iOCO Announces Leadership Transition: Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter Appointed as Joint Interim CEOs

The iOCO Group Board of Directors today announced a leadership transition to usher in a new era of innovation and growth. Marius de la Rey, who has served as Interim CEO since May 2024, will step down this month.

Jabu Moleketi, Group Chairman of iOCO, stated: “As we move forward, we are energised to lead the charge in bringing state-of-the-art technologies to Africa, solidifying our reputation as one of the region’s foremost technology innovators. With the remarkable depth and expertise of our leadership team, we are ready to build on this momentum, creating lasting value for our stakeholders and empowering our employees to reach new heights.”

Appointment of Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter as joint interim CEOs

The Board is pleased to announce the appointment of joint interim CEOs and Executive Directors, Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter, effective 14 February 2025. The company has confirmed that Rhys Summerton will be directly focused on driving capital allocation and group strategy, while Dennis Venter will focus on revenue generation initiatives. Both joint CEOs will work closely with existing Group CFO and Executive Director, Ashona Kooblall, and the company’s existing management team of iOCO Limited.

They will be supported by an experienced executive team leading the next phase of the turnaround. This team will drive an efficient and focused decentralised model, ensuring each business delivers on its agreed KPIs while driving growth in revenue and market share. The business heads include Conrad Blignaut, Beavin de Kock, Dion Govender, Clydie Cronje, Essam Elbadri (Middle East), Richard Vester (UK), and Florian Baumann (Switzerland).

This leadership transition coincides with a pivotal phase for iOCO. The first half of FY25 has marked significant transformation, with the company focused on restructuring, enhanced client delivery, ethical governance, sustainability, and performance.

Focus on leadership, growth and shareholder value

This will be achieved through a renewed focus on talent development and strategic capital allocation. To further support these objectives, the company has introduced a revamped incentive model designed to align with its goals. The new model combines cash incentives with performance-based rewards tied to share price growth. Importantly, the scheme includes both executive directors and business heads, ensuring that leadership remains fully committed to the company’s long-term success.

The restructuring initiatives are largely complete, and iOCO is now entering a phase of growth and investment. The company is actively exploring potential acquisitions to strengthen its market position and drive future growth. The public sector represents a key focus area with significant growth opportunities, and iOCO continues to prioritise this segment while maintaining its strong position as the preferred technology provider for many corporate and blue-chip companies.

Notably, Rhys Summerton and Dennis Venter, who are directly or indirectly associated with 25% of the company’s shares, will serve as CEOs without a fixed salary. Instead, their compensation will be entirely tied to share price performance, highlighting their commitment to creating value for all stakeholders.

Key Statements from the Executive Directors:

Rhys Summerton says:

In May 2024 we were invited to join the board of EOH.  At the time, our hope was to better understand the state of the company that we personally felt had vast potential but needed to focus on improving the operating performance of the business. Together we, Dennis Venter, Rhys Summerton and Ashona Kooblall came up with a turnaround strategy focused on 3 phases.

Firstly, we needed a cost rationalisation exercise. This is never pleasant, but it was well executed, and we are glad this is now behind us.  Secondly, having great leaders of the underlying business units, we have implemented a model called “radical autonomy” where operational decision making is decentralized away from head office.  Each business leader is empowered to act to achieve their unit’s KPIs.  Third, to reward all stakeholders, we need to focus on making the best capital and talent allocation decisions.

The three of us have been very involved with implementing this three-phase strategy from day one.  Seven months later, we are more convinced than ever that iOCO remains an attractive proposition for customers, employees, and shareholders.  We will elaborate more on the strategy at the interim results in April.

Ashona Kooblall says:

Our H1 results are encouraging, driven by a well-executed restructuring and a sharp focus on business profitability. At the group level, delivering with precision and quickly addressing complex issues were critical, given the intricate structures within the EOH group. Simplifying these structures and establishing the right leadership were essential steps to unlock value creation and growth opportunities. We have prioritised disciplined expense management while ensuring strategic investments in growth areas, transitioning to a more cost-efficient organisation.

Our primary focus remains on achieving strong revenue growth. As an industry leader in the quality of our technology solutions, we are well-positioned to capitalise on a wide range of opportunities. This marks the first profit the group has achieved in three years, a result of effective efficiency management across the organisation and a commitment to “doing the right things right.

Key achievements include:

– All business units are now solidly profitable, with no loss-making entities.

– Liquidity management remains a central focus, with a clear plan to grow free cash flow per share as a key performance metric in the years ahead.

I have actively engaged with shareholder feedback and taken actionable steps in response. Delivering value remains our top priority, and we are committed to maintaining this focus as we strive for consistent earnings and sustained performance.

//Staff writer