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Innovation is high on the priority list for most businesses. Although a relatively new buzzword in business, Innovation is not a new concept. People have been innovating since the dawn of time. What has changed in the last couple of decades is the speed of innovation required to keep up and stay relevant in this...

 It’s challenging for large enterprises to keep up with  smaller nimble start-ups that disrupt industry. They use a human-centred design approach to create products that speak to their customers’ needs. Millions are invested into innovation teams that are mandated to develop internal capability to innovate and experiment with new ideas. Too often they fail and...

South Africa, like most of Africa, faces some very interesting challenges when it comes to banking. What does this mean for the future of banking? Large unbanked population A very high proportion of our population is unbanked. This has led to various Fintechs and banks developing solutions to cater to the unbanked. Most of these...

What is customer discovery? Customer discovery means identifying your first customers. It is done by taking your main assumptions about who your customer is, the exact problem you are solving for the customer; and how the customer will buy from you—and turning those assumptions into hypotheses which you will then test (mainly through interviews with...

An interview with Louis Geeringh (topic: disruption in business) Disruption in business is a key driver of sustainable growth – for a company who capitalises on the disruptive opportunity, or for a new market entrant who causes disruption. But often we read about the “fear of disruption”… What exactly is the fear of disruption? The...

Written by Brett Terespolsky (topic: technology) No longer a buzzword, fintech has for a while been changing the way in which we transact financially both as businesses and individuals. Heralded as ‘one of the fastest growing areas for venture capitalists’, fintech incorporates anything from PayPal to online credit transactions. Loosely defined, it is the very...

Written by Asia Sultan (topic: innovation performance) Traditionally, companies have used KPIs to determine how well they meet their operational and strategic goals, as said KPIs have conventionally been seen as important in defining how a company progresses towards it business and marketing goals. But, in a world where start-ups are disrupting industry giants – as is the case with Airbnb in the hospitability industry – increasingly organisations are looking towards innovation to keep up and grow their...

Written by Gugu Sithole-Tyali (topic: innovation) Human nature’s resistance to change is well-known. We tend to cling to what is familiar … known … safe. The same is true within organisations. After all, change management programmes exist for a reason. But, similarly, we all know the saying, “Insanity … doing the same thing over and over again...

Written by Craig Eliasov (topic: innovation team roles) So, you’ve been tasked with leading innovation in your company. Your job is to put together a team that will not only come up with new revenue-generating ideas but will also take these from concept to marketable solutions.  This team will require clear goals, a nurturing environment, and a simple...

Written by Thabo Ramphore (topic: innovation) With innovation being at the top of just about every organisation’s agenda, building a culture in which team members can exchange ideas, and then implement best (and fastest) processes to get to market-ready solutions, is more important than ever. There’s a saying that goes “you are the average of the five people...