cape Town. The outcome impressed Gluckman to the extent
that he decided to get involved with the project in early 2014. “It felt like the perfect transition for me, and the decision to get involved with the project came naturally.” Even though the conceptualisation and invention of the fire detector were major breakthroughs, launching the product was a different beast altogether.
“We launched the device in the Western Cape in November 2014. We selected five areas we wanted to focus on, and those included Khayelitsha and Mfuleni,” says Gluckman. There’s an obvious demand for an innovative product like the Lumkani fire detector, but that doesn’t automatically cancel out the immediate
Co-ordinated response The Lumkani detectors are networked within a 60-metre radius so that when a fire breaks out, all devices in this range will ring together.
challenges of launching it. What hurdles did the team have to confront? “The first obstacle that we had to find our way around was product scepticism,” says Gluckman. “Yes, the community needed the solution, but getting them to believe in what we were
offering was a challenge— credibility building was key!” He adds: “Our first rollout in those five areas had to be very strategic, and we involved the community in every aspect. We had to engage with a total of 1 700 households; in that manner, we were able
to build relationships that we plan to sustain moving forward.” Lumkani seems to be settling in quite well. However, Gluckman believes that the fairly new device still has a long journey ahead, and the company is strongly committed to
continuously improving the efficiency of its fire detector. “The device revolves around what works best for the communities. We are in constant engagement with the users to find out new ways in which we can improve the device. The people who use it daily are better positioned to identify all elements that we can improve on. The efficiency of the device has proven itself. There are numerous success stories in areas that we have reached,” he reveals.
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Green Cell Technologies
F OR M A K ING A M ATERI A L D IF F EREN CE IN A LLE V I ATING FOOD INSECURITY
Nine years in the making and several million rands later—not to mention grey hairs—biotechnology company, Green Cell Technologies, opened in 2015 with a fully viable commercial offering. Since launching to market in January, the worldwide interest in the company’s revolutionary technology has been significant. In 2008, when the recession hit, food became a greater priority for everyone. “Not only that, but specifically nutritionally loaded sustenance,” comments Roy Henderson, co-founder and CEO of GCT. With food insecurity already a topic on the world agenda, he and business partner Jan Vlok quickly realised this afforded a great opportunity. Considering that foodprocessing technology has not really changed since the Industrial Revolution and that, in times of plenty, too little attention
has been given to food wastage, the pair set about streamlining and boosting manufacturing. The result was Dynamic Cellular Disruption (DCD) and the Disruptor series of machinery. In terms of innovation, there’s nothing quite like it. Many have tried and many have failed, but GCT has got it right: the means to break open and remove the membrane in plant cells to harvest 99.999998% of the available material—but without using harmful heat or chemicals. It’s a novel concept. What this actually means is that the company is able to process whole fruit, vegetables and plant material (algae sources too) through the process and machinery, reducing manufacturing points and cost (it eradicates an average of 10 current manufacturing steps), and reducing waste to landfill. And that’s just
the beginning. By opening up all the active ingredients and making the product— which comes out as a molecular emulsion— more nutritionally advanced, there’s less product required to feed the human (or animal) body. Food insecurity becomes food prosperity. However, the technology is more than just a better way to produce the sustenance we need to fuel our daily lives. It also has the ability to have a substantial impact on energy and fuel as a whole, as DCD and the Disruptor can equally be applied to breaking open all manner of materials; the future
could see a home-based Disruptor where food, drink and energy are produced on site. Asked how he would describe the technology in one sentence, Henderson states: “We break things up better and faster and for less than anyone or anything else on this planet can do.” Having stayed the distance, from grassroots to startup to commercial entity, Green Cell Technologies—founded in South Africa by South Africans—has seen several of its patents finally granted during the past 12 months, giving it coverage in key territories and opening doors to feed and fuel the world.
Dynamic disruption “We break things up better and faster and for less than anyone or anything else on this planet can do,” says Green Cell Technologies co-founder and CEO, Roy Henderson.
Photograph by Adrian Nakic (Sunshine Co.)
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TRANSPORT
African Public Bicycles
For taking tourists for a (bicycle) ride Jeff Mulaudzi is the kind of innovator who inspires others. Growing up in Alexandra township in Johannesburg, he found an outlet for his unique brand of restlessness— in field hockey. That led to a scholarship at an upmarket school, where his French hockey coach one day asked him for a tour of his hometown. On the spur of the moment, Mulaudzi decided the best way to see Alexandra would be on bicycle. The coach enjoyed it so much that he paid for four of his friends to share the experience. With that
seed money, African Public Bicycles would be born. The first stage of the business involved Mulaudzi marketing his tours at hotels. Currently, TripAdvisor recommends Alexandra Tours by African Public Bicycles as one of the top five things to do in Joburg. “I want people to communicate and interact with Alex and its people,” he says. Mulaudzi takes his tours in groups of eight, for either two or four hours. The two-hour tour includes a visit to a shebeen, the first school in Alexandra, as well as
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Nelson Mandela’s home. The four-hour tour adds lunch, a hostel tour and African beer tasting. At 22, Mulaudzi is already looking to his next venture: the hiring out of bicycles to tourists and commuters, which would bring a global trend of transport to South Africa for the first time. He has already won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the 2013 South African Turkish Business Association Awards, and was named one of 12 finalists for the 2014 Anzisha Prize.
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WhereIsMyTransport
For connecting cities, operators and commuters In 2007, WhereIsMyTransport placed in the final round of three categories in the Microsoft Imagine Cup, a student technology competition. Today, it is revolutionising public transport in emerging cities. From making Transport For Cape Town the first integrated transport
authority in Africa, to launching the only multimodal transit apps for the continent in seven South African cities, WhereIsMyTransport is empowering cities and commuters to move freely and sustainably. The solution makes use of machine learning, big data and cutting-edge technology to connect every operator in a city, centralise the data for governments and
agencies, and power realtime communication and analytics for more efficient, usable networks. Its tools also connect informal transport, which makes up over 70% of trips in Africa alone. By connecting operators’ existing systems, it unlocks the potential of city infrastructure and optimises expenditure, and ensures operators of every type and size are
Mellowcabs
For being a breath of fresh air on the road A Mellowcab is a fully electric minicab designed to provide an on-demand taxi service in urban areas. It fills the gap for commuters needing micro transport within a 5km radius, and can easily be hailed via the Mellowcabs app. On their device, passengers can check where the nearest cab is, set a meeting point, and
equally available to commuters. “The cities we love have been largely underserved by traditional big corporations and tech,” says co-founder, Devin de Vries. “We build products that face the reality on the ground— complex systems, informal transport, huge numbers of commuters who can’t afford most services—and create longterm, resilient networks that will last.”
watch the cab get closer to their location; fares are charged to the client’s bank card via the app. These cabs have zero carbon emissions, and are ultimately much more efficient than traditional taxis. They help to reduce traffic congestion in city centres, and tie in to existing public transport systems. Mellowcabs are fully roadworthy, and comply with international standards—with safety features such as an ultrarigid roll cage and proximity sensors. All drivers possess valid motorcycle licences and professional driving permits. Real-time GPS tracking, radio contact and vehicle monitoring promote safe driver behaviour, in addition to movement reports, ad-hoc alcohol and drug testing, and a passenger feedback system completed via on-board tablet.
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Lexnove
FOR PUTTING IN A BID TO CUT LEGAL FEES We live in an age where technology and new ways of thinking are disrupting the old patterns of business— bringing consumers and service providers together in new relationships. One such company in South Africa, disrupting what it calls “the world of Big Law”, is LexNove. COO Kyle Torrington says, ”Our vision is to dramatically transform the South African legal landscape by increasing access to, and the transparency of, highquality legal services while simultaneously providing more certainty to the consumer as to their cost exposure.” Pundits have described LexNove as a blend of Uber and Tinder for businesses and people looking for a legal service provider that can cover the legal work they
require at a pocketfriendly cost. The LexNove online platform allows users to submit a description of their legal problem, and receive a free early case assessment by qualified legal professionals who then guide the user through the creation of a project brief. This brief is submitted to a panel of pre-vetted service providers who bid, at fixed prices, to assist the user in the resolution of their legal problem— conducted safely and securely through a unique online ecosystem. All project funds are protected by bank-grade security in LexNove’s third-party escrow facility; the funds are released only once the work has been done. Co-founder Andrew Taylor explains the benefits: “Our early case
BitX
FOR GIVING RESERVE BANKS A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY The Internet has already changed how the world trades and does business, but could yet another revolution—in how we create currency—be in the offing? It has come to be accepted that national reserve banks print our money and set interest rates. But proponents of new cryptocurrencies created online suggest the Internet is about to decentralise financial transactions irrevocably. BitX is a Singaporean firm created by South Africans. The software development all happens on our shores, and there
Brothers in law LexNove co-founders Andrew Taylor and Kyle Torrington had previous experience with entrepreneurial ventures, which made them realise the need for innovation in the law industry.
assessment allows for a legal mind to consider— free of charge—a user’s submission prior to distribution among our national panel of lawyers. Should there be any outstanding information or documentation, the LexNove team is able to notify the user and obtain any outstanding information or documentation, resulting in a streamlined interaction with their chosen lawyer.
are subsidiaries in Indonesia, Malaysia, Kenya and Nigeria. The company is working toward the proliferation of the open software and cryptocurrency— known as Bitcoin—which operates via underlying technology known as the blockchain, a public and distributed ledger that records and verifies transactions. By trading in a decentralised cryptocurrency, vendors and purchasers can trade without referring to credit card companies or financial institutions, thereby dramatically lowering the cost of transactions. Werner van Rooyen, head of growth at BitX, explains what makes his company an innovator in this field: “Cryptocurrencies [and the underlying blockchain technology] are a brand-new and
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“Our lawyers are able to view the average proposal number of other lawyers, with the corollary that the price of legal services is determined by freemarket economics— resulting in a far more value-based legal services marketplace. “LexNove will shortly be incorporating a fixedprice suite of services, allowing users to purchase services
potentially disrupting industry. Our teams are working hard every day, finding new ways of including more people into the financial system and improving the inefficiencies that exist in it. “Among many other things, we launched the first [and largest] Bitcoin exchange in Africa; we built the first Bitcoin online banking platform for a multinational bank; and we have one of the largest international footprints in the industry, with registered users from over 140 countries. “But, it isn’t always about being biggest or first; it’s about being the most innovative. With products like our new mobile Bitcoin Smart Wallet, we provide users with contextual information on how and where they can most efficiently spend their money— specific to that user’s behaviour,
specifically tailored for our target market by our network of lawyers at predetermined prices.” LexNove makes its profit by charging 10% of the contracted legal fee, while still estimating a 75% average saving for small and medium-sized businesses. In short, LexNove is leveraging the democratic possibilities of new technology and freemarket models to level the legal playing fields.
location and learnt preferences,” he explains. The Smart Wallet is currently available online and on mobile via the Android and Apple app stores. Van Rooyen believes that new, decentralised currency is the exciting future of finance. “We’re very optimistic about the future of BitX, Bitcoin and blockchain technology—with almost all banks, governments, regulators and many big businesses and investors realising the immense potential it holds. It’s a little bit like the early days of the Internet: Nobody is sure what exactly is going to get built next, but we’re convinced it will be huge and certainly change the way we currently do things. “Our goal at BitX is very clear: We’re making money frictionless and universally accessible.”
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MUSIC TO YOUR EARS DJ Fresh is a well-known radio personality, rocking club deejay, professional producer and creative entrepreneur—so he knows a thing or two about live music and quality earphones. Whether it be road- or trail running, hiking or at the gym, at home, gaming, at work or in between—BUDDS by DJ Fresh give your life a soundtrack. The earphones incorporate titanium speakers and adaptive noise cancellation to give a deep base and crystal-clear sound for a premium listening experience. A lithium battery in the earpiece gives absolute freedom from tangled wires. With three sizes of rubber buds, ear hoops, an in-ear control panel as well as splash- and sweat resistance, BUDDS are a perfect fit—no matter how active your lifestyle. Available online at www.gobudds.com. DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A 91
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The Lazy Makoti
FOR BRINGING BACK A TASTE OF TRADITION
The Lazy Makoti provides intimate and informative cooking lessons for the modern Afropolitan who would like to learn the lost art of preparing favourite authentic South African dishes. The classes include comprehensive one-on-one sessions that teach one how to make a meal from scratch, and include helpful hints and tips to use in the kitchen. The Lazy Makoti (which translates to ‘the lazy bride/ daughter-in-law’) also provides contemporary locally made kitchen accessories including aprons, chopping boards and wooden-spoon sets. What started as a social media hobby for founder Mogau Seshoene has become a solid business; as a result, she is now pursuing a diploma in Culinary Arts, which she will complete in 2016. “Food is very important in the African culture; it brings us together, whether as family or majita (friends) or community. Our aim is to document recipes of African dishes as they were originally prepared. This will ensure the modern woman is in touch with her roots and also able to prepare some dishes she would never have known about,” she says. The project started as a Facebook page that provided easy recipes online, and has since grown into a brand. “I came across a cooking website link and I opened it, only to find it was empty. This led to us hosting ‘The Lazy Makoti’, which inspired a new project where people could document and share indigenous recipes. The issue with us Africans is that we don’t document our history. We have lost a lot of our history, and the least we can do in this modern age is preserve what’s left of it,” Seshoene explains. She believes we live in a time when information is freely accessible, and it should be the same with African
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traditional food. “We are not taking the initiative to learn, and the older generations gave up on teaching us. We live in an era where we can Google anything we want to know about. Why should we struggle with traditional African recipes on the Internet? We can use the Internet to our advantage and make sure this generation and future generations can access our history easily.” At a time when the modern seems the norm, Seshoene is reviving tradition and reintroducing the old.
Food chain Mogau Seshoene says her website documents recipes of African dishes as they were originally prepared. “This will ensure the modern woman is in touch with her roots”.
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Discovery Vitality
FOR REWARDING GOOD HEALTH We live in an age of an ever increasing rate of development in health and medical technologies and treatment, with a concomitant growth in personal health consciousness. Discovery has consistently been at the forefront of these developments, as the company provides health insurance within an ecosystem of its Vitality healthy lifestyle loyalty programme, in alignment with its other financial
services. Discovery currently has four apps on the mobile market, including Discovery Vitality HealthyFood Switch to help members choose healthy diets; and HealthID, which allows doctors to interface with patients’ health plans seamlessly during consultations. The Vitality programme keeps Discovery at the coal face of wellness innovation as the medical aid scheme grapples with one of the central problems of health insurance: keeping people healthy before their
medical expenses unnecessarily escalate. Dr Shrey Viranna, CEO of Vitality, states: “Discovery aligns its business model with making society healthier, by leveraging behavioural economics expertise to improve people’s health. “Lifestyle choices drive in excess of 80% of the disease burden, yet people continue to over-consume healthcare and underconsume wellness. In 1997, Discovery launched Vitality—pioneering the use of behavioural economics-based wellness and incentives to address those poor lifestyle
choices that kill more than half of the global population.” He believes Vitality is providing Discovery with a holistic edge: “Vitality has provided Discovery a competitive advantage that has served the company well both inside our home country and beyond it. Grounded in an evidence-based model, it has evolved into a complete wellness system that tracks everything from physical activity to nutrition over the course of a person’s life.” New technologies are pushing Vitality to an ever closer relationship with
its members. “The development of wearable technologies and refinements to Vitality’s intellectual property this year have resulted in a new product called Vitality Active Rewards, which creates personalised pathways to encourage healthier behaviour with everyday rewards.” Vitality is now reaching out globally to form the Vitality Network, comprising 200 million members worldwide from among the US, China, Britain as well as the rest of Europe and Asia in a bid to create a global revolution in health insurance.
Pursuing clients in the corporate environment is a logical next step. “We believe that employee safety should hold tremendous importance for every company. First and foremost, every employee has the right to work in a safe and healthy
environment. No employee should have to feel at risk of avoidable dangers in the workplace or of danger they may incur in the course of carrying out their duties,” says Ruan Vermaak, new business development director. “By creating a safe and healthy workplace, companies also protect themselves.” Runners and cyclists are also wearing the yellow wristbands as they venture onto the road, to avoid becoming an anonymous victim at an accident scene. By looking for ways to meet a need in a difficult situation—in a sophisticated and integrated manner—iLiveSafe has carved a niche for itself in the emergency services market.
iLiveSafe
FOR COMING TO THE RESCUE No one expects tragedy. Be it a car accident, a medical emergency, crime—no human being is completely immune to disaster. iLiveSafe, however, is making it its business to create layers of support for people in crisis, so that various services can be seamlessly integrated into effective crisis management. Services range from identification bracelets (coded for medical history and personal information), a rescue call centre, trauma counselling, medical advice, legal emergencies, stranded minor rescue to homeand roadside assistance,
among a host of others. The services are bundled, to which members can subscribe for less than R40 a month minimum, to just below R400. Members and their families all get yellow ILiveSafe wristbands printed with an
94 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
emergency number. This all makes for a convenient product that delivers peace of mind in life’s most critical moments.
It’s a big world out there
Stoogle
Stoogle’s founders—James Kieser (CTO), Jason Basel (CEO) and Ben Rath (COO)—started the company because there are so many high school learners, university students and parents who need more practical information on ‘life after school’.
FOR EDUCATING ON ALL THINGS STUDENT It is said we live in the Information Age, and much of our education practices are geared toward teaching young people the skills to process and synthesise information in new and creative ways. But as the complexity of our knowledge economy grows, even accessing the world of informational education has become a sort of digital odyssey. Stoogle is aiming to be the North Star for students as they charter their course through the waters of secondary and tertiary education in a bid to find the treasure of informational capital so crucial to being successful in today’s economy. According to Ben Rath, COO of Stoogle, the online portal aims “to be the go-to platform for all things student”. “From the base of useful
information for high schoolers and university students to matching tools for tutors, application platforms for funding instruments and powerful user-focused recruitment, there is really no limit to what we’re going to do in the next two years. We’ll be doing everything we can to give the youth of this
country more in every way. We have our sights set on a number of other countries, but we’ll start that when we’re finishing off our product suite.” In other words, Stoogle is an informational synthesis site for the world of higher education —which it defines broadly to include all life that occurs after school.
GetSmarter
FOR MAKING SHORT WORK OF CAREER ADVANCEMENT South Africa was almost set on fire this year due to our education crisis. Unaffordability, high failure rates and inequity are merely some of the systemic flaws in the country’s education system. But as experts in South Africa pore over possible solutions, some are already pointing to the innovations offered by GetSmarter as a pioneer in new ways of delivering education in a more streamlined, reasonably priced and customised manner. GetSmarter defines its mission in the following terms: “We
partner with the world’s leading universities to offer the highest quality, career-focused online short courses. We do this to help working professionals around the world acquire new skills and advance their careers. Our courses are designed to equip students with workplace-ready skills and knowledge that are both industry-relevant and current, and recognised by a leading university. “Just because our courses are online does not mean our students are left to learn in
Rath believes the company’s kind of innovation is simply a function of focusing on user needs. “Measuring innovation is an elusive goal, so we don’t try to be innovative—we provide an environment where people are encouraged to think on the ludicrous end of the spectrum of what they
isolation: We prioritise developing personal and individualised relationships with each of our students to ensure their success on our courses. Whether it’s technical support, administrative support, motivation or a subjectrelated question, our Student Success Team is dedicated to supporting our students on their learning journey from start to finish.” In other words, GetSmarter is providing education that harnesses the decentralising and lower infrastructural costs of the Internet in order to decrease fees and personalise the whole study process. Currently, GetSmarter partners with the University of Cape Town, its Graduate School of Business, and Wits University
think is possible. “Though, much of what makes us original comes from purpose. We do what we do because students in South Africa, and in the world, need more assistance at every decision point in their lives. There are endless opportunities when you are focusing on what the user needs most.”
to deliver postgraduate programmes such as Business Project Management, as well as an array of short courses in subjects as disparate as Values-Based Leadership and Creative Writing. With currently only about 1.7% of South Africans receiving a tertiary education, the GetSmarter paradigm certainly is an innovation that provides scope for a new round of problem solving for some of our country’s perennial problems. Coupled with the fact that the old model of one-time study is nearly obsolete (with lifelong study now essential in nearly all industries), it’s clear to see that GetSmarter is a true innovator in its field.
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PriceCheck lays claim to being Africa’s largest price-comparison service, with over five million products listed from retailers including Zando, Konga and Jumia. Customers can search quickly and accurately for products they’re interested in buying— or browse various store sale catalogues—and then learn more about the products and the merchants. PriceCheck supplies direct links to these merchants’ websites to facilitate the ordering process. After South African media group Naspers acquired PriceCheck from founder Kevin Tucker in 2010, it expanded into Nigeria in
2013. It now has about 25 million unique annual visitors across its two platforms, and has recorded year-on-year growth of 40% in South Africa and 600% in Nigeria. The company developed a barcode price scanner that’s a first in South Africa, and a mobile app in association with MTN. In addition, PriceCheck and MTN this year finalised the first commercial mobile-app preload on the MTN Steppa smartphone. With the app, customers can compare prices both online and offline. In 2013, the PriceCheck mobile shopping app was voted International App of the Year at the BlackBerry
Achievement Awards, beating more than 150 000 other entrants. At home, it was a finalist in this year’s MTN Business App of the Year Award. “Less than 1% of retail happens online, yet as much as 40% of the buying decision process starts on mobile. We are now in a position to impact that crucial moment of influence. The future of commerce is on mobile”, says CEO André de Wet. In November, Naspers sold PriceCheck to Silvertree Internet Holdings, which is partnered with original owner, Tucker.
CO M PARE THI S!
Facts and figures that are evidence of the company’s growth and success
700% Scope of growth in three years— putting PriceCheck among the top 5 most visited e-commerce sites in SA and Africa (without even counting mobile traffic)
2.5 million+ Monthly visits to the site (8% of the SA Internet traffic)
73.5% Scope of growth of year-onyear traffic across the site in 2015
1 million+ Downloads of the PriceCheck mobile shopping app to date
PriceCheck
FOR HELPING CUSTOMERS FIND THE RIGHT PRICE 96 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
Retail research “Mobile shopping is not mobile buying,” says CEO Andre de Wet. “Our app is designed to help people shop, make decisions and get the best price.”
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OPRAH WINFREY CEO, OPRAH WINFREY NETWORK
“I only do what I want to do.” A F T E R R E VA M P I N G H E R O N C E - S T R U G G L I N G T V C H A N N E L , OPRAH WINFREY HAS FIGURED OUT HOW TO MAKE TIME FOR THE PROJECTS SHE CARES ABOUT MOST By JJ McCorvey
Styling: Kelly Hurliman
Not on her OWN Winfrey juggles an impressive list of endeavours with the help of her deeply trusted team.
I’ve come to interview the world’s most famous interviewer, and she has already caught me off guard. “So, what’s your intention here with me?” Oprah Winfrey asks, her legs crossed, a serious look on her face. We’re talking in Winfrey’s office at the Los Angeles headquarters of her television channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network (aka OWN), and the flowing white drapes, gilded light fixtures and flocculent, cloud-like sofa make the room feel more like heaven than Hollywood. A floorto-ceiling oak bookshelf behind her immaculately tidy desk is full of intimidating mementos including one of her 18 Emmy awards and a photograph of her with Nelson Mandela. Photograph by Herring & Herring
Winfrey has invited me to spend some time watching her run her media empire and, so far, my visit has been going well. Despite her massive celebrity (and the fact that she met me just an hour ago), she is warm, huggy and—true to her spiritual-guru persona—immediately invested in teaching me something I can use to improve my life. We have already bonded over Mississippi, where we were both born (“What a wowzer that is for me!” she says). But then she drops this oddly blunt question about my intent, and I’m unexpectedly stumped. Finally, after a bit of rambling, I come up with an answer. “I’m here,” I tell her, “to learn how Oprah gets stuff done.” “Okay, great!” she replies. “I can help you with that.” Winfrey is one of the most powerful and influential people in the world, as well as one of the busiest. With a net worth of $3 billion (more than R40 billion), she is one of just two black billionaires in North America (the other is Michael Jordan). Her 25-year run as host and producer of The Oprah Winfrey Show—which, in a brilliant business move, she solely owns through her production company, Harpo Studios—changed the TV business and has left a void since its finale in 2011. As the chairperson and CEO of OWN, she oversees an expanding channel that’s now available in 82 million homes. Jointly owned by Winfrey and Discovery Communications, OWN has nearly doubled its prime-time
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I T IS MORE THAN A M AG A ZINE, I T'S A MOV EMEN T The Digital version of Fast Company South Africa is now available on Apple iPad and Android tablets
Cold Gold Artisan Ice Cream & Sorbet
For selling happiness in a cone There’s no doubt that the average South African food and wine connoisseur has become far more sophisticated. Whether it’s beer, coffee, sushi or pizza, customers increasingly want the real thing—not the mass-produced supermarket version. And now it’s the turn of ice cream. Janine van Zyl founded Cold Gold, an artisanal producer of ice cream and sorbet, so that
she could introduce South Africans to the real product: made from natural, local and seasonal produce sourced from near her Stellenbosch home. A qualified chef trained at the revered Mount Nelson and Twelve Apostles hotels in Cape Town, Van Zyl spotted a gap in the market in 2011.
She believes ice cream makes people happy, and that everyone deserves to be happy—thus began her mission to make original, organic ice cream for any dietary requirements. She initially started making ice cream at her flat and selling Cold Gold at food markets. When chefs and connoisseurs got to know the product, she expanded to include restaurants and delis. Soon the business outgrew the apartment, and Cold Gold HQ opened its doors at Bosman’s Crossing in Stellenbosch in September 2012. Pots (or cones) of Gold can now be obtained and enjoyed at HQ all week. With business getting bigger, it became impossible for Van Zyl to
do everything by herself — from fetching milk and eggs at farms, picking cherries and strawberries, making the ice cream, packing and deliveries to cleaning, marketing and bookkeeping. She now employs staff to assist her in the creation of more than 800 flavours of ice cream and sorbet. Van Zyl and Cold Gold have a major sense of social and environmental responsibility. Aside from providing a great product, Cold Gold aims to support small local businesses, entrepreneurs and farmers as far as possible to empower them to grow their business as Cold Gold grows. It also empowers local previously disadvantaged women by providing employment and training so that they can become pastry chefs while earning a salary to
support their families. Added to this, the company makes an annual donation (in the form of ice cream) to charities that support and rehabilitate abused women and children. Cold Gold uses only biodegradable packaging, with zero wastage of ingredients. The long-term plan is to supply the entire country with ice cream, because “everybody should be able to have their dream dessert and eat it”.
SA Florist
For bringing online flower power The ramifications of SA Florist’s business go further than one may think. Aside from being an online platform for ordering flowers, cofounders Nick Wallander and Fraser Black are proving to be game changers in terms of how they provide a model for local artisans to access a wider market. In short, SA Florist does not just provide online retail for flowers—it creates an
online space for a market that has no edges. Wallander outlined the SA Florist formula at the recent Tech4Africa conference: “Ask the customer where the product is going and immediately geolocate them and their nearest florists. Show the customer who services that specific area and show each florist’s unique range of products. Ask the customer how soon they want it and execute the order. By no longer providing a national catalogue but instead allowing vendors to show their best products at the best prices—in real time— and being able to deliver within a very short time due to their geolocation
relative to the customer, we moved from a pure online retailer to a marketplace where the vendors and clients drive the range, price and delivery.” Providing access for artisans to wide markets is deeply personal for Wallander. “Not too long ago, I helplessly watched as my mother’s florist business fell under trying times. After more than 20 years in the business, this was a bitter pill to swallow. She wasn’t alone: So many traditional florists were being forced to close shop due to economic factors that were simply not in their favour. Big-chain retailers and online florists had become too
dominant to compete with, and smaller florists’ independence was no longer valued. The game had changed, and many were struggling to stay afloat in the global shift toward online business.” What SA Florist has managed to achieve is a bridge between shoppers who want unique, locally sourced products from independent artisans, and those very same artisans who had too often simply missed the new wave of e-commerce.
As Wallander puts it, “A geolocation marketplace means that customers are able to support the florists they really care about. It means that we’re making online personal again.” With an investment of over R3 million from South Africa’s Dragons’ Den, SA Florist is now going beyond simply selling flowers, to a whole variety of perishable goods. In so doing, it is showing the country a new way of doing business.
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Noble Water Solutions
FOR MAKING DRIN K ING WATER SAFE FOR MILLIONS One of the most serious challenges faced in the rural villages of Africa is a lack of access to safe drinking water. Both surface and groundwater is often contaminated, causing an endless cycle of disease. Noble Water Solutions is a Cape Townbased engineering firm headed by CEO Kevin Paxton—and it has solved this problem. “For us, a civil engineering company, the first step was to identify a problem and thereafter go about trying to solve the problem. The problem we identified is
that 300 million Africans do not have access to safe drinking water. After six years of development and innovation, we registered a patent on the Noble Water Station: the first, high-volume [10 000 litres per day], lowmaintenance [annually], portable [can be transported in a standard freight container], solarpowered water treatment plant of its kind in the world. Each water station provides 500 people with 20 litres of safe drinking water every day—for life.” The Noble Water Station can be placed
Oceana Group Limited
FOR CREATING A SEA CHANGE IN EMPLOYEE EMPOWERMENT Oceana Group Limited is the largest fishing company in South Africa and a supplier of fish and fish products to consumers across the spectrum in many African countries, Asia, Europe, the US and Australia. Oceana merged with US-based Daybrook Fisheries in 2015, making it the sixthbiggest fishing company in the world—with annual earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation close to R1.7 billion from a turnover of more than R6 billion.
alongside either vertical (borehole) or horizontal (rivers and lakes) water sources. Using solar energy to drive the water pump, the contaminated water is forced into the holding tank where it is decontaminated. The sterilisation unit inside the tank consists of a probe that identifies the level of contamination. The contaminated water is then pumped through an ioniser and then an oxidiser, after which the water is converted into the decontaminant that’s sprayed over the remaining contaminated
In a country where inequality and the poverty gap are ever increasing, Oceana has taken massive strides to empower its employees and various communities across the country. It was named South Africa’s most empowered company out of the Top 100 Most Empowered JSElisted Companies for 2015. In 2006, Oceana established an employee share ownership scheme, the Oceana Empowerment Trust, for the purpose of acquiring a significant equity interest in the company and to hold the shares for the economic empowerment of eligible employees, namely black South African citizens who are permanently employed or permanent seasonal workers within Oceana. “Where others saw potential
100 FASTCOMPANY.CO.Z A DECEMBER JANUARY 2015/16
water housed in the tank. After passing through an activated charcoal filter to improve the taste, the net result is safe drinking water. Already, 24 countries throughout Africa have declared that the Noble Water Stations are the most cost-effective way to deal with the problem of unsafe drinking water. The company trains technicians at its Cape
for fishing rights, we saw potential for converting our fishing rights into human rights,” says CEO Francois Kuttel. “We are not just paying lip service to transformation—as evidenced again when the seventh Oceana Empowerment Trust Distribution was paid out and a total of R7.5 million was shared out among 2 555 qualifying employee beneficiaries.” The payout will not only benefit these employees but will contribute to improving the livelihood of their families and communities. It will also translate into a significant contribution to the local economy in areas mainly reliant on fishing activities. But Oceana’s empowerment programme doesn’t just end with paying out employees; it also follows up and documents
Town base, who then travel through the continent to train local teams to carry out commission, assembly and maintenance of the water stations. With institutions such as the Development Bank of Southern Africa ready to help African governments finance the stations, Paxton believes the future is very bright for his company.
what the employees have done with the funds. “The issue is not just paying out for the sake of it, but actually empowering people and documenting the journey afterward to ensure it makes a difference,” says Kuttel. Oceana provides financial education training, focused on teaching the beneficiaries and staff how best to manage their finances. Various investment houses are also invited to an open day to provide guidance to beneficiaries to ensure sound financial decisions are made. “We truly are sharing the value the Oceana Group is creating, and view this as what our country needs for socioeconomic stability and the long-term sustainability of our business,” adds Kuttel.
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
Project Isizwe
FOR BRINGING FREE WI-FI TO THE PEOPLE Project Isizwe is connecting people for education, economic development and social inclusion. It is a nonprofit organisation that aims to bring the Internet to people across South Africa by facilitating the rollout of free WiFi for public spaces in lowincome communities. The organisation helps governments plan, roll out and maintain free Wi-Fi networks, helping to trigger a ‘multiplier effect’ on the economy and creating employment. The non-profit structure allows it to pool bandwidth, source local installers and deal with the government without the traditionally excessive mark-ups. Project Isizwe was counted among the big winners at the 8th Annual AfricaCom Awards held in November. It won in two categories: Best Connectivity Solution for Africa for the Tshwane Free WiFi Project, and Best App for Africa for the Tshwane WiFi Voice Mobile App. Launched in 2013, Tshwane Free WiFi currently has over 700 live sites and 1 million unique users connected at speeds averaging 15mbps. The people of the city are able to enjoy
The world in your hand “People need to be connected in this digital age,” says COO Zahir Khan.
500MB per device per day and unlimited access to educational, employment-focused, entrepreneurship and entertainment content. The Tshwane Free WiFi service will be expanding to ensure Wi-Fi is within walking distance of every citizen by 2017, as communicated in President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation Address earlier this year.
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The model can be replicated throughout Africa based on the proven success of the project to use connectivity as a catalyst for positive change. Project Isizwe also developed Tshwane WiFi Voice, an application allowing free calls between users on the network, as well as free calls to the City of Tshwane Customer Care
call centre. Users can simply register their mobile details on wififvoice.projectisizwe. org and download the app using an Android, iOS or Windows smartphone, tablet or laptop. “Project Isizwe is committed to bridging the digital divide through free Wi-Fi, and winning the Best Connectivity Solution for Africa [award] shows that the continent is ready
for a connected Africa,” said COO Zahir Khan, who takes over from Alan Knott-Craig Jr as CEO from January 2016. “Following through with the Best App for Africa is just one way that the free Wi-Fi model starts to effect change for the benefit of our African people. A digital nation and continent will ensure Africa’s position as the continent with the most opportunity.”
Fast Company promotion
A new era
The paperless office is here
The paperless workspace may signal the end of one generation of doing business, but it marks the beginning of a more efficient one, says Nashua CEO Mark Taylor.
W hy the evolution of the workspace is a necessit y for for ward-think ing businesses
Data dyn a m i sm
Colleagues and clients are often surprised when I say I’m not afraid of a paperless office—even more so when I explain it’s my goal to move Nashua toward becoming a paperless working environment. While Nashua has a rich and extensive heritage of success built on paper-based processes, we’re determined to embrace all things future-thinking. As we build the systems and software to better manage our workspaces without being bound by paper, we can work toward cleaner, greener, more efficient office spaces. Nashua has always been at the forefront of managed workflow, but the next and greatest leap into a new era of working starts with a strategic shift in our own company: our offices, our processes, and our outlook on how business should be run.
As part of our movement to become a service-led solutions provider, we’re working with world-class software such as Nashua ProAct—a proactive device monitoring system—plus other best-of-breed costmanagement and recovery systems. These offer centralised, real-time monitoring of devices across a company’s fleet, and allow Nashua to use this valuable data to ensure print infrastructure is efficiently managed— resulting in significantly enhanced performance levels.
En ha nced org a n i sation As part of our mission to help businesses evolve into efficient workspaces, we’ve implemented innovative systems like Managed Print Services (MPS). We’ve seen close to 30% cost savings when our clients make the move from unmanaged to managed services.
Cohe sive work flow
Cha n g e m a n ag e m e nt
The evolution of the workspace is a necessity for forward-thinking businesses looking to stay ahead and innovate. Software that tracks documents means employees don’t have to print unnecessarily, and jobs can move seamlessly through a company—ultimately increasing productivity.
One of the biggest struggles we face in transforming our clients’ workspaces is resistance to change. We combat this by educating our clients through structured change management, helping them better understand the landscape of their new workspace and the benefits of workflow transformation. We’re also training our sales teams and consultants to take a holistic
approach to businesses undergoing workspace evolution.
Globa l network The benefits of the paperless workspace can have far-reaching effects. As businesses become globalised, the need for connectivity becomes greater. A workspace not limited by the confines of print can manage an efficient centralised document storage system, to be accessed from anywhere in the world, at any time of day and night.
Ri se of eco - con sciou sne ss Even a partial move to a document management system will significantly improve waste management and, as a result, offer compelling ‘green’ benefits for business. The paperless workspace may signal the end of one generation of doing business, but it marks the beginning of a hugely exciting, more efficient one. Mark Taylor, CEO: Nashua (Pty) Ltd For more information on Nashua’s integrated business solutions offering, visit Nashua.co.za.
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Bailey Schneider (32) was paired with Sarah Ravenhill (56) “I don’t want to have to work forever because I didn’t make the right financial decisions.”
Glacier by Sanlam
Glacier by Sanlam’s #FutureFWD retirement campaign brought young South Africans up close and personal with the realities of retirement—and the importance of saving early. For the three young influencers who participated in the campaign, it was an eye-opening experience. And their journey uncovered many important lessons for young South Africans across the country to take away and apply in their own lives.
FOR MAKING RETIREMENT REAL FOR YOUNG PEOPLE “As a financial services company, we see it as our responsibility to educate South Africa’s youth about the importance of planning for a healthy retirement. A big part of that is starting early, and utilising the benefits of compound interest and time to enhance savings. #FutureFWD allowed South Africans to experience retirement firsthand and in a positive light. It showed young people that if they live a little simpler now, they will have enriched possibilities later,” explained Zaida Essop, head of marketing at Glacier by Sanlam. Prior to October, the three young campaign influencers— like many other young South Africans—hadn’t given much thought to saving for retirement, and had no
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M OST IN N OVATI V E COM PA NI ES
Candice Bresler (29) was paired with Michael Olivier (69) “I wish I’d known what I know now when I started working at 22.”
GUTTER CREDIT TK
idea exactly what it was they should be saving for. This all changed when they were paired up with like-minded retirees and embarked on the #FutureFWD journey. Together they explored what life is actually like in retirement; they did everyday activities and had serious discussions about the price of food, maintaining their lifestyles as well as challenges such as health and financial well-being. Radio personality and lifestyle blogger Bailey Schneider (32) was paired with retired
tourism entrepreneur Sarah Ravenhill (56). Thoban Jappie (42), a social media entrepreneur, was paired with Tommy Blake (65), a retired physician. And 29-year-old public relations executive and food blogger Candice Bresler was paired with 69-year-old former restaurateur and wine aficionado, Michael Olivier. Reflecting on some of the key learnings and insights during their six-week journey with their retired counterparts, the common thread among the three influencers was clear: Saving for Thoban Jappie (42) retirement is vital and was paired with Tommy Blake (65) needs to start now. “I need to make exercise “I can’t afford to a priority, to ensure put off saving for that in my #FutureFWD I’m healthy and active.” retirement any longer. Not only will my retirement be more expensive, but it will possibly last for a decade longer than previous generations. I wish I’d known what I know now when I started working at 22. I think my retirement will be focused on providing for the necessities only,” said Bresler. The partnership between Ravenhill and Schneider was fruitful from the start. Aligning with
Schneider’s dream of retiring young, Ravenhill retired at the age of 50 after starting her savings from the tender age of 13. “I don’t want to have to work forever because I didn’t make the right financial decisions,” says Schneider. “This project was my first time even thinking about retirement, and I have now set up a proper savings account that earns better interest, and am looking into retirement annuities.” For Jappie, the key outcome of his #FutureFWD journey was health. Being paired with Blake, a retired physician, opened his eyes to the importance of leading a healthy and active lifestyle. “For far too long I have taken my health for granted, and Tommy has opened my eyes to the fact that I need to make exercise a priority, to ensure that in my #FutureFWD I’m healthy and active. Good health is the best investment.” According to Glacier’s calculations, the average life expectancy of a 65-year-old South African is 18 years for a man and 22 years for a woman. By 2035, a 65-year old man’s life expectancy is predicted to be 24 years—six years longer than it is today. “The campaign reached more than 2.2 million people on Facebook and Twitter, and more than 85 000 people have engaged with the content by reading, commenting and sharing posts. It has certainly caught people’s attention, and the response has been incredibly positive. We know that #FutureFWD has made retirement real for many of the campaign’s followers, and certainly the three younger influencers—and that is exactly what we wanted to achieve,” said Essop.
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
Levi’s
FOR STRETCHING ITS INFLUENCE BEYOND JEANS Levi’s is far more than just quality denim. The company aims to be “as innovative and relevant to today’s consumers—and tomorrow’s—as we were when we invented the blue jean 140 years ago,” says president and CEO of Levi Strauss & Co., Chip Bergh. Levi’s is committed to sustainability, as well as
supporting and educating communities. The Pioneer Nation is a movement that inspires a generation of entrepreneurs committed to persevere in the face of adversity and challenge. This year’s event saw an interactive daytime programme bringing together some of South
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Africa’s notable up-andcoming young entrepreneurs to share their diverse backstories. Each of these speakers was selected because of their proven ability to identify a gap in the market. “We’re bringing together entrepreneurs who are doing it their own way, pioneering against all odds”, says Cal Bruns, founder of Matchboxology, the creator behind the Levi’s Pioneer Nation. Levi’s and Google have both created innovations that have transformed the way people live. Blue jeans have forever
changed the way the world dresses, while Google’s search technology has transformed the way the world discovers information. Now, the two companies are working together to tackle a new challenge. Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects (ATAP) group unveiled Project Jacquard in May this year, and named Levi’s its first official partner. The goal of Project Jacquard is to confront the limitations of wearable technologies by decoupling the touch
interface from the digital device. Simple gestures like tapping or swiping send a wireless signal to the wearer’s mobile device and activate functionality such as silencing a phone call or sending a text message. “Levi’s is an iconic brand [that’s] authentic and also highly innovative and fashionable,” says Ivan Poupyrev, a technical product lead for Google’s ATAP group. “Levi’s brings to Jacquard their deep knowledge and understanding of apparel, their consumers, and what they value.”
More than ever , customers want quality above a cheap price— particularly when it comes to their children. In 1996, Shooshoos began making handcrafted leather shoes for babies and toddlers—a target market that had previously been denied comfort and style. Three million shoes later, this Cape Town business is still selling its product, with the dual mission of delivering great shoes as well as providing skills training, employment and upliftment of disadvantaged communities in the Cape area. Gill Bowen, co-owner and managing director, believes the secret of the company’s success is the attention it pays to customers: “We are constantly looking
globally at what the big emerging trends are, and work hard to be the first to market them. We listen to what our customers want and ensure their little ones’ needs are met with our shoes. Our customer is the key to our success. “We have an open mind to our designs and are continually trying to improve the look and wearability of them by always trying to source better and better quality materials. We know no limits to what can be done with our shoes, and push the boundaries with every new season of shoes we launch. We don’t cut corners, and offer our customers the best quality baby shoes.” Shooshoos has also ridden the wave of online shoe shopping, which has seen the company grow
its footprint to over 15 countries. “We plan to grow our presence to become a global household baby-shoe name. We have just opened our first store in Cape Town and would like to roll them out countrywide to increase our footprint and
availability. We have just signed a licensing deal with Disney that launches this Christmas, and plan to grow it to its own stand-alone Shooshoos range. We also plan to roll out our online stores across the globe.” What makes Shooshoos unique is its
commitment to use only natural, supple materials, with cushioned insoles and breathable leather for sweaty little toddler feet. It is this attention to detail, and a holistic vision, that make Shooshoos an exemplar of South African innovation.
Shooshoos
FOR PUTTING SOME SOLE INTO BABY SHOES
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MOST INNOVATIV E CO MPANI E S
IN THE MIX
ONES TO KEEP AN EYE ON IN 2016
We give kudos to the companies that consistently innovate, and the ones we are watching for next year and beyond There were many fiery debates, to-and-fro emails, back-slapping agreements and the occasional discontented grumble, but in the end the editorial board eventually agreed on the top 25 South African companies that deserve to be included in the list of this year’s Most Innovative Companies. However, we feel it is important to mention a few other companies that are either waiting in the wings or which need to be recognised for consistently being innovative in their approach to business; those that might not necessarily have done anything ‘new’ in the last 12 to 24 months to qualify for the positions.
Rise Rise, created by Barclays, is a global community that connects startups, corporates and experts around the world to cocreate the future of financial services, and beyond. It exists both virtually and in brick and mortar. A rich environment is created to accelerate ideas and inspire innovators to develop game-changing scalable businesses. The Rise tech innovation hub in Cape Town—joining others in London, Manchester and New York—provides coworking facilities, a worldclass events space, and a bespoke setting for initiatives like the Barclays Accelerator. This year, Rise has already championed several initiatives aimed at African innovators, including Tech Lab Africa, the Barclays Africa Supply Chain Challenge and, most recently, the Barclays Accelerator programme powered by TechStars.
Why-Fi?
A screenshot of Blink Tower’s explainer video for Project Isizwe.
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Blink Tower
Rosetta Roastery
Thi s explainer-video
This company sources origin coffees from South and Central America, Africa and Asia—micro-roasting each one to best present their unique personality. Rosetta delivers for free in Cape Town and couriers nationwide.
production company helps clients rise up in Google search rankings and reach more people by creating unique story-driven explainer videos that include illustrations, animation, voice-overs, sound and music.
2OceansVibe.com 2oceansVibe Radio delivers intelligent, irreverent programming via its seasoned and well-known show hosts, and mixes this social commentary with a healthy dose of cuttingedge and trending music that hasn’t been created on the conveyor belt of sausage-factory pop hits. It is on air Monday through Sunday, and accessible globally 24 hours a day via its iPhone, BlackBerry or Android apps, or simply by logging online.
HaveYouHeard Marketing The team behind DHL Africa’s Twitter campaign— which was chosen as a top Twitter marketing case study by Twitter Global— utilises word-of-mouth marketing.
i-Pay This is an instant, smart EFT payment service in South Africa that allows customers to make secure online payments directly into one’s bank account.
THE CONSISTENT INNOVATORS
These guys might not have made the list, but they are always above the curve with their innovations Woolworths One of SA’s largest retailers, selling everything from food and clothing to homeware and electronics, to financial services. “Good business Journey” is its award-winning sustainability strategy.
Huawei Technologies This technology company is aggressively gaining following in South Africa because of its innovative products.
Micket A startup that allows users to purchase virtual mobile tickets (mickets) for events using their mobile devices.
Nifty250
Turning pixels into paper
Nifty250 realised there’s nothing quite like a traditional print, or the nostalgic feeling invoked from paging through a lovingly curated family album.
An online printing service that connects with your Instagram account, and easily lets you select the images you’d like to have printed.
Canonical Founded and funded by Mark Shuttleworth, the company ensures Ubuntu runs reliably on every platform from the PC and the smartphone to the server and, crucially, the cloud.
SPECIAL MENTION Bandwidth Barn
Silicon Cape Initiative
A fully networked business incubator that encourages and drives IT entrepreneurship in Cape Town.
A non-profit, community-owned and driven movement that aims to improve the business environment in the Western Cape to create more and better startups, as well as increase access to capital.
Microsoft BizSpark A programme that gives software development startups access to Microsoft tools and training.
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Fast Bytes Fast Company SA takes a look at the innovative new ideas, services, research and news currently making waves in South Africa and abroad
Fashionable furniture Roche Bobois opened its first showroom in Kloof Street, Cape Town in September, offering premium collections of furniture such as sofas, armchairs, cocktail tables, dining chairs, sideboards, beds, wardrobes, storage and accessories including lighting, cushions and rugs. The world leader in high-end furniture has more than 250 showrooms in nearly 50 countries—a true mark of its ambitious accelerated programme of international growth. Fifteen new openings occurred in 2015, in vibrant cities such as Miami, Hong Kong and Mumbai. Roche Bobois embodies the full diversity of French design, thanks to its long-established
network of European manufacturers as well as fruitful relationships with talented designers (Ora Ito, Cédric Ragot, Sacha Lakic, Christophe Delcourt,
Stephen Burks etc.) and prestigious fashion houses such as Jean Paul Gaultier, Sonia Rykiel Maison and Missoni Home, among others.
DISTELL IN HIGH SPIRITS
DIGITAL SKILLS FOR AFRICA South African-based youth agency, publisher and academy, L I V I T Y A F R I C A , is collaborating with the Rockefeller Foundation on the development of a programme D E S I G N E D T O T R A I N 4 8 0 0 0 S O U T H A F R I C A N Y O U T H I N D I G I TA L S K I L L S . The programme, Digify Bytes, will be delivered by Livity Africa, with additional support from Google South Africa, the British Council and British High Commission. D I G I F Y BY T E S is an extension of the three-month Digify ZA programme, which was launched by Livity Africa in 2014. Digify Bytes is a two-day training workshop delivered by young digital professionals to introduce the fundamentals of digital marketing tools, strategies and platforms to young people F O R S E L F - B R A N D I N G , I N D U S T RY P R E PA R E D N E S S , E M P L OYA B I L I T Y A N D D I G I TA L L I T E R A C Y. The collaboration aims to I M PA C T 1 M I L L I O N L I V E S I N A F R I C A through
skills development for youth who would otherwise have limited access to employment.
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Distell has won the International Wine & Spirit Competition’s 2015 Distiller of the Year Award. The prestigious industry title for top quality was announced at a gala dinner in November in London. This is the second time the Stellenboschbased Distell has triumphed against famous-name whisky, whiskey and cognac producers across Europe, North America and Asia. It was the overall winner after receiving two category trophies, five gold outstanding medals and 11 gold medals. Distell took the Best Worldwide Brandy trophy for the Van Ryn’s 12-Year-Old pot still; while the Best Worldwide Whisky trophy was awarded to the Three Ships Single Malt 10-Year-Old. Distell also won big at the New York International Spirits Competition in October.
Fast bytes
Thinking outside the education box
MAXIMUM DATA-THEFT PROTECTION Local IT asset disposal specialist, Xperien, has launched MAXXeGUARD: the world’s first mobile, low-noise shredder that can be used in every office environment to destroy a wide range of digital media—quickly and securely. Data theft from digital media is growing dramatically, and presents a significant threat to organisations worldwide. The MAXXeGUARD disintegration unit will physically destroy hard disks, tapes, CDs, DVDs, USBs, Blu-rays, floppy drives, phones, PDAs, USB memory sticks and more. The machine can be equipped with a barcodereading system, with photographic recording for proof of destruction. Destruction log and recorded photos can be retrieved easily from the machine’s computer.
BENEFITS OF USING THE MAXXEGUARD Extremely user-friendly Programmable
disintegration to 1mm Fast, easy and inexpensive blade changes 1 year manufacturer’s warranty Full service and support available Low noise and zero emissions of hazardous particulates Special build options such as Autoloader Optional report printout
The SeeBox, by South African company K Measure, took top honours in the Education category in the final round of the African Entrepreneurship Award, sponsored by BMCE Bank of Africa. The competition awarded one million dollars in prize money. The Scientific Engineering Education Box, or SeeBox, has the potential to develop Africa’s children into engineers. Local entrepreneur and engineer Johann Kok developed the solution as an educational game that empowers young people to become participants, rather than victims, of the evolving technology economy. Two of South Africa’s leading schools have already committed to the installation of SeeBoxes in their new science centres. SeeBox introduces learners to the core principles of electricity and electronics by means of an easy-to-use technological solution. The product will be commercially available in early 2016, with public pre-orders available soon.
health and medical technology; ICT; metals, tooling and niche engineering; mining; oil and gas; retail; the green economy; and tourism and events. T H E S E S E C T O R S A L I G N C L O S E LY T O T H E E C O N O M I C G R O W T H S T R AT E G I E S O F T H E C I T Y O F C A P E T O W N A N D T H E W E S T E R N C A P E G O V E R N M E N T. By
attracting global associations to the city for these events, the CTICC is making a vital contribution toward growing the city’s expertise, knowledge and skills in all these areas. To stay ahead of the game, T H E C T I C C M U S T R E M A I N I N T E R N AT I O N A L LY C O M P E T I T I V E .
DEVELOPING THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY Conferencing in a country like South Africa, with its U N S U R PA S S E D N AT U R A L B E A U T Y, G O L F C O U R S E S A N D L U X U RY H O T E L S , can easily be seen to fall solely into the leisure category. That’s why it’s essential that policy makers understand the tangible economic benefits and specialist knowledge the industry generates. T H E M I C E ( M E E T I N G S , I N C E N T I V E S , C O N F E R E N C E S A N D E X H I B I T I O N S ) I N D U S T RY I S C H A L L E N G E D T O F I N D I N N O VAT I V E WAY S to ensure the contribution that conferences
achieve in their respective societies and economies is understood and appreciated. Central to the success of the C A P E T O W N I N T E R N AT I O N A L C O N V E N T I O N C E N T R E has been its focus on the development of the knowledge economy. Most of the 502 events it hosted in the previous financial year were categorised into a broad spectrum of sectors including agro-processing; finance;
Its expansion will raise the global competitiveness of Cape Town as a premier world-class meetings and events destination. The MICE industry has proven its economic and job-creation credentials during some of the T O U G H E S T G L O B A L F I N A N C I A L C O N D I T I O N S I N L I V I N G M E M O RY. And there can be no doubt that this industry will be an important part of the future economic success of South Africa. It is for this reason that T H E C T I C C W I L L C O N T I N U E T O P R O V I D E I N N O VAT I V E A N D C R E AT I V E S PA C E S T H AT E N C O U R A G E C O L L A B O R AT I O N , T H E T R A N S F E R O F S K I L L S , and the
continued development of the knowledge economy.
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Next
The Great Innovation Frontier
Walter Baets
#InnovationMustRise T H E N AT I O N W I D E ST U D E N T P R OT E STS OV E R F E E S A N D O U TS O U R C I N G H AV E R E F O C U S E D T H E C O U N T RY ’ S AT T E N T I O N O N I N N OVAT I O N I N E D U CAT I O N
I
N OCTOBER, THE higher education sector was
brought to a standstill as students across the country took to the streets to protest fee increases. The protests rapidly expanded to include a call for free education, and a demand that universities insource workers engaged in services such as cleaning and security.
The actions were unprecedented—and, some argue, overdue. As the gap between rich and poor in the country continues to widen, it is clear that urgent action needs to be taken to build a more just society and economy. It is also clear that there is a hefty price tag that comes with this. What is not so clear, however, is where the money is coming from. In innovation terms, this is something of the perfect storm. As the dust settles, South Africa is going to need its brightest and best to step forward to figure out how to increase inclusive access to education while at the same time making sure the quality and relevance of that education is high. The link between quality education and economic growth and development has been shown repeatedly. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, the largest longitudinal study of entrepreneurship around the world, shows a clear correlation between level of education and an individual’s propensity to start and run a successful business that employs others. Quality education starts way before tertiary level. The entire education ecosystem, from early childhood development to professorial level and everything in between, needs to be pulled apart and put back together to ensure it is delivering what it is supposed to. Ironically, in the same month the protests broke, the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship—a specialised unit at the UCT Graduate School of Business—published the Education Innovator’s Review. This little booklet catalogues 120 initiatives that have demonstrated success in addressing the challenges in the education sector in innovative ways. The stories range from a project to develop talent
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South Africa is going to need its brightest and best to step forward to figure out how to increase inclusive access to education
through creative play using LEGO for Grade R through Grade 7 (by Hands on Tech in partnership with the LEGO Foundation), to an initiative from educational technology company Siyavula (meaning ‘we are opening’) to produce open-source, curriculum-aligned maths and science resources under the Creative Commons copyright—allowing learners and teachers to freely access the content. The researchers behind the Review want to identify the components of these models that have helped them to make a difference. The hope is that they can be replicated and scaled up to make an ever-widening contribution to fixing the problems. There is not just a social purpose motive here. There is evidence that the development of low-cost, transformative education tools is becoming big business globally, with Saïd Business School in the UK setting up an edtech accelerator last year, and venture capital interest in this sector on an upswing. But there is considerable work that needs to be done to change the mindsets of those working in education in South Africa. As Professor Jonathan Jansen points out in the forward to the Review, there is an urgent need for a paradigm shift in the way we approach education. “South Africa will fall ever further behind in the global competitiveness stakes unless we invest in quality education for all our children, built around innovative cultures of open-minded, inventive and courageous thinking,” he writes. “Innovative cultures do not emerge from teaching and learning environments that are riskaverse, test-driven, teacher-centred, authority-based, and that value rote learning over experimental thinking.” It takes courage to create the kind of space that will make innovation possible. As with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and the Marshall Plan that helped rebuild Europe after World War 2, this approach also requires strong leadership grounded in ethics and values. There must be a clear WHY this is important, and a strong call around which to rally. Currently, there is not a culture of bravery in the education sector. The protests have done much to shake some of the key role players out of their complacency. They have also shown us the value of unity in addressing these challenges; one of the most striking things about the events across the country was the degree of support from university administration as well as staff and faculty. Let’s hope innovation will flourish in the space created by the students. It is only through innovation that we can transform education and build a more inclusive economy and society for all. Walter Baets is the director of the UCT Graduate School of Business and holds the Allan Gray Chair in Values-Based Leadership at the school. Formerly a professor of Complexity, Knowledge and Innovation and associate dean for Innovation and Social Responsibility at Euromed Management—School of Management and Business, he is passionate about building a business school for ‘business that matters’.
60% OF THE JOBS AVAILABLE 10 YEARS FROM NOW HAVEN’T BEEN * INVENTED YET.
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At the UCT Graduate School of Business, we prepare you for a career yet to be named, which will require technologies yet to be invented, to solve challenges yet to be faced. *Thomas Frey, The DaVinci Institute
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