Bruce Whitfield’s Business Week

Afrimat CEO Andries van Heerden joins Bruce to unpack the group’s toughest six months since listing in 2006. Soaring shipping rates, a stronger rand, a mine reaching the end of its life and ferrochrome smelter shutdowns pushed the market darling into a loss, but he argues the way through is clear, even if the timing isn’t. Jurgens Uys, co-founder of Versus Socks, talks about turning R15 000 and a...

In this episode, Capitec CEO Graham Lee joins Bruce to unpack another extraordinary set of results from South Africa’s most disruptive bank. With 16.5 million digital clients, a cost to income ratio that has dropped to just 36 cents in the rand and business banking growing at over 50%, Capitec continues to defy every sceptic. Lee explains why the branch network is not a cost but a competitive adva...

Most of us have stopped thinking about payments. You tap your card, tap your phone, and walk out. It just works. But behind that two-second tap is one of the most complex and fast-moving infrastructure systems in the modern economy – and it is changing faster than most businesses realise. In this standalone episode of Bruce Whitfield’s Business Week, Bruce sits down with Chris Zietsman, executive...

In this episode, Momentum CEO Jeanette Marais unpacks a standout year, with normalised headline earnings hitting R7 billion ahead of schedule, five business segments crossing R1 billion for the first time, and India emerging as the group’s most exciting long-term growth story after the health insurance joint venture with Aditya Birla Capital turned profitable for the first time in a decade. Eben d...

In this episode, Omnia Group CEO Seelan Gobalsamy discusses a record year driven by Africa’s growing food security imperative, with fertiliser demand rising across the continent and a strategy built around becoming the essential input supplier for African farmers. Optasia CEO Salvador Anglada unpacks how the group is making more than a billion credit decisions a month, facilitating $3.5 billion in...

In this episode, FirstRand CEO Mary Vilakazi unpacks results that look worse than they are. Reported earnings fell 5% after an R11.4 billion provision for the UK motor finance scandal, but strip that out and normalised earnings from continuing operations grew 13%, with return on equity at 24%. The UK business is being sold, and FirstRand is placing its next big bet on Optasia, a fintech platform t...

In this episode, Reserve Bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago joins Bruce to unpack what he calls a “polycrisis of overlapping shocks”, from the war in Iran to Ukraine’s attack on Russian wheat infrastructure and the looming El Niño threat to South African food prices. His message: South Africa’s starting point this time is fundamentally stronger than in 2022, and that breathing room is why the Reserve...

In this episode, MTN CEO Ralph Mupita joins Bruce to unpack a strong set of first-half results driven by Nigeria, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, with R13.9 billion in dividends repatriated. Mupita addresses the R74 billion trademark lawsuit MTN dismisses as frivolous, the Iran investment it cannot exit because of US sanctions, and what it actually takes to operate profitably across 19 contested African...

In this episode, DRDGold CEO Niël Pretorius explains how the company extracts 1.93 grams of gold per tonne of mine-dump material, and why, at $4 000 an ounce, that amounts to R4.2 billion in profit, while simultaneously cleaning up Soweto’s dust problem and reversing a century-long environmental legacy. Bruce McMurray of Jockey South Africa speaks on keeping a 150-year-old underwear brand relevant...

In this episode, ENS head of forensics practice Steven Powell goes behind the scenes of asset forfeiture, using the Tembisa Hospital scandal to explain what actually happens after the cameras leave and the Lamborghinis have been seized, and why South Africa’s ability to secure convictions amid a Financial Action Task Force review matters more than most people realise. Neil Swart of the Belly Resta...

In this episode, Nedbank CEO Jason Quinn unpacks flat headline earnings that hide 12% underlying growth, explains the NCBA acquisition in Kenya and what it means for Nedbank’s African ambitions, and reads a South African banking landscape as being disrupted from every direction. Nick Miller of Teach Me 2 and Coachbit tells the story of building a tutoring platform from a UCT engineering dorm to TI...

In this episode, Murray Clark, co-founder and CEO of Neighbourgood, talks about The Acre at Golden Acre, converting Cape Town’s iconic 27-floor CBD office block into 417 apartments with flexible leases, co-working spaces and shared amenities. It’s a bold bet on city centre living and adaptive reuse done right. News24 Business editor Helena Wasserman unpacks a results-heavy week: Woolworths holding...

In this episode, Arthur Gillis, the last of the old-school hoteliers, reflects on 50 years in the industry, growing Protea Hotels from four properties to 116 across seven countries, negotiating its R2 billion sale to Marriott in 2014, and now handing the keys of Platinum Hospitality Holdings to his son Anton after deliberately leaving the room during the board process that appointed him. Patrick S...

In this episode, Bruce chats with Herotel CEO, Van Zyl Botha, about the partnership bringing Amazon Leo to South Africa, a satellite internet service that could finally connect farms, townships and rural communities where fibre has never reached. South Africa goes live in 2027. Claire Swanson of ARK Provisions tells the story of a sweet she tasted in Mexico that reminded her of corner shop treats...

This week, Bruce chats with Ricky Ruthenberg, CEO of Bootlegger Coffee Company, about building one of South Africa’s most recognisable coffee chains from a single Sea Point store in 2013 to 116 locations today – with 15 to 20 more planned before year’s end. Ruthenberg unpacks the two-model strategy, the cautious push into Namibia and Africa, and why the coffee revolution in South Africa is still f...

In this episode, Bruce chats with Stuart Williams, CEO of Rolux Global, about one of the most unlikely turnaround stories in South African business. In 2023, six weeks from closure, Williams shipped product cold into the United States with no brand and no customers. It sold out in six weeks. He has since moved his family to Atlanta, partnered with EGO Commercial on battery mowers to crack Californ...

In this episode: why being unreasonable might be the best leadership trait right now, why food prices could be the world’s next flashpoint, and the El Niño risk building in commodity markets. Andrew Woodburn of Amrop Woodburn Mann discusses why uncompromising leadership may be exactly what the world needs. Christiaan van den Berg of JOBJACK explains why SA’s unemployment crisis persists even as em...

In this episode, Bruce chats with AD Schoeman, co-founder of The Surgical Assistant, about the platform connecting unemployed young doctors with surgeons needing theatre assistants. Built from personal frustration in 2018, it now spans a staffing platform, a training academy and an NPO, though the founders admit it only thrives because the system around it is failing. Helena Wasserman, editor of N...

In this episode, Bruce puts SPAR CEO Reeza Isaacs in the hot seat. Isaacs, the retailer’s third CEO in three years, takes questions on why profits have more than halved, what’s gone wrong with the independent retail model, and how to roll out a turnaround plan that is more than just talk. We also get a glimpse into Handwritten, YuppieChef co-founder Andrew Smith’s new book on building one of South...

Bruce chats with Tiger Brands CEO Tjaart Kruger about a robust set of interim results: operating income up 26.1% and R9.2 billion returned to shareholders since 2024. But with geopolitical uncertainty expected to bite harder in the second half, the question is whether the momentum holds. Adrian Kinsey-Quick tells the story of Bangbroek Aperitif, a vodka-based spirit infused with Karoo Agave Syrup,...

In this episode, Bruce chats with Netcare CEO Richard Friedland about how AI and digitisation are transforming healthcare. With savings now exceeding implementation costs, smartwatches are monitoring patients in real time, and algorithms detect sepsis long before symptoms appear. As Friedland puts it, the clinical AI revolution is already here. News24 Business editor Helena Wasserman unpacks new l...

This week on the podcast, Bruce chats with WeBuyCars CEO Faan van der Walt about how Chinese and Indian vehicles are reshaping South Africa's used-car market, accelerating depreciation for legacy brands, and forcing a new equilibrium in the industry. Despite the headwinds, WeBuyCars is backing itself hard, expanding aggressively, targeting 20% market share, and doing it all without debt. Then,...

In this episode, Bruce chats with Boxer Superstores CEO Marek Masojada about the discount giant's first full-year results since listing on the JSE, with headline earnings up 13.2% to R1.6 billion, and how Boxer keeps growing amid deflation, rising fuel costs and looming food inflation. Helena Wasserman, editor of News24 Business, reports live from NAMPO 2026 in Bothaville, where producer profitabi...

In this episode, Bruce explores the global fallout from the Iran conflict – and why the risks extend far beyond oil prices. Omnia Group CEO Seelan Gobalsamy explains how disruptions to fertiliser supply chains could place renewed pressure on food prices, farmers and the broader economy, even if a peace deal is reached. Helena Wasserman, editor of News24 Business, unpacks China's tariff removal...

In this episode, Bruce unpacks what a doubling oil price means for South African fuel costs, inflation, and the global economy – and why the US midterm elections may be the most powerful force pushing president Donald Trump toward an off-ramp. Peter Armitage, CEO of Anchor Capital, discusses what's really driving oil above $126 a barrel. Adri Williams, founder of Khayelitsha Cookies, reveals h...