Stone is a strategy and communication consulting firm that has added significant value to respected brands and client organisations since 2008. Stone’s sound strategic thinking and detailed implementation methodologies ensure clear business strategies, effective integrated marketing, media profiling and results-reaping communication for its blue-chip clients. Visit the newsroom at news.stone.consulting for media releases, thought leadership articles and consumer interest articles from our clients.

Stone

Stone is a strategy and communication consulting firm that has added significant value to respected brands and client organisations since 2008...

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By Viviana Koshiaris, Head of Communication, CFAO South Africa

Communication isn't a support function. It is a competitive advantage.

Most business strategies do not fail because they are poorly designed. They fail because people never fully understand them.

Boulogne-Billancourt, 8 July 2026 - CFAO Healthcare, the healthcare division of the CFAO Group, announces the acquisition of a 75% stake in Medswana, one of Botswana’s leading pharmaceutical wholesalers. 

CFAO Healthcare accelerates its expansion in Southern Africa with the acquisition of Medswana in Botswana

Following the launch of its operations in South Africa in 2024, CFAO Healthcare reaches a new milestone in the deployment of its regional platform in Southern Africa. This acquisition illustrates its strategy of building a regional pharmaceutical distribution network capable of meeting the growing needs of African healthcare systems while ensuring the highest standards of quality and traceability.

By Andrew Velleman, CEO of CFAO South Africa

Culture: Why belonging has become business-critical

Not long ago, the relationship between organisations and talent was relatively simple. Offer competitive remuneration, provide stability, create opportunities for advancement, and loyalty would often follow. That equation has changed.

Kevin Aron, Principal Officer at Medshield Medical Scheme

The missing middle: Healthcare affordability must be engineered, not diluted

South Africa’s healthcare debate often focuses on two distinct but separate sectors: a resource-constrained public sector and a high-cost private system serving a relatively small share of the population. Yet the most pressing pressure point lies between these two extremes.

JOHANNESBURG, 21 April 2026 - Seacom today announced the launch of Seacom PeeringReach at ZANOG iWeek 2026, Irene Country Lodge. Seacom PeeringReach is a cost-effective Layer 2 connectivity solution designed to extend South Africa's Internet Exchange (IXP) fabric directly into local municipalities and regional hubs, addressing the high costs and complexity traditionally associated with accessing national exchange connectivity.

Seacom launches Seacom PeeringReach to extend South Africa's exchange fabric into local municipalities, reducing connectivity costs

JOHANNESBURG, 21 April 2026 - Seacom today announced the launch of Seacom PeeringReach at ZANOG iWeek 2026, Irene Country Lodge. Seacom...

By Andrew Velleman (CEO) and Guillaume Thaumiaux (CFO)

Culture as a competitive edge: How reputation shapes industry leadership

In a mobility sector reshaped by disruption, margin compression and aggressive new entrants, scale alone is no longer a differentiator. What increasingly separates sustainable leaders from transactional operators is culture and the discipline to convert culture into performance.

Strong performance under pressure, growth by design

Andrew Velleman, CEO, CFAO South Africa

South Africa's mobility sector surprised many this year. Around 600,000 new vehicles were sold in 12 months, well above most forecasts. However, the headline number hides what operators felt every day on the ground: the market grew louder, faster, and more competitive, while margins got thinner.

Johannesburg, 12 March 2026 - CFAO South Africa is pleased to announce the appointment of Kevin Pillay as the new Managing Director of CFAO Mobility South Africa and Julian Visagie, Managing Director of Hertz Car Rental, as the new CFAO South Africa Executive Committee member.

CFAO South Africa appoints new executives to CFAO Mobility South Africa

Johannesburg, 12 March 2026 - CFAO South Africa is pleased to announce the appointment of Kevin Pillay as the new Managing Director of CFAO...

Healthcare reform must be built on stability, not slogans

JOHANNESBURG - Healthcare policy in South Africa has become emotionally charged. While National Health Insurance (NHI) is often presented as an inevitable endpoint, medical schemes are portrayed as temporary structures awaiting replacement. The 2026 Healthcare Budget tells a more sober story. What stood out to me was not dramatic reform, but restraint. There is no new NHI tax. The government kept medical tax credits and did not accelerate the implementation timetable. Instead, the focus is on stabilising the fiscus, strengthening public systems, and restoring credibility. In my view, that signals something important: the South African healthcare reality is beginning to anchor the healthcare conversation.

DRAKENSBERG, KWAZULU-NATAL, 16 February 2026 - Following the extraordinary success of last year's Music in the Mountains festival, the Drakensberg Boys Choir School is preparing to once again welcome audiences to its home campus in the majestic Drakensberg for MUSIC IN THE MOUNTAINS 2026, taking place from Friday, 24 April to Monday, 27 April 2026, themed Hope, Heritage and Harmony.

Music in the Mountains returns to the berg with four days of Hope, Heritage and Harmony 

DRAKENSBERG, KWAZULU-NATAL, 16 February 2026 - Following the extraordinary success of last year's Music in the Mountains festival, the Drakensberg...