Newly appointed Naspers and Prosus CEO Fabricio Bloisi said he will not change the strategic direction of the two interlinked companies, although he does aim to put “entrepreneurship at the core of our culture”.

Bloisi was named last week as CEO of Naspers, which is listed in Johannesburg, and its European-listed spinoff, Prosus, which is based in Amsterdam. He was previously CEO of iFood, the largest food delivery platform in Brazil, which is wholly owned by Prosus.

“I am happy with the company strategy and our key priorities remain unchanged,” said Bloisi in a call with investors on Friday. “[At iFood] we create the future through innovation. I think we are very good at creating and testing products and innovations, but at the same time we are a very disciplined company. I want Prosus to think bigger and to innovate more, but at the same time keep the discipline that we demonstrated in iFood.”

Bloisi replaces Bob van Dijk as CEO of Naspers and Prosus. The strategic priorities of the two companies remain consistent with those that Ervin Tu, who has been acting as interim CEO for the past eight months, pursued while at the helm.

These are to continue growing key businesses and drive profitability in e-commerce; better highlight the value within the company’s portfolio of businesses; and keep discipline in capital allocation.

Entrepreneurialism

The decision to appoint Bloisi was influenced by the Naspers and Prosus board’s view of the technology landscape and where the opportunities lie as well as the “type of personality” it believes might best take advantage of them. According to board chairman Koos Bekker, 55% of leaders of tech companies of similar scale to Naspers and Prosus have a strong engineering background with a history of entrepreneurialism.

“Frabricio has both academic grounding, entrepreneurial expertise over 15 years, and the ability to build a culture of entrepreneurship, enthusiasm and collegiality – that is exactly what we need,” said Bekker on the call.

The board hopes Bloisi’s technical nous will help Naspers and Prosus successfully navigate the changes that generative AI is anticipated to make in the business landscape. Bloisi said the world economy is in a state of flux, with the new wave of generative AI poised to foster unprecedented change in how companies and industries operate. Companies that are innovative and able to make good use of AI, he said, will take up space and change how the world works. “I see that as a huge opportunity,” he said.

“I think you should understand AI like you do electricity, it is going to change how everything works – absolutely all companies and all products. Most of our investments and revenue are in emerging markets and we have the responsibility to take these innovative solutions to billions of customers in those markets.”

The new CEO also intends to keep up the pace of investment in companies. “Investing continues to be a really important muscle of us as a group,” said predecessor Tu, who has moved into the role of chief investment officer. “We will take risks – our aspiration is to do so in a thoughtful way. We haven’t done that well in recent years.”