Speaker: Ms. Chantal Illbury

Chantell Ilbury is an independent scenario strategist, facilitator, speaker and business author. She specialises in guiding corporate teams through strategic conversations, especially in times of uncertainty. She holds a BSc in Chemistry, a post-graduate Higher Diploma in Education, an Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, and has studied Strategic Negotiation through Harvard Business School in Boston.

Chantell is also a guest lecturer on strategy and scenario planning at a number of South Africa’s top business schools, and is an accomplished speaker on scenarios and effective strategy in times of uncertainty. Her work as a facilitator of executive strategic conversations has taken her as far afield as corporate teams in the UK, the US, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Australia, Jamaica, Kuwait, Singapore, India, Jersey and the Isle of Man as well as throughout Southern and Central Africa.

Amongst the main areas that Chantell is asked to speak on are strategic thinking and the structure of a strategic conversation, business scenarios, global scenarios, global climate change scenarios and South African and African scenarios.

History
Chantell completed her BSc. in Chemistry and a postgraduate Higher Diploma in Education at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. After university Chantell started a career in education, firstly as a teacher and then as a designer of computer-based training material for industry. At the same time she also developed bridging courses for post-matric students and accepted positions to lecture Chemistry and Education. In 1995 Chantell expanded her approach to education when she founded Scienceworks – South Africa’s first science communication company.

She pioneered a more learner-based approach to science education, which she then incorporated into the design, manufacturing, retail and eventual export of a range of 16 creative science kits aimed at the 7-16 age group.

In 2001 Chantell was accepted to the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business Executive MBA programme. It was here that she first met Anglo America’s Clem Sunter and shared her ideas on scenario planning that lead to the writing of their best-selling books The Mind of a Fox and Games Foxes Play. The final installment in the Fox trilogy Socrates and the Fox was released in 2007. Chantell is currently writing a fourth book on developing the capabilities to hold multiple scenarios, identifying flags and assigning probabilities to scenario shifts.

In 2004 she studied Strategic Negotiation and Deal-Making for the Long-Term at Harvard Business School in Boston.

Skills

  • Experience in scenario thinking and scenario development, and the facilitation of strategic conversations;
  • The understanding of deal-making for the long-term, i.e. that growth through mergers and/or acquisitions needs to be analyzed for its strategic intent, long-term synergy and value-add;
  • The ability to see the big picture (the interface between economic, social and political imperatives); identify the connections and patterns; identify the possible unintended consequences of actions; make sense of the complexities; and bring clarity to issues;
  • Lateral thinking and diversity of perspectives;
  • Capacity to identify, respect, develop and pool the individual talents of a company’s human resources;
  • The ability to work with executive teams at all levels of the business environment; i.e. international, national, and regional levels; as well as in different industries;
  • Game playing and creating leverage;
  • The ability to cascade strategy through an organisation via process development and facilitation;
  • A natural affinity to embrace challenge and uncertainty;
  • Sensitivity towards the social dynamics amongst players - who are the different players in the game and what are their objectives;
  • Identifying critical questions that are often not normally considered;
  • The ability to sift through perspective clutter and to identify opportunity;
  • A knowledge of Africa within a global perspective, and its myriad of complexities;
  • The ability to listen critically, and to synthesize information;
  • Managing strategic conversations at corporate level both nationally and internationally, as well as presenting lectures and talks on scenarios and strategy.

Some of Chantell’s current and past clients include, amongst others, the following:

  • United Nations Development Programme - developing a vision for Jamaica.
  • Global Research Alliance - establishing an international council for scientific industrial research.
  • BAT Global - strategy for global business and end-markets.
  • Eurometaux - facilitating a conversation to develop a long-term vision for the EU non-ferrous metals industry.
  • USAid - strategy workshop in Disaster Risk Management for the SADC countries.
  • Democratic Republic of the Congo - scenarios for the establishment of a platform for negotiation and subsequent electoral systems.
  • TBWA Global - linking corporate strategy into brand and marketing strategy
  • De Beers - Global technical strategy
  • De Beers Namibia and South Africa
  • Anglo American - facilitation of strategy for a number of the mines, operations and divisions
  • Goldfields
  • Scenarios for the South African retail industry
  • The development of “brand citizenship” with national and international stakeholders including advertising, marketing, corporates and academics.
  • BHP Billiton - Samancor/Managanese
  • Botswana - scenarios for Botswana-Vision 2016
  • Namibia Chamber of Mines - scenario planning and strategy
  • SASOL and SASOL Sinfuels International
  • Commercial farmers of Zimbabwe - securing alignment and a vision for a sustainable agricultural sector.
  • SASA - Strategy for the South African sugar industry
  • Sappi-Saiccor
  • Deloitte & Touche SA
  • Standard Bank
  • Nedbank
  • Grindrod Bank
  • Pam Golding Properties Group - the largest property group in South Africa
  • Consumer Goods Council (SA)
  • Allan Gray Orbis Foundation - developing pockets of excellence in education
  • Bowman-Gillfillan - one of the largest law firms in South Africa
  • SAFCOR Panalpina - logistics division of the Bidvest Group