“Innovation is the foundation of business, and those that embrace modernisation rather than avoid it, will be better positioned to reap the benefits,” noted Arnoux Maré, CEO of Innovative Solutions Group, speaking at the recent Africa Leadership Awards event.

During the event, Maré and his group of companies were honoured with the prestigious Innovation Leadership Award in celebration of the South African company’s extraordinary growth accomplishments, even during the pandemic. The award is bestowed on recipients who have made a difference in the lives of others by recognising the quality of their work, their global reach, outlook, and their ability to contribute to social change.

Maré was virtually awarded this notable accolade for his new subsidiary called Innovative Learning Solutions, which he successfully launched last year and today is one of the largest driver training centres in Africa. The training facility provides training and professional assessments for Code 10 and 14 truck, bus and taxi drivers.

“Recognising the threat to supply chains, we launched this training centre during lockdown to ensure that we could continue to train and upskill truck drivers even during the pandemic. We knew that this service was vital to ensuring that the essential goods and cargo needed by our country and the countries that border us were seamlessly delivered despite the many challenges of COVID-19,” Maré said.

Significantly, even before the Innovative Learning Solutions training centre was officially launched, some 250 truck drivers had been trained by the company to meet the high demand for transportation services.

For other aspiring business leaders, Maré emphasised the message that waiting for the most opportune time to seize an opportunity is counterintuitive. Instead, he believes success lies in embracing the unknown while constantly finding how a company’s unique value offering can benefit the community – regardless of the economic global situation.

Innovation pivotal to company growth

According to a McKinsey Global Innovation Survey, although 84% of executives agree that innovation is important to growth strategy, only 6% are satisfied with innovation performance.

“Most companies understand the importance of innovation but fall short when it comes to execution. For any innovation activity to deliver true value, it must be aligned with a company’s business strategy and have proper management, tools, metrics and people to achieve it. Otherwise, even the greatest ideas can result in an organisation pointlessly spinning its wheels,” explained Maré.  

He has also received various accolades for Innovative Staffing Solutions, for turning his once R500 start-up into a highly respected organisation with a turnover of one billion rand plus per year within the space of a decade. In addition to this year’s Innovation Leadership Award, Maré has also been honoured with the CEO of the Year Award for three consecutive years. His holding company, Innovative Solutions Group ^TM, has further been recognised with awards including the Best Outsourcing Service Provider in Africa; Operational Excellence and Quality Award; Outsourcing Provider of the Year Award; and the Excellence in Customer Service Award.

The African Leadership Awards has been running since 2011, celebrating the continent’s achievers, super achievers and future business leaders. It is attended by high profile corporate leaders from across Africa, with over 20 award categories recognising and acknowledging leaders for successfully steering their organisations through turbulent times, applying innovative solutions to grow and strengthen their companies, and honouring their contributions towards various countries post-recession economic development.

“It’s always an honour to be recognised for remarkable work, so I am exceedingly proud of my team for their sterling contributions in making Innovative Solutions Group ^TM and its subsidiaries the beacon of excellence it is today. We hope that our journey inspires other companies and start-up entrepreneurs to also embrace innovation and become industry leaders in their fields,” concluded Maré.

Press release was issued by PR Worx (www.prworx.co.za) on behalf of ILS, for more information contact us on +27 11 896 1818.