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In this episode Riël Malan speaks to Professor William Duggan who is the author of three recent books on innovation, delving particularly into Strategic Intuition, Creative Strategy Expert. Professor Duggan also teaches about strategy and innovation at the Columbia Business School. He has BA, MA and PhD degrees from Columbia University, and twenty years of experience as a strategy advisor and consultant.

In this episode Riël Malan speaks to Joshua Ngoma who is the founder of Eyesizwe Coal and Enterprising Africa Regional Network (EARN). Poor health forced Joshua into early retirement from mining engineering and since his recovery he has redirected his time and efforts to his philanthropic hobby, which is teaching young African agricultural entrepreneurs how to grow profitable sustainable businesses, while contributing towards food security.

Take a listen to my thought-provoking conversation with Sarah Arnot Mulhern, who I would describe as a polymath. She is an author and has extensive experience as a business coach, currently coaching notable listed CEOs.  In our discussion, Sarah shares her views on organisational resilience, diversity, leadership and narcissism in the workplace among other things. #FindYourFocus #RielMalan #SarahArnotMulhern #podcast #leadership #diversity #coaching #resilience #neuroscience #successplanning #HR #narcissism #creativity #consistency #curiousity #empathy #deeplistening #socialintelligence #millennial #behaviouraleconomics #ShapersMakersBuildersBreakers

I speak to Ronen Aires, an African pioneer in the re-discovery of psychedelics. These ancient compounds have been part of human existence and medication for thousands of years. Yet it has fallen out of favor over the past 60 years. Currently, the use of psychedelics in the treatment of multiple disorders is receiving renewed focus from both alternative health practitioners and medical research institutions around the world. Ronen shares his own journey with us, and we will explore some of the benefits that he has experienced firsthand through the application of various psychedelic compounds.  

Ian Fuhr's name is synonymous with one of South Africa's most recognized brands, Sorbet, a chain of beauty salons that he founded in 2004. But his tireless work in building businesses based on fairness and equality is his greatest passion.

Riël Malan talks to Richard (Kiki) Fernandes, CEO of East-African-based Marginpar Floriculture, producer and exporter of flowers from three African countries. His empowering-, people-centric approach made Marginpar globally competitive and established a culture that serves as an example of what investment in people can achieve in Africa.

Riël Malan talks to Styli Charalambous, CEO & publisher of South Africa's leading news organization, The Daily Maverick. The Daily Maverick is credited (among many other things), to have broken the key state capture stories that catalyzed the Zondo Commission of Inquiry and leadership changes underway in South Africa.  Between Styli Charalambous & Branko Brkic, they lead a fearless group of die-hard journalists that bring South Africans the truth on a daily basis, often with little regard for their own safety, keeping politicians and anybody else wanting to misuse their power, in check.

Kelly Chibale's life unfolded like a movie script. Although success was not apparent at the start of his life. The conversation details his struggles and how he overcame the many setbacks on his way to the top of his profession in early-stage drug discovery. His life is an example of what education can do to the future of Africa's young population. This is the second part of a 2-part discussion, and focuses on why he came back to Africa, and what his vision is for African research capacity.

Kelly Chibale's life unfolded like a movie script. Although success was not apparent at the start of his life. The conversation details his struggles and how he overcame the many setbacks on his way to the top of his profession in early-stage drug discovery. In this in-depth discussion, he discusses perseverance and his philosophy for success, and his vision for Africa to play a much larger role in clinical trials and the pharma sector. His life is a real-life example of the tremendous power of education.

Andy du Plessis is the CEO of  FoodForward, the largest food-redistribution program in South Africa. At a time when South Africa is reeling from the effects of the Covid-19 crisis, Andy and his organization's mission has never been more relevant. With more than 30 million people estimated to be in food distress at the moment, they distribute more than just food, they distribute hope to many that have been plunged into a desperate situation.

Louise van Rhijn's organisations Symphonia for South Africa and Partners for Possibility focus on working with school principles and business executives, by placing them in partnership relationships to lift the general level of management in schools. She challenges both sides to “cross the boundary” - to move out of their comfort zones and work in a closer partnership to create the education future our children deserve. Louise is also at the forefront of dealing with the additional challenges that the Covid-19 crisis is bringing to schools and communities. We salute her as a true Covid-19 Hero.

Matt Brown is the definitive “restless soul". He has travelled and lived across the world, and while doing this, started not less than 10 businesses by the time he hit 40. In 2015 he “fell into podcasting”, at that stage an unknown medium in mainstream circles. Fast forward to 2020, Matt has become a household name to many, with more than 200 episodes and 1m downloads of his podcast, "The Matt Brown Show." This also led to a bestselling book, "Your Inner Game", where Matt unpacks the key lessons and patterns he observed through the many conversations he had with exceptional individuals.

South Africa’s education system is broken. We know this from the graduation statistics that surface year after year. But we also know this from the unemployment rate - and specifically youth unemployment rate of more than 50% at the end of 2018. Not only is our economy in trouble, but our youth also seems unemployable after finishing school with no hope of further tertiary studies. John Chambers, previous CEO of CISKO once famously said: " The two great equalizers in the world are education and the internet." And combined, in the shape of what is commonly referred to as Eductech, we could have a major impact on the trajectory of our current generation. But why is this not happening? I sit down with Kirsty Chadwick, CEO & Founder of The Training Room Online (TTRO) to discuss how edtech and a few small tweaks to our approach to providing education, could completely change the legacy of a seemingly broken education system. She is a passionate trail-blazing teacher turned entrepreneur who has set her sight on “changing the world” through providing educate solutions in South Africa...and now also the Middle East

Allan Gray recently passed away. Leaving not only the largest fund manager in Africa as a legacy, but also two foundations he started with Anthony Farr. The leadership legacy that these two foundations will leave, will live on for generations to come. The approach taken,  and the impact that these two foundations will have on Africa is not well known and explained in this conversation with Anthony Farr.

Vusi Thembekwayo is at the top of his game as a sought after speaker on leadership & entrepreneurship topics. I caught up with him in Johannesburg, where his other business, My Growth Fund, is based and about to launch a great business training initiative into townships. Vusi is a master of clear and thought-provoking thinking. He is starting to play a significant role as an opinion former to many young, and increasingly cynical South Africans who are looking for guidance in life, and in business. He is no stranger to controversy, and the reason he articulates so well when he says: "Facts don’t care about feelings" In this conversation, he challenges "white thinking" and "black thinking" alike. He just generally challenges our societies' thining (or the lack thereof). But he does it in such a very constructive way, and I do believe if we can emulate his approach to such matters, we can progress our collective narrative to a point where we can really address the various biases in all spheres of society at its root. Please enjoy my though-provoking and inspiring conversation?

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 Vehicle in which he partnered with well known and seasoned ICT executive, Romeo Khumalo. We discuss topics covering fatherhood (04:00), building and preparing a business (33:00) with an exit in mind, his investment philosophy (48:00) in general, but more specifically in technology (1:16), the legacy he wants to leave (1:41), the advice he will give to young entrepreneurs (1:29) and very importantly how he has stayed ahead of the pack in a very demanding industry over the past 18 years. Gil has recently been listed as one of the ten people to watch closely in technology in South Africa

I am finishing this first season of Shapers, Makers, Builders & Breakers with a conversation with an extraordinary young man, Taps Mugadza. His life story reads like a movie script. Abandoned on steps of an orphanage when he was just 2 days old, he lived through a trying childhood where the little stability he had was taken from him a number of times. Over his formation years, he discovered he had an extraordinary musical gift and through a chance meeting with someone who saw his potential, he found himself on a plane to the USA, destined for great things as a recording artist. Taps Mugadza is a worthy role-model in Africa. Please join me in my conversation with this extraordinary man & musician.

This was the first episode of the podcast series aired in February 2019. Being the first episode in the series, I do believe that it did not receive enough attention and is worthy of a re-release. It was filled with tremendous life lessons and learning. Themba remains 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 young business leader to eventually found Discovery Insure. His vision grew from just an idea to a business unit receiving more than R4B of insurance premiums - and this recently culminated in him being honoured with the All-Africa Business Leaders Award as 2018 Entrepreneur of the Year.   He is in my mind thé role-model for any young ambitious South African wanting to go places, but seemingly have a shortage of resources to get there. His story is all-inspiring and very relevant necessary to be told.  

Today is woman’s day in South Africa. And my guest is a woman who is boldly opening new frontiers through the radical digital transformation of her family business, Associated Media Publishing. A company that her mother started three decades ago, and one that she has been leading for the past few years. Very few industries have experienced the extent of the disruption that publishing has experienced. Julia shares how she navigated the very stormy waters of disruption. And how she has now reached a place where Associated Media Publishing can now truly say they have transformed to “omnichannel media platform". It is a story that will be playing itself out in many industries in the years to come, and lessons that Julia conveys has a broad application to most businesses.