Jacques du Toit, Vivica Group. Photo: Karolina Komendera

I’m sure you’ve heard someone described as ‘a Jack of all trades’. But what you may not know is that the full figure of speech goes something like this: ‘a Jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one’. This concept comes to mind when Vivica Group CEO Jacques du Toit discusses the business’ recent restructuring and rebranding as it looks to expand into new markets and new territories. A few months ago, Vox changed its name to Vivica Group – which, by the way, means ‘war fortress’ – as part of a broader strategy to identify and acquire businesses with potential to secure greater market share. Unpacking the journey to this point, Du Toit explains that when the market wasn’t as complex, Vox became a fully vertically integrated telco. “We had the fibre infrastructure business, the internet business, the voice business, the cloud business and the managed IT business all under one umbrella. This approach gave customers a bit of a ‘one stop shop’ for all their IT and telecommunication needs.”

While he’s confident this approach worked well in the past, he believes that modern customers don’t want a ‘Jack of all trades’; they want to work with subject experts who know the ins and outs of their field and who focus all their attention on one area of business. “Today, instead of being a fully vertically integrated business offering a wide range of things, we opted to spin out different products from the broader Vox stable, creating standalone entities that include some established names, as well as various high-growth-potential technology companies.”