Ever since she had started Umsinsi Health Care (Pty) Ltd in South Africa in November 2008, Amanda Wilde’s vision had been to place the company, which distributed medical devices, in a trust for all of her employees. When this happened, they would become full partners in the company. However, by August 2013, Wilde was still the sole guardian of the Umsinsi Partnership Trust. She had postponed transferring the trust to her employees until the business was financially stable.

Matome Modipa, executive chairman and founder of the Sebata Group of technical engineering and management consultants, enjoyed coming to work. His offices in Midrand, near Johannesburg, had an open and friendly feel, and the pervading ethos reflected the African philosophies of ubuntu and letsemathat he had worked hard to instil in the organisation. Sebata had enjoyed steady growth since its inception in 2006.

In August 2002, Matthew Thompson, head of the structured finance division at Rand Merchant Bank (RMB) faced an unusual dilemma. One of the top performers in his unit, Bruce Clarke, appeared to pose a significant threat to the team spirit of his division. While a remarkably talented individual, Clarke was difficult to get along with and eccentric in his ways. RMB’s dictum was “traditional values, innovative ideas”. Clarke subscribed to the “innovative ideas” part, but seemed to fall short when it came to “traditional values” – to a point where his behaviour was unacceptable.

On a Saturday morning in early October 2015, Choppies chief executive officer (CEO), Ramachandran Ottapathu, made his weekly visit to a Choppies store. While watching the familiar scenes in the Choppies superstore in Gaborone, he considered the company’s strategy to extend its African footprint. Choppies was the leading supermarket chain in Botswana, targeting the lower- to middle-income sectors. The company had 134 stores in three countries: 75 in Botswana, 38 in South Africa and 21 in Zimbabwe.

On a Saturday morning in early October 2015, Choppies chief executive officer (CEO), Ramachandran Ottapathu, made his weekly visit to a Choppies store. While watching the familiar scenes in the Choppies superstore in Gaborone, he considered the company’s strategy to extend its African footprint. Choppies was the leading supermarket chain in Botswana, targeting the lower- to middle-income sectors. The company had 134 stores in three countries: 75 in Botswana, 38 in South Africa and 21 in Zimbabwe.

On 15 October 2003, AngloGold increased its offer to around $1.48 billion, only for it to be countered by Randgold Resources’ bid of $1.7 billion a week later.  The Ghanaian government rejected Randgold Resources’ offer on 28 October 2003, when it publicly announced that it backed AngloGold. However, the deal still to be approved by Ghana’s parliament, the date for which had not been set,Dennison’s next recommendation to Godsell would be on whether value would still be extracted if the process continued indefinitely.

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By 2003, Quadrem, a global e-marketplace that facilitated electronic transactions between buyers and suppliers from the mining, metals and minerals industry, was in its third year of operation. While some of the regions in which it operated were profitable, Quadrem as a whole was not yet profitable, and neither was its division in Africa. The shareholders expected Quadrem to break even by the end of quarter two in 2004.

Having secured the approval of Ashanti’s management team and major shareholder, Lonmin, AngloGold’s strategy for getting the Ghanaian government (as shareholder and regulator), and the over required proportion of institutional and retail shareholders on board centred around demonstrating that the transaction would add value to all stakeholders. However, Steve Lenahan, AngloGold’s corporate officer of corporate affairs, needed to reassess his campaign strategy following the surprise entry of competing bid.

It was the beginning of March 2003 and STRATE, the organisation that settled all equity trades in South Africa electronically, was about to merge with the Universal Exchange Corporation (UNEXcor), an organisation that settled bond transactions electronically. Monica Singer, CEO of STRATE, and future CEO of the merged entity, wanted to implement a balanced scorecard driven knowledge management process in UNEXcor that STRATE had successfully embarked on a year ago. Yet the process had been demanding: one that had required time and trust from all in the firm.

In May 2011, Vino Govender, CEO of the Johannesburg-based On Digital Media’s (ODM) TopTV, felt pleased about the 200 000 subscribers that had been secured in less than one year in the competitive South African satellite pay television (pay-TV) market.