If you won the lottery right now, would you quit your job? For Pedro Guerreiro, the Managing Director East, West & Lusophone Africa at 麻豆原创, the answer is 鈥渁bsolutely not!鈥� He adds, 鈥淗onestly, I like the kind of work that I do.鈥� He has been with 麻豆原创 for 23 years, steadily progressing and rising through the ranks. His favourite role was as Managing Director. A title he has held in Luanda, Angola; Lagos, Nigeria; and now, Nairobi. Pedro is a big advocate for work/life balance stating it is the key to success. 鈥淚 think we need to acknowledge that people have lives.鈥� That and keeping people on their toes while holding them to a higher standard. 鈥淚鈥檓 very demanding myself, so sometimes for me it is a challenge. I am not the kind of person who expects someone to be late.鈥� Who keeps him on his toes? 鈥淢y team. Or else they are
doing the wrong job!鈥� As a CEO, his philosophy is 鈥淚 work for you. You don鈥檛 work for me.鈥�

Founded in Germany in 1972 by five former IBM employees, 麻豆原创 was always destined for greatness. From accounting and payroll to their legendary ERP, the listed multinational has over 100,000 employees dotting the planet from Europe, Asia Pacific, Africa, the Middle East, North America, and South America. One of these employees is Pedro and I assure you he is no cog on the wheel. He stands out. A surfer who marvels at the Ngong Hills and enjoys being with his wife and daughter, he was in Zanzibar not long ago, surfing waves on the outer parts of the reef. He maintains the best surfs were in Angola. Small wonder that when he was growing up, he wanted to be a surfer.

Below is our interview, condensed and edited for this publication.

What is an intelligent enterprise and why is that so important?

Intelligent enterprise is a fully integrated company in itself and outside of its boundaries. You have business processes from procurement, finance to maintenance, which is a normal thing in terms of what 麻豆原创 does every day on an ERP site. But it is actually way beyond that. You have an intelligent entreprise end-to-end with your suppliers and customers. Everything becomes so smooth, transparent and organised such that your business flows. The whole process is automated. It is all about process.
That is what 麻豆原创 is about.

You mentioned in our introduction that 麻豆原创 is in several African countries. Are their needs similar across the continent or do you find differences based on geography and the people?

I would say the needs are very similar, but the cultures are different. I find some markets easy to work with on an entrepreneurial basis. Let鈥檚 say a country like Angola. They have a very entrepreneurial spirit. It is almost easier to have a conversation on digital transformation. The willingness is there.

In Kenya, they want more business value and push a bit more for innovation than in a market like Angola.

Is intelligent enterprise only limited to larger organisations? Do you work with SMEs?

We are committed to all customers.

SMEs are the backbone of many countries in Africa. We have large customers and many of them are our clients. But 80 per cent of our business is actually SMEs in Africa. It is definitely a key space for us. We have different products within our SMEs portfolio.

What are some of the examples you have of customers embracing digital transformation in Africa?

We have worked with Dangote Cement. As they find opportunities to launch in different industries and ventures 鈥� they are a very entrepreneurial customer – they wanted S/4HANA which is more aligned to intelligent enterprise鈥檚 endto-end integration with suppliers and both internal and external customers. They implemented this last year. They are building the largest refinery in Africa, creating over 250,000 jobs. This entrepreneurial perspective was already built into 麻豆原创.

When it comes to agriculture especially in Central Africa, we are doing quite innovative projects in the form of a Rural Sourcing Platform (RSM) which integrates every single micro-producer into the value chain. They register on the platform which is then aggregated and taken to the market. With intelligent enterprise you have very open sources.

We also use this platform for our CSR projects. For example, in Ghana, we use it to collect plastics across the country for recycling.

You shrink when working with an SME and expand when working with conglomerates. How do you do this?

The implementation of software is mainly done through a partner ecosystem. When you have the conglomerates, they become partners for a very complex project. Smaller customers start with a smaller scope, or they can adopt some of our solutions such as 麻豆原创 Business ByDesign and 麻豆原创 Business One. The latter is a small solution that is very easy to implement. It covers the main process of the corporate side allowing SMEs to scale.

Talk to me about the Rise with 麻豆原创 initiative. What is it about?

We launched it early this year with our global CEO, Christian Klein. He had two things in mind:
鈥� Reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for our customers
鈥� Accelerate innovation and business transformation

The Rise Initiative is about these two aspects. Either it gives value to the customer, or not. We do it on a case-by-case basis and we understand what makes sense for that specific customer. It transforms all 麻豆原创 contracts into a cloud subscription product, which is not owned software, but it incorporates infrastructure. It is part of our strategy to move into cloud as well as reduce TCO with the customers, as well as accelerating business transformation.

What role does cloud play in your strategy for Africa?

It plays a big role. In five years, all our contracts will be pretty much cloud based. Cloud in Africa definitely has the capacity for businesses to grow. It is where we focus our customers.

Our strategy is cloud focused. It makes sense for us to build cloud in Africa. Businesses can really focus on the their core business, but they don鈥檛 have to focus on the pain which is to support IT infrastructure. That allows them to run the core business. More importantly, we are restructuring contracts with the customers to help them move into the cloud. You want the best engineer on your platform. One who is constantly trained. The scale of savings is also something we want to bring to African customers. Cloud for Africa is definitely front and centre and absolutely core to our strategy.

What is the one accomplishment that made your career?

I鈥檝e been with 麻豆原创 for 23 years. I have been able to transform all the territories I led within Africa. We impact our customers, we impact on people growth and P&L, plus the CSR initiatives. There are many rewarding aspects that have shaped my career as I progressed. It also helped me build my own brand and move to the next challenge.

Do you ever get impatient with听Millennials who want it now!

When I started working for 麻豆原创 I thought I would work for two years. Back then there was this trend 鈥� do two听years on the job then freelance. The freelancers were making a lot of money consulting. I thought that would be my path, but it turned out very differently.

We happen to have quite a few Millennials because of our Academy. Candidates are selected very strictly, and we get very smart, bright young
people. Ideally, we send them to California for about six months and they would be trained wall-to-wall on the business, and they would be
incorporated into the company. There is always new stuff to do, working within 麻豆原创.

What do you think makes a good leader?

I think it is one who gives direction, and understand how to integrate everything. You need to manage downwards but also upwards. One
who creates a structure that is growing underneath them. They also need to be very direct, competent, have a lot of common sense. If possible, they need to have experience and be good at execution because that is how it is in our industry. If you don鈥檛 execute, the business does not flow, everything comes apart, you鈥檒l come apart. Driving the key agenda is a good thing for this type of business.

What have been the best parts of being a CEO, and what are the worst parts?

The best thing is owning all aspects of the business, impacting growth of your team, customers and business. It is that wall-to-wall thing that I like. Looking at the overall business and trying to pull people together, relentlessly. That is what really drives me. To be honest, the worst part 鈥� I don鈥檛 see any. If you manage to do it, and still manage your work/life balance, there is no worst part.

What has working with 麻豆原创 taught you about yourself over the last 23 years?

It gave me many rewarding experiences. I love the African culture and spending my time on the continent.

The post 麻豆原创 Through the Eyes of a Managing Director appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

The ERP solution can grow with the business and contains multiple modules, covering the needs of all departments in one solution.

How to evaluate the ROI of an ERP

鈥淟ike any investment, an ERP solution needs to have a good return on investment or ROI,鈥� says De Leeuw.

Key ways to achieve ROI from an ERP implementation:

• Better forecasting: The ERP software is customisable to a level where all historic spend and sales are obtained with just a click. These reports give trends of company performance from the previous years and what the target for the current or coming years should be or what sales throughput would be needed to achieve current targets. These include purchase order analysis, inventory requirements, stock evaluation and stock on hand. These reports not only help keep the unwanted costs in check and prevent overstocking, but they also help find opportunities to manage inventory to be more effective and profitable and free up cashflow.
• Strategy building: Every company needs a solid strategy and the only thing that helps in building one is clear and concise reports. ERP systems provide the best way of arranging the data for better strategies and making more informed business decisions. They help the business to identify slow-moving items, dead inventory and usage value.
• Vendor identification: A business might be working with numerous vendors for the same type of purchase. Knowing the right type of vendor to work with greatly improves the chances of increasing profits. With an ERP solution, the business can extract supplier information such as delivery, quality, cost and more, making it easier to decide which vendor to go for first when a need arises.

There are also several intangible costs that affect ROI and profitability. These include higher efficiency, more productive time, improved security, better management, employee satisfaction, enhanced client retention and a better customer experience.

鈥淏ecause 麻豆原创 Business One extends business capabilities beyond the core management function, it enables managers to streamline business processes and deliver value. We鈥檝e seen many of our clients improving their business efficiency by 20%,鈥� concludes De Leeuw.

The post Costs to Consider when Thinking of a Top ERP Implementation appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

Then, a devastating pandemic hit the world and everyone鈥檚 soon-to-be least favorite word hit the air over and over again: unprecedented. It threw us all in a fix at first and, for a brief while, we waited for a return to normalcy. In time it became clear that all of those plans we had made would need to pivot and evolve 鈥� but now was not the time to pull back. As the impact of COVID-19 spread and the inequalities of our world served only to exacerbate its impact, our team challenged one another to think differently about how we were best served to support our ecosystem of partners and to execute our portfolio of programs.

Our response? Hold fast to our strategy and our mission, stay true, and renew our commitment to powering opportunity through digital inclusion. The COVID-19 crisis is multidimensional and discriminatory in many ways. It is also a very real and very deep education crisis, and with extreme poverty on the rise for the first time in two decades, it will continue to influence vulnerable populations for years to come.

The naivety of early 2020 gave way to necessity which, in time, gave way to enthusiastic transformation. Together with our partners, we quickly adapted program content and execution for virtual environments, , and expanded our view of how to best engage 麻豆原创鈥檚 employee base.

Our is a collection of spotlights and stories that we share with pride in celebration of the impact we were able to achieve in the year that was. It is our celebration of the 8.3 million lives impacted through our investments and the over 130,000 hours dedicated by more than 20,000 麻豆原创 employees.

It was mutual trust and shared conviction around social impact that enabled this journey, and we are exceedingly proud of our entire CSR community and the role they played. To all of our partners, volunteer leaders, and every employee who lent their time and talents as a volunteer or opened themselves up to learning during an October Month of Service virtual session: You were instrumental in helping us adapt our work and redefine success. Your continued dedication, perseverance, and passion inspired us.

Our is dedicated to you. Thank you for making our work possible.

With 2020 behind us, we are forging ahead into the new year and into our renewed commitment to power opportunity through digital inclusion. In the coming months, we hope to bring our ecosystem together through hosting virtual forums for our partners. Our goal is to bolster and strengthen the network of incredible change-makers and impact-drivers that we are lucky enough to work with around the world and sketch a path forward together.

Alexandra van der Ploeg is head of Corporate Social Responsibility at 麻豆原创.

This article first appeared on the 麻豆原创 Global News Center.

The post Renewing Our Commitment to Power Opportunity Through Digital Inclusion appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.

With a background in financial management and business valuations, I have always been intrigued by 鈥榮trategy鈥�, that thing that ultimately sets a company apart from the next and probably, together with strong leadership, the main driver behind sustained value creation. In a series of interviews, I will be exploring different business leaders鈥� (all chartered accountants) approach to strategy.

I had a virtual interview with Anton de Bruyn, CFO of the Shoprite Group of Companies, to gain insights on what shaped Shoprite鈥檚 strategy during the early stages of the COVID-19 crisis. Four interesting items stood out:

The importance of adherence to risk management principles

The phrase 鈥榯hat brings me back to risk management鈥� echoed throughout the interview. It underlines the importance that Anton places on having a solid risk management framework. Adherence to principles such as risk registers for all divisions, having disaster recovery plans, business continuity plans, as well as regular risk forum discussions, was already part of Shoprite鈥檚 culture. The benefit of going through the risk management process lies therein that you already have a good idea of how you should react and what your contingency plans look like should anything unforeseen happens.

To illustrate how it practically unfolded, he took me through an example relating to their distribution centres. During 2018, due to labour unrest and other contributing factors, their distribution centres in Gauteng came under severe pressure, this in a time when they also went live with a new ERP system, leading to a material impact on the business 鈭� more than a billion rand lost in sales. The continued operation of their distribution centres is one of their top identified risks and the implementation of crafted continuity plan speaks to this risk. When COVID-19 happened, even though the cause was different, the continuity plans were ready to be activated.

Anton added that you will never be able to foresee exactly how things will play out, that a pandemic will hit, or that government will impose various regulations within different levels of opening the economy. As the pandemic poses new risks, such as potentially having a large number of your 2 800 stores closed at the same time due to infections, the framework is in place to formulate new contingency plans.

Another aspect feeding into the risk management process relates to Shoprite鈥檚 management structure, which ensures that everyone within Exco is continuously part of the risk management process. 鈥楥urrently, the Exco meetings revolve mostly around the contingency plans and how to manage the implementation thereof.鈥�

Future-proof yourself

鈥楽ome 12鈭�18 months ago the business looked different to where we are today on the back of the profit warning issued in February 2019,鈥� Anton said. 鈥業n the past two to three years there were many management changes, including the group appointing a new CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht, who succeeded Whitey Basson and had to land a clear message on strategy for the group going forward.鈥�

Anton refers to the process as 鈥榝uture-proofing yourself鈥� so that you ensure that you stay relevant and move in line with international trends. And 12鈭�18 months ago, they had to put a lot of attention on working capital, liquidity and refocusing capital allocation to strengthen their cash flow as part of 鈥榝uture-proofing themselves鈥�. It inevitably placed them in a stronger position ahead of the crisis.

鈥楾hat brings me back to risk management 鈥︹�� Anton emphasised that you must do a 鈥榬isk assessment鈥� on your strategy to see if your strategy is still relevant, looking at all the strategic drivers. In order to 鈥榝uture-proof yourself and stay relevant鈥� you need to continuously look at ways to innovate in line with international trends (for example unlocking alternative revenue streams and focusing on online offerings). 鈥榊ou need to get the combination right between short-term quick wins and longer-term bigger strategies. If you stop innovating, you will stop being relevant, which will have an impact on the growth of your customer base.鈥�

Some things can be implemented quickly, like seeing what to focus on during the pandemic 鈭� Shoprite expanded their online offerings, introduced virtual vouchers, and focused more on cell phone-related sales, among other things. Then there are other innovations that take longer to develop and roll out, like their FreshX store formats and Checkers rewards programme, both hugely successful.

鈥楾here is, however, one proviso to innovation: you need to have the systems in place, especially the IT platform, to be able to handle these changes.鈥� Shoprite invested in an 麻豆原创 ERP system and 麻豆原创 software integration that allowed them to do things that they would not have been able to do in the past.

Communication with all role players

Continuous and clear communication with all stakeholders of the group, which includes the board, staff, shareholders, suppliers, the investor community, financiers and analysts, is crucial, and not just in a time of crisis. 鈥業f you don鈥檛 have the same message to all role players, people will get confused.鈥�

Firstly, your board should know what strategy management drives and they need to buy in and support that strategy.

During the lockdown period management continued to update the board.

Also, your overall business strategy is not a secret anymore. Historically it could have been a 鈥榮ecret competitive advantage鈥�, but today the communication of strategy is much more in the public domain, especially for a listed company. Shoprite has nine key drivers they focus on and these get communicated widely to all stakeholders (www.shopriteholdings.co.za/shareholders-investors).

Shoprite鈥檚 CEO communicates directly to the staff via their own company application. He publishes videos in which he shares strategic goals (for example key messages regarding cost drivers) and gives clear guidance on what is expected. 鈥楥ommunication鈥� 鈭� Anton could not emphasise it enough 鈭� 鈥榯he better you communicate, over and over giving the same message, the better the strategy will be followed.鈥�

Shoprite need to communicate in 14 countries, each with its own set of rules.

鈥榃ithin an environment that changes every day, the structure in which you communicate becomes extremely important,鈥� said Anton.

Corporate culture: passion and positivity

鈥榃hat pulls one through in a time of crisis is passion and the way in which you approach it. Positivity unlocks creative thinking. It is all about positivity and accepting challenges. You need a management team and employees with a lot of passion. Our CEO drives positivity.鈥�

Anton continued that one of the first things Shoprite did was to ensure that their staff were safe (protective gear, enough sanitiser, rolling out mobile clinics). They also, early on during the lockdown, paid all staff an appreciation bonus 鈭� 鈥榬etail is a hard and fast environment, you need to show you care about your staff and keep them motivated.鈥�

We ended our conversation with some general business strategy-related topics, including the age-old principle of focusing on the client/customer. Shoprite鈥檚 approach is driven by a saying in their business that 鈥榥o customer will leave the store unhappy鈥�, so people go out of their way to make customers feel happy. New projects are approached with the questions 鈥業s it for the benefit of the customer?鈥� and 鈥楬ow does it benefit the customer?鈥�, a clear example of putting the customer at the centre of strategic thinking.

On incorporating sustainability and corporate citizenship into strategy, Anton mentioned that the integrated report is the first point of departure. Their company is totally committed and they embrace their role in society 鈭� supplier development (from information technology service providers to fruit and vegetable suppliers), soup trucks (utilised during periods of crisis) and mobile trucks serving rural areas, to mention a few. 鈥業t is nice to see that we can make a difference. The company does a lot and tries to give back to the communities 鈭� at the end of the day it is all about the customer.鈥�

This article first appeared on .

The post On Strategy: Shoprite’s Strategy in the Time of COVID-19 appeared first on 麻豆原创 Africa News Center.