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Latest 74 Corporate Stories

Checkers Food Services

Finding Value in Food Service Upholding entrepreneurs, enterprises and communities alike, Checkers Food Services is showing how effective, efficient operations translate into mutual benefits for all   Writer: Jonathan Dyble  |  Project Manager: Lewis Bush  Africa’s economic ascent is set to continue throughout 2019.  A quick glance at the African Development Bank’s latest continental economic outlook report reveals that the region’s projected GDP growth rate is set to accelerate to four percent this year and 4.1 percent in 2020.  Couple this with the UN’s commonly referenced population predictions, forecasting that Africa could have more than 1.3 billion additional inhabitants by 2050, and it’s easy to see why the continent is rapidly emerging as a global powerhouse for the future.  Amidst such a climate, the region’s leading businesses such as Sonatrach and Shoprite Holdings are thriving, successfully capitalising on the abundant array of opportunities that span a vast multitude of sectors.  The latter of these corporations provides the perfect evidence of this, its 146,000 employees now serving 35 million people everyday across more than 2,700 outlets. Home to a monumental food retail portfolio, Shoprite has grown from strength to strength, owed to continuous organic growth and innovative expansion strategies – strategies that Lance van der Spuy is all too familiar with.  “I joined Shoprite in 2009 as a Projects Officer in the Operational Projects department, reporting to the then COO, now CEO, Pieter Engelbrecht,” he reveals.   “After two years with the firm I was asked to investigate the feasibility of Shoprite entering the food service sector by Whitey Basson, the Group CEO. Whitey was not only instrumental in founding the Group, and building it into

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Botswana Telecommunications Corporation

Strategic Success From the introduction of next-generation LTE to extensive cost optimisation processes, BTC is championing change when it comes to connectivity   Project Manager: Vivek Valmiki  Much like the rest of Africa, Botswana’s telecommunications market is evolving rapidly.  As the rise of long-term evolution (LTE) technologies remains meteoric, and 2G and 3G continue to be replaced by their modernised successors in the form of 4G and even 5G, the country is beginning to leverage a host of new, transformative capabilities.  The crux of these is mobile connectivity, an industry that is anticipated to grow at roughly 12.3 percent per year and account for 79.3 percent of national telecom service revenue by 2023. Combine this with a whole host of associated branches such as the internet of things and cloud services, and it’s easy to see why Botswana is gearing up for a period of extensive, progressive change.  This in mind, it’s understandably exciting times for Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC).  An organisation established almost four decades ago to provide, develop, operate and manage Botswana’s national and international telecommunications services, the now privatised entity stands front and centre of the industry, helping to facilitate the aforementioned ascendancy.   Finding value  Providing both mobile data services in the form of its flagship beMOBILE brand, alongside its BTC Wholesale and BTC Fixed offerings, BTC remains a market leader in communications services, priding itself on upholding superior customer service through innovative solutions.  “We exhibit a sense of pride in the work we do and take accountability for the quality of our efforts and the organisation as a whole,” the company states on its website where it outlines its values statement. “We commit to the best customer experience

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