Shapers Podcast

Allon Raiz is "a collector of entrepreneurs." He has built, in the words of The Economist, "the only true business incubator on the African continent". And he has done this without any government assistance. Over 19 years, he has incubated 12500 businesses, of which over 500 are currently in his Raizcorp program. These businesses maintain an average revenue growth rate of 41 %, and 238% profit gro...

There are few examples of successful African technology companies. In this episode, Riël Malan talks to the CEO's & co-founders of 3 tech startup companies based in Cape Town (South Africa) that has passed the 1000 day mark are gaining significant traction in the local and international markets. They discuss their journey with its highs and lows, how they identified their respective opportunities,...

Ntombi Langa-Roys grew up in exile with a father that was actively involved in coordinating the struggle against apartheid. She sat around the table with her parents with many noteworthy struggle leaders as a child, while they debated the strategies and solutions to bring about change in South Africa. Over the years, this foundation guided Ntombi to play the guiding role that she plays on various...

A lot has been written about "the fortune at the bottom of the pyramid." Add to that the alluring prospects of Africa's population that are set to double by 2050. So theoretically, you have a cocktail of great potential on the African continent. However, Africa has remained the stepchild of global business, and whether it is real or perceived - the risk of doing business in Africa, still often ove...

In 1970. Philip Krawitz took over a single small specialized store, that was founded by his grandfather in 1933. Under his leadership that one store, grew to a group of over 260 stores ( Cape Union Mart Group ), employing more than 3000 people in the various brands it now owns and operates. It is the largest privately held clothing retailer in Africa. Philip is a thinker and keen observer of human...

Richard Cock needs no introduction to classical music lovers in South Africa. He has been creating music for more than 50 years and weathered the storms through turbulent times in South African music world - to come out stronger. This emotional conversation speaks volumes about Richard's passion for his art. He is also a poster child for what music can do in the educational context, how it can giv...

Arthur Gillis has carved a spectacular career in the hospitality sector over the course of more than four decades. From humble beginnings as a tour guide on an ostrich farm, to the building, and heading up Protea Hotels, who became the largest hotel group in South Africa employing over 16 000 people by the time it was sold. He has seen it all when it comes to the hospitality industry. The cherry o...

As humans, we often make excuses. We're too young, we're too old, we don't have money, we don't have connections, we don't have the right skills, we're not the right gender or race. My guest today breaks all of those myths. He is an inspirational young man, who in the course of his first 25 years of his life lost everything...including some of his limbs. The dark side of life threw all the challen...

The New digital economy holds great potential for progress and disaster. We need to rethink everything - how we interact, how we do business, how we spend our free time - and fundamentally who we are as humans. And as a human race, we are struggling with the transition. My guest in this podcast is an expert in the field of Digital Transformation. He is someone who's professional opinion I hold in...

"The beauty of being a researcher, is you keep on being reminded of your own bubble." Riël Malan has a discussion with Andrea Gevers, CEO of Ask Afrika, the largest independent market research company in Africa. The right data, and on a large enough scale, speaks volumes. We live in a world where data is described as "the new gold". And this data is used more and more to not only understand what o...

Riël Malan sits down with Anthony Farr the CEO of the Allan & Gill Gray Foundation to discuss the most interesting social entrepreneurial venture in Africa today. Alan Gray built the largest fund manager on the African continent over the scope of 45 years since 1973 - with a very a long term, value investment approach that has made them the benchmark to beat as a fund manager He then quietly donat...

Gil Oved is the co-founder of the creative council, an iconic business that he co-created over the scope of the last 18 years from only an idea and recently sold to Publicis, the well known French Multi-National. Gil is probably publicly best known for his role as one of the sharks in the hit TV series, Shark Tank. He will be starting 2019 in his new venture LLH Capital - a Permanent Capital Vehic...

In this first episode, I sit down for a candid conversation with one of the most inspiring young business leaders in Africa and South Africa today. Themba Baloyi is a textbook example of what determination can overcome in the face of every kind of adversity - a challenging family structure, money shortages for education, various business rejections - none of which could hold back the rise of this...

We are launching Shapers, Makers, Builders & Breakers in January 2019. In this introductory episode, Riël discusses what you can look forward to in the episodes that will follow in 2019.