Season 13 Episode 37

Lutfiyyah Ahmed on how resilience will shape the future of SA businesses

14 December 2025 · 15:13 min

In this episode of Business Talk, Michael Avery is joined by Lutfiyyah Ahmed, Head of Advisory at Resilient Innovations, to unpack what true organizational resilience means in 2025. Lutfiyyah explains why resilience is no longer just business continuity or traditional risk management, but a… holistic, enterprise-wide capability that spans people, processes, systems, culture, and governance. She highlights how South African organisations often fall into siloed approaches, duplicating efforts and missing critical risks in an environment defined by cyber threats, regulatory pressure, infrastructure instability, and social disruptions.

Lutfiyyah also explores why resilience stress tests and simulations are essential for building muscle memory and exposing blind spots long before a crisis hits. She outlines practical steps leaders can take to strengthen resilience—from unifying fragmented risk practices into a single framework to embedding specialised roles within business units to bridge the gap between strategy and operations. Looking ahead, she emphasises the need for adaptability, continuous testing, and stronger data preparedness as organisations face an unpredictable threat landscape where breaches are increasingly a matter of “when,” not “if.” Show more