Vivica Group, formerly Vox, looks beyond ICT

Vox recently announced that was changing its name to Vivica Group as part of a big restructuring aimed at accelerating its growth, including into new market areas where it hasn’t traditionally operated.

Now Vivica Group CEO Jacques du Toit – who previously led Vox – has unpacked the rationale behind the decision, the group’s ambition growth plans, including in the renewable energy sector, and why he believes the move will create a more entrepreneurial culture.

Speaking to TechCentral on Thursday, Du Toit said the idea behind Vivica — which means “war fortress” — is to identify and grow (or acquire) businesses that have the potential to secure significant market share, and they don’t have to be in the ICT space at all.

“Our intention is to identify markets and buy and start up immature businesses and take them through the maturity curve,” he said. Once they reached maturity, Vivica could look to sell them, list them on the stock market or simply keep them, depending on what makes most sense at the time.

One of the most exciting new ventures is Stage Zero, a company Vivica will launch in August that is aimed at helping South African homeowners lessen their reliance on Eskom and reduce or eliminate the impact of load shedding.

Du Toit is keeping details about Stage Zero close to his chest for now; Vivica will share more information with the market soon. However, it’s already clear that Stage Zero will become a significant business for the group. Its development is being spearheaded by Abraham van der Merwe, the CEO of Vivica-owned Frogfoot, which has become a major player in South Africa’s fibre network operator market.

Brainchild

“Abraham is the brainchild behind Stage Zero, and he will also drive our international expansion strategy,” Du Toit said of Van der Merwe’s expanded role in the group. He said Vivica has big plans to expand several of its businesses to the UK soon, replicating their operating models in that market.

Du Toit said earlier this month, when the Vivica brand was unveiled, that the restructured group is designed to “create a spread of value from the mature incumbents to the green shoots”.

Brands under the Vivica umbrella include established names such as Vox (the traditional Internet service provider business), Braintree, Frogfoot and Everlytic as well as “high-growth-potential technology companies such as Guardian Eye, qwerti, Stage Zero, Nymbis and HYPA”.

The privately held Vivica – which was once a listed entity called DataPro – is owned by Metier, RMB Capital, MIC (the Mineworkers Investment Company) and management.  – © 2022 NewsCentral Media