Zale Hechter, the CEO of Cliqtech, saw a gap in the market as early as 2009. That gap was to offer a new tech solution in the fiduciary services sector. The sector was still operating on paper-based, vastly inaccessible and not very well understood business practices.

We are all aware of the challenge of unemployment in South Africa. In the Stats SA report for the second quarter of 2021, the unemployment rate hit a staggering 34.4%. That’s 7.8 million people without work. Even more concerning is that the unemployment number went up from the first quarter by a whopping 584,000 people.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused severe disruption in the South African job market and many people have either lost their jobs or been retrenched as our economy has contracted. We also find ourselves in a rapidly evolving Fourth Industrial Revolution globally, which is introducing jobs that did not exist five to ten years ago.

In a highly interconnected digital world, business partnerships and collaboration are essential for surviving and thriving. As technology is reshaping and moulding how we do business, so new business models are evolving.

This article first appeared on the Mail & Guardian When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, companies worldwide had their business models stress-tested for a new virtual future.

Luyolo Mkentane’s article (Business Day, 22 February 2021) illustrates how the backlog and inefficiencies at the Master’s Offices – in winding up deceased estates, liquidations, and other critical services – severely hampers South Africa’s legal practitioners and delays the passing on of legacies.