Adrian Gore: Discovery’s zip to R100bn journey has big lessons – here are the most important

Today’s ‘results interview’ with South African super entrepreneur Discovery co-founder Adrian Gore goes well beyond a recap on solid financials for the year to the end of June. Discovery’s now widely mimicked ‘shared value’ business model has delivered superb returns for a group which has substantial businesses in SA and the UK, plus an enviable list of big-name partners whose operations circle the world. But Gore reckons if he were to do it all again, he’d be even more committed to the group’s revolutionary concept where customers are directly rewarded for making positive behavioural changes. And he’d have been more confident when negotiating those deals with global giants. In the interview, he also addresses localised criticism of South African Big Business’s apparent support of the political status quo, quantifies the cost of COVID claims - and provides feedback on revolutionary Discovery Green that’s bringing some of SA’s biggest electricity consumers together to invest in large-scale renewable energy projects. - Alec Hogg Join this channel to get access to perks:    / @biznewstv   Video production by Asime Nyide Your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider keeps you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here - https://bit.ly/3lfVRYP. --- Timestamps 00:06 - Introductions 00:50 - Adrian Gore on Discovery’s financial results 01:42 - What the pandemic cost discovery 03:19 - On how big the foreign shareholder base is 03:38 - Difficulties of selling SA to foreign investors 04:27 - The rise of the Vitality global group 06:37 - On Discovery health being slightly down 08:19 - What impressed him in the past year and what it is that he does 10:29 - Slowing down 12:23 - On what he’s learned 13:24 - The shared value model 14:53 - Leveraging the shared model invention 16:11 - The criticism towards big business 18:49 - The reactions to the Discovery Green initiative 19:58 - Conclusions