EY Africa 'Leaders In Conversation’ Series – Quintin Hobbs

Quintin Hobbs talks to Michael Avery on BusinessTalk

In this episode, EY-Parthenon Africa Leader, Quintin Hobbs talks to Michael Avery on BusinessTalk about the rise of long-term value creation and sustainable business practices, and how these must be integrated into the day-to-day strategy of the business.

Businesses are operating within an eco-system of stakeholders that are looking to it to understand their compelling cause or reason for being beyond solely profits. Unless the focus on broader stakeholder outcomes is embedded across the whole organisation, most of a business’s stakeholders (so investors, regulators, consumers and broader society) may not believe that it is indeed focused beyond profit. 

According to the EY Long-Term Value survey:

•   80% of business leaders believe stakeholders and not shareholders are important to long term company success
•   56% agree capitalism as it exists today does more harm than good
•   Institutional investors want companies to make clear how they are creating long-term value so:

1.     59% want clarity on environment issues and climate change.
2.     54 % on broad diversity.
3.     32% on how people and culture are being development and managed.

•    Trust in business standing at only 58%

A case for change has therefore never been clearer. Paul takes a deeper look at this, sharing more insight into EY’s response to the pressing strategic challenges business is faced with as the new Africa Leader of EY-Parthenon.

EY-Parthenon is EY’s sector-led strategy consulting business with the expertise of more than 6,500 professional globally who advise C-Suite on  transformative corporate, transaction and turnaround strategies that will work in the real world, from idea to implementation, to build long-term value.