A new R200-million partnership to help South African businesses create radical growth has been formed by global business and technology think-tank FutureWorld and Deloitte Consulting in Southern Africa.
"This formalises a long-standing partnership to help CEOs and executive management teams understand, design and create their future," said Wolfgang Grulke, CEO of FutureWorld International and renowned author and futurist.
The new venture, ‘FutureWorld…Powered by Deloitte’ has big goals, said Grulke: "For example, we’re helping just one global resources company increase its market capitalization by more than US$1-billion."
FutureWorld and Deloitte have already helped companies around the world create more than 150 innovative new businesses in the past 10 years. Now, with the formal partnership in place, it is committed to helping its clients drive new radical growth through innovation and thinking differently about the future.
"We do strategy very differently", said Deloitte Consulting Managing Director, Louis Geeringh. "Instead of planning incrementally, asking the traditional questions such as who the competitors are and what market share to go for, we start with what the environment will look like in the future.
"We then ask who will be the winners and losers in that future, and therefore, if our client wants to be successful by serving the winners, what their business should look like. This approach to strategy and future thinking has helped many large multinationals in the US, Europe, Asia and SA, drive revenue growth through the pursuit of new opportunities and the establishment of radical new businesses."
Geeringh said that driving revenue growth in a globally competitive market, where the capital markets mercilessly punish those companies that cannot sustain their growth was critical to keep South African businesses relevant in a global world. "This is a national imperative for SA business."
He described the new venture as "a partnership between two South African success stories."
FutureWorld, started in SA 20 years ago by Grulke, is now established as the global thought-leader helping businesses choose their corporate future. It has done work for more than 100 multinational companies around the world.
Deloitte’s Southern African Consulting practice pioneered the process of innovation delivery for Deloitte worldwide. The new venture will be managed jointly by Neil Jacobsohn, CEO of FutureWorld SA, and Thiru Pillay, head of Strategy & Innovation at Deloitte Consulting.
"We continue to be amazed by the power of this combined strategic process to spark a step-change in thinking in just one day with the executive team," said Jacobsohn.
Pillay said that Deloitte Consulting had hard evidence that growth and innovation are the key drivers of shareholder value. From research conducted by Deloitte, more than 72% of total shareholder returns over the last decade have come exclusively from driving revenue growth – not the typical candidates such as improvements in operating margins and asset efficiency.
"But this does not happen by chance. It’s a process that can be managed. That’s the competitive advantage we can bring."
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Joint CEOs Neil Jacobsohn (left) and Thiru Pillay shake on the deal!