Webinar – Self-disruption to better lead change

How can companies achieve a profound and effective transformation by relying on self-disruption? Renowned specialists examined this question during the virtual meeting organised on 19 November by the Financial Times and Philip Morris International, in partnership with the Swiss Chamber of Commerce in Morocco. Moderated by Seth O’Farrell, reporter at fDi Intelligence, the economists Fathallah Sijilmassi and Noômen Lahimer, the Managing Director of Orange Money in Senegal, Ramatoulaye Adama Diallo, and the Vice-President International Communications at Philip Morris International, Tommaso Di Giovanni, shared their respective thoughts and visions on the subject, which sparked a real debate.

Self-disruption: what are we talking about?

In the digital age, and with the profound changes observed during this Covid-19 health crisis, private-sector players in Africa, as everywhere else, must reinvent themselves to adapt as well as possible to the various changes. For the specialists, the process of self-disruption is one of the steps needed to chart a company’s development path. The Tunisian economist Noômen Lahimer defines self-disruption as “a shock, a break with the existing. A creative destruction taking place internally that can bring new values, innovation and change management”. Ramatoulaye Adama Diallo shares this view, for whom self-disruption is essential. “By force of circumstance and the speed of events, we operate in a sector that pushes us to question ourselves every day. Companies able to adapt quickly, notably by investing thoughtfully in technology, are more likely to bounce back after unexpected situations”, said the Managing Director of Orange Money in Senegal.

Sectors more inclined to change

While the Covid-19 health crisis has severely shaken the economic balance of several countries, in other sectors technological innovation has made it possible to accelerate change processes. This is particularly the case of the multinational Philip Morris International, which began its self-disruption process a long time ago. “Our vision is to meet a need and offer products with components that are less harmful to consumers’ health”, explained Tommaso Di Giovanni, Vice-President International Communications at Philip Morris International. According to the speaker, the company gives science an important place in marketing the products it offers. “Philip Morris International has more than 400 scientists working in its research centre. Teams must be more agile, giving pride of place to innovation and to a constant dynamic that keeps pace with market developments”.

For Ramatoulaye Adama Diallo, Covid-19 has been a real accelerator for an activity such as ‘Mobile Money’. “Everyone found themselves in a situation where we had to come together and think jointly about concrete actions to speed up processes. This dynamic allowed us to review our ambitions, make the financial services offered to our customers easier to use and thus contribute to the development of financial inclusion in West Africa”, she believes.

Necessary prerequisites…

Leadership, adaptation and innovation have become strategic skills to develop for companies’ survival. However, planned and controlled change management can only succeed if it is carried out by the employees who bring it to life every day. Along the same lines, the Moroccan economist Fathallah Sijilmassi stressed that Morocco’s development model must put the human dimension back at the centre of the economic equation.

For the speaker, “driving a new dynamic must take three elements into account: an orientation towards an economy of life, with the development of education, health and food security as its main rule. Without forgetting the importance of the green and digital economy in leading change”.

A change that must also take place in the public administration, as Noômen Lahimer pointed out, calling for the administration to be flexible with regard to self-disruption. A change which, in his view, requires the administration’s digitalisation, driven by a determination to reduce reluctance towards change and technological innovation. In this drive to bring the administration on board with the change process, Fathallah Sijilmassi believes that countries must also work to make companies increasingly responsible corporate citizens, before stressing the need to give African youth a positive vision and outlook to enable them to take an active part in this dynamic.

There is no doubt that the process of self-disruption has begun in several sectors. For the others, the model to follow must be agile, flexible, endogenous and adaptable to any kind of situation.