CHIEF executives in South Africa have remained cautiously optimistic about potential growth prospects over the next 12 months, even as they confront a range of challenges and uncertainties.
The PwCs 27th Annual Global CEO Survey, released yesterday, noted that business leaders envisage opportunities such as technological transformation, regulatory change, sustainability, and climate-conscious practices to capitalise on emerging mega-trends.
Despite this optimism, PwC said local CEOs remained concerned about social inequality, operational consequences of new technologies, inflation and policy changes, may affect how they create and deliver value.
PwC South Africas chief executive Shirley Machaba said chief executives were closely monitoring how the political landscape, including economic policy, could impact their strategic direction as South Africa approaches its national general elections.
For their businesses, the ability to tactically and rapidly adapt business models to create, deliver and capture value in an evolving environment needs to be decisive, Machaba said.
We are seeing that forward-thinking leaders are eager to leverage transformation as a catalyst for growth and resilience while continuing to mitigate risks through agile strategic planning.
The report entitled Thriving in an age of continuous reinvention draws on the insights from 380 CEOs in sub-Saharan Africa, and 48 CEOs in South Africa.
It assessed CEO temperature check under four key themes: growth sentiment, threats and opportunities, Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI), and climate action.
According to the survey, 60% of CEOs in South Africa believe the global economy will grow in the next 12 months, compared to 38% globally.
However, when asked about their views on the South African economy, CEOs were divided: 33% believed that the local economy would grow in the next 12 months, while 31% expected it to decline. The remaining 35% felt it would stay the same.
PwC said 40% of South Africas CEOs identified inflation as a leading threat to how they create and deliver value, followed by macroeconomic volatility, social inequality as another threat to their businesses, as well as the role played by technological change.
Looking forward, 60% of respondents said technology would be a significant driver in how their businesses performed in the next three years.
On the uptake of Gen AI among South African companies, the report showed that a majority (65%) of local CEOs said they had not yet adopted it but recognised the positive impact that Gen AI could have on their operations.
PwC Africa Transformation Platform Leader Hannelie Gilmour said CEOs needed to lead efforts to simplify and standardise their business processes or update their operating models to enable digital transformation and support growth.
In todays fiercely competitive landscape, staying ahead is a necessity. A key way to do this is through business model reinvention. This is the strategic process that fuels innovation, agility and sustainable growth, Gilmour said.
In terms of climate action, PwC said chief executives were making significant strides in improving their energy efficiency by implementing initiatives to protect their physical assets and workforce from the physical impacts of climate risk and investing in nature-based climate solutions.
PwC Africa Sustainability Leader Lullu Krugel said going beyond the basic mitigation measures to fundamentally transform operations and business models for a low-carbon future was imperative.
This includes pursuing renewable energy sources, overhauling supply chains for sustainability and pioneering innovative technologies and circular economy solutions, Krugel said.
