On Friday, 12 August 2022, Capricorn Group hosted a thought-provoking public information session under their Inspire banner. The Inspire session, which took place at the Hilton Hotel, was themed ‘The Future of Finance: mega-trends that will shape the financial landscape,’ in the hope of stirring up conversations around how financial experiences have and will continue to change over the next decade and the instrumental role that Information Technology will play in supporting this change to address these fundamental shifts.
The speaker, Colin Iles, shared some technological and societal mega-trends and changes driving the financial landscape, the impact of radical transformation in technologies and the possibilities of new fields of finance. Colin shared different examples of how the future world will evolve, alluding to examples in the areas of solar and wind energy, battery power, robotics, DNA sequencing, nanobots, artificial intelligence, 3D printing, the internet of things, and blockchain virtual reality and telepathy.
“Business, government, and the population need to work together to take hold of the opportunities out there. This would irradicate our dependency on first-world countries, which is more advanced than us. If we do not, we can be significantly left behind,” expressed Colin Iles, when asked about 3rd world country participation.
As a Namibian-owned financial institution, Capricorn Group takes pride in its large IT resources and infrastructure, with highly skilled developers, specialists, engineers, data engineers, data scientists, and other specialised professions. A session of this nature allows for ideas to be shared on what the future holds and how organisations can be a part of a world where the opportunities are genuinely exponential. The Group has, over the years, become synonymous with these Inspire events, featuring well-known thought leaders in the past. As Connector of Positive Change, Capricorn Group will remain true to its purpose by creating more thought leadership platforms to stir up conversations with mind-shifting potential.
Colin suggested that the most important thing for the future is organisations with a clear purpose. This is because they have proven to be the most successful organisation. Marlize Horn, Group Executive: Brand & Corporate Affairs, said “If an organisation has a clear purpose, it can explore the various scenarios that Colin presented. This is why Capricorn Group and all its subsidiaries are committed to our purpose of improving lives through leadership in financial services by being Connectors of Positive Change.”
Iles offers a variety of disruptive interventions for a variety of clients that want to accelerate their companies’ growth prospects. His 21st Century Leadership programme shows executives how to innovate at scale, using the techniques applied by some of the most courageous leaders in the world. His clients include global brands such as Google, AWS and Nandos, and more niche players such as Norsad Capital, 4 Racing and Sybrin. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Colin worked in the financial sector and held various senior investment banking roles in Frankfurt, Singapore, and Johannesburg. He co-founded UCT’s African Institute of Financial Markets Risk Management and is a Gordon Institute of Business Science professional associate where he supports the Centre for African Management and Markets.
