The Future of Consumer Goods

Disruptive technology: designing strategy, operation and route to market.

'The opportunities presented by technology are endless and ever-flowing, so depending on the industry, some companies are doing better than others when it comes to keeping up and making full use of it. Being in a traditional industry (e.g., the food industry) makes it harder to overcome the internal hurdles of adapting or looking at new technologies and many are just at the beginning of exploring how to leverage things such as ChatGPT to improve business operations as well as inspiring the workforce to adapt. On the other hand, and despite the progress made with AI, the concept of the brick-and-mortar store is still paramount to strategy to many industries ( e.g., electronics, smartphones) and goes hand in hand with AI implementation when it comes to business development, capital allocation and forward planning. 

One thing to consider is we have an aging society, and this is something we can actually see as having potential because AI is not only for low-skilled jobs anymore. I think there's a positive side to it but each of us is accountable for this, not only the CEO. It's everyone who makes decisions on whether to use this technology and for what purpose,' says Blair Bullus, President, Wamame Foods.

Embracing diversity: making recruitment and marketing connect with all backgrounds and generations.

'Work-life balance is viewed differently across generations, and whilst it is difficult to attain this consistently, organizations ought to be open-minded as a one-dimensional approach may not quite work. This is a complex and ever-changing dynamic. Per the combined experience of our panel, a less diverse workforce is a less prosperous one.  Along the value chain, from production across operations, age groups differ and it’s not by accident. Different roles require varying traits, energy and work ethic. 

A large shift is being seen by some in not using the word diversity as a buzz word, as people talk about it constantly and there's a level of authenticity that is required which can even be legislated in some territories, making it mandatory. The general consensus is that if companies are not focusing on diversity, they are really missing out on a lot of opportunities, particularly in the case of global businesses,' states Thateng Shimange, Head of Business EXACT, TFG (The Foschini Group).

As technology develops, so too does the need for the right leaders to drive companies through the changes and to maintain corporate identity and branding that reaches all targeted generations, and all within the correct legal frameworks. At Kestria our mission is to keep on top of these needs across industries, continuously talking with the experts in the field on the most important things to be considered while tweaking the formula for success with our partners.