The advertisement ran in the 1980s and asked a simple question. Does the price of medicine make you sick? It was cheeky, direct and aimed squarely at a South African consumer being squeezed by pharmacy prices that most people had no choice but to pay. The ad helped turn a single discount pharmacy in the Johannesburg suburb of Mondeor into one of the country's most recognisable retail brands. Ivan Saltzman, who wrote that proposition into every element of the business he and his wife Lynette built over the next four decades, stepped back from his executive role at Dis-Chem on June 30, 2026, at the age of 75. He is now facing the test that every founder-builder eventually faces: whether what he created can survive the handover.
The business he is handing over is, by any measure, formidable. Dis-Chem Pharmacies operates more than 200 retail pharmacies and 44 baby stores across South Africa, with a wholesale arm that services 1,608 independent pharmacies representing approximately 85 percent of South Africa's independent pharmacy market. Its market capitalisation sits at approximately 1.7 billion. Revenue for the six months ended August 2025 reached R21.3 billion, up 8.7 percent, with headline earnings per share rising 9 percent. The business Ivan started in 1978 is now one of the largest consumer healthcare retailers on the African continent.
The succession has been years in the making, which is to say it has not happened overnight, whatever it might look like from the outside. Ivan stepped down as chief executive in July 2023, handing the operational leadership to Rui Morais, the group's former chief financial officer who had been embedded in the business long enough to absorb the Dis-Chem culture before being asked to carry it forward. Lynette stepped back from her executive director role in 2022, remaining connected to the business she co-founded through the group's beauty division. Son Saul, who served as an executive director for 19 years, resigned effective February 2026, shifting to a non-executive role on the board. Ivan himself continued as executive director until June 30, allowing him to oversee the transition while Morais consolidated his own authority.
