GET TO KNOW
trying to
find product-
market fit.
Coast cycle races.
I read a lot of books, mostly non-fiction,
and I unwind after every day (and over
weekends) by drinking some whiskey or red
wine, and I enjoy watching good movies, a
series and too much sport, of course.
If you could go back and change one
career decision what would it be?
I was very good in my field of expertise with
electromagnetic engineering, but a few of
my colleagues were better than me. I should
have realised earlier on that the combination
of my business sense and engineering skills
is my strength and I should have moved out
of detailed engineering work earlier in my
career, leaving it for the real techies.
What do you currently identify as
the major areas of investment in
your industry?
Currently we
can still find
and attract
excellent,
world-
class, talent
and these
employees are
definitely still
competitive on
the international
stage. Maybe
there are
challenges in
working with
some of the bureaucracies in government
but, in our view, these are secondary issues
and definitely at present not the main
reason for any failing ventures or product.
What changes to your job role have
you seen in the last year and how
do you see these developing in the
next 12 months?
I’ve become more involved in attracting
capital for our current and new ventures.
We’ve bootstrapped our way for many
years and used self-generating funds to
invest in, and grow, new businesses. We
believe we can accelerate this and also take
on larger and more bold new ventures with
external capital. I suspect that I will have
to learn, over the next 12 months, how to
manage new and for the first time third-
party partners.
“
MANY NEW
PRODUCTS WILL
BE CREATED IN
THIS SPACE OF
HARDWARE-
ENABLED-
SOFTWARE
OVER THE NEXT
DECADE OR TWO.
What advice would you offer
somebody aspiring to obtain
C-level position in your industry?
In technology it is valuable if you can obtain
actual experience through at least five years
or more, in R&D and/or implementation,
not at middle manager level but at
implementation level. This will allow you to
understand the issues and non-issues better.
Then, you have to learn to delegate, really
empowering other people to run with things.
You also need to know what you should
delegate and what not.
I don’t remember where the quote
originated from, but this is one of the
most important things to remember in
business I would say: “Don’t confuse effort
with results.” n
The Internet of Everything. We’ve decided to
invest in themes associated with the Internet
of Everything: Sensors, electronics, data
science and software. Many new products will
be created in this space of hardware-enabled-
software over the next decade or two.
What are the region-specific
challenges when implementing
new technologies in Africa?
We don’t have much experience in
implementing new technologies in the
rest of Africa. In South Africa itself we find
it quite easy to develop technology and
enter markets. We do not have many more
challenges than the normal problem of
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