Leaders play a crucial role in the market research and consulting industry, especially within a global research, advisory, and strategy firm that focuses on the Experience Economy. They are responsible for directing market-changing aspects, forecasting, and driving innovation. Leaders analyze large amounts of data to identify trends and offer strategic insights to help businesses improve customer experiences. Their expertise and visions are important for developing research methods, building client relationships, and ensuring the competitiveness of the company’s services.
Mark Angus, CEO of Genesis Global Business Services, is a well-known leader in this industry. He leads business development and growth strategies, ensuring high levels of client and employee satisfaction. Mark’s leadership style is characterized by visionary thinking, strategic decision-making, and a focus on people.
Entrepreneurial Drive
Mark started his career in children’s literature, publishing his first book with Longmans at the age of 16. Alongside his passion for writing, he also had an entrepreneurial spirit, focusing on creating new business ventures. At 21, he launched a technology publication, which later became the well-known PC World franchise for Southern Africa.
Over the next five years, Mark expanded his work to include custom magazines for companies like IBM and Microsoft. Eventually, he moved into producing digital and technology market research reports. In 2008, he and his team were asked to publish the South African National BPO Quantification Report, leading them into the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.
During this time, Mark realized the important role that the BPO sector plays in international trade and investment, as well as in creating job opportunities for marginalized groups like youth and women. This realization inspired him to focus on the BPO sector, offering consulting and research services tailored to the industry at global, regional, and national levels.
A Transformation Journey
In 1993, Mark established his business as Knowledge Executive. However, in 2018, a joint venture with Genesis Analytics – the largest impact and economic analytics consultancy in Africa – resulted in a significant transformation. This partnership led to a rebranding, and the business was renamed Genesis Global Business Services (GBS). A year later, they launched their B2B marketplace, GBS.World.
Today, Genesis Global Business Services, led by Mark, is a well-known global research, advisory, and strategy firm that focuses on the Experience Economy. Mark and his team work closely with clients and partners to address their specific questions and challenges by providing tailored demand-to-supply-side analyses and benchmark reports. These insights help in creating comprehensive go-to-market action plans and implementation services, including research reports, qualitative-to-quantitative indexes, value propositions, and strategies. Primarily, these insights are tailored to digital and IT-enabled services, and business process outsourcing & management (BPO/M). They also provide pertinent awareness of impact-sourcing programs to create job opportunities for youth, women, and individuals with disabilities.
Mark’s digital platform, GBS. World, operates as a research-centric verification and certification matchmaking marketplace for global business services. It hosts over 1,350 service providers and buyers, serving as a valuable resource for major global organizations such as Concentrix, CCI Global, Deloitte, Microsoft, Merchants, Sigma, and Teleperformance. The platform provides important data to assist business buyers in identifying sourcing opportunities and shortlisting and selecting service providers and offshore locations. Additionally, its verified and certified authentication program thoroughly evaluates service providers, offering business buyers validated profiles and data-driven matchmaking solutions.
Valuable Indexes
As with Mark, various factors set Genesis Global Business Services’ products and services apart from its competitors. The company offers a range of sector-focused, niche services, including market research, diagnostic services, and strategic consulting. It works closely with government stakeholders and investment promotion agencies to develop tailored strategies for specific countries and locations. It also runs demand generation programs to support growth, trade, and investment in the BPO/M, digital, and IT outsourcing sectors.
Genesis Global Business Services’s research provides a comprehensive view, benchmarking demand-side statistics from executives in Europe, the US, and the UK with supply-side insights. The supply-side data assesses the capabilities, talent, scalability, and cost-competitiveness of various offshore and nearshore outsourcing locations in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and LATAM. Genesis Global Business Services also produces four indexes focusing on BPO/M and digital/IT pay scales, pricing models, location competitiveness, and inclusive hiring/impact sourcing (the latter on behalf of the Thrive Association). These indexes are useful resources for buy-side executives and BPO/M service providers to inform their strategic objectives.
Key Career Milestones
Mark has had the opportunity to be directly involved in several projects and achievements:
- Serving as chief analyst and strategist for over 44 global, regional, and national commissioned and syndicated BPO/M and ITO qualitative surveys and quantitative reports, value propositions, and country master plans
- Co-founding the World Source Marketplace for Genesis Global Business Services (GBS.World)
- Acting as chief analyst and project manager for Africa research reports and surveys covering 32 countries across the continent
- Acting as a researcher and project director for global quantitative and qualitative research/surveys for specialist areas of GBS/BPO, including finance & accounting (F&A), digital and IT outsourcing (ITO), human resource outsourcing (HRO), procurement outsourcing, knowledge process outsourcing (KPO), and alternative legal services (ALS)
- Serving as chief analyst for commissioned research, advisory, and strategic services for companies such as Deloitte, Genesys Laboratories, IBM, Innovation Group, Microsoft, WNS Global Services, and Webhelp (now Concentrix)
- Presenting as a strategist, researcher, and futurist at numerous global conferences and events for organizations such as Customer 360, Customer Experience World, CxOutsourcers, Deloitte, Dimension Data/NTT, GT&BSC, Genesys, International Data Corporation (IDC), IT Web, Luxury Marketing Council, SAP, and WNS
- Formerly holding positions as editor and publisher of the IBM Africa Magazine, Microsoft Africa Magazine, and PC World Southern Africa
- Being a published author of a children’s book at age 16, with a fictional series currently under review
Providing Strong Organizational Leadership
Mark carefully plans and implements the business strategy, monitoring market changes to make necessary adjustments. He provides strong leadership for the organization and team, with the purpose of making decisions efficiently. Mark also communicates regularly with shareholders about financial health, profitability, and Genesis Global Business Services’s vision. Balancing these responsibilities is a continuous challenge, but he approaches it with determination and expertise.
Throughout his journey, he has faced many obstacles that tested his determination, but he has learned to view setbacks as opportunities for growth rather than reflections of his, or his team’s, capabilities. By reflecting on his failures, Mark has gained valuable insights and reframed them as stepping stones toward success.
He follows three guiding principles:
- Redefining, rather than engaging with negativity
- Focusing on highly impactful activities daily
- Moving forward purposefully by maintaining faith in possibilities
Mark’s leadership journey emphasizes the importance of perseverance, self-reflection, and optimism in overcoming challenges and achieving personal and professional growth.
From Inspiration to Action
Richard Branson is a business role model for Mark. Branson’s success has motivated him to think ambitiously, take strategic risks, innovate, and pursue entrepreneurship while prioritizing people and purpose. Mark has started five businesses and has ventured into new services and products, drawing inspiration from Branson. He admires Branson’s work ethic and philanthropic mindset, finding guidance and motivation in his example.
Embracing AI instead of Resisting
In the 30 years since Mark launched his first business, he has observed significant changes in the nature and style of business leadership. He recalls being called to the executive offices of elder CEOs (at the tender age of 21) and feeling a bit intimidated. However, the traditional authoritative and hierarchical structures have evolved. Leaders now need to be more collaborative, trustworthy, and inclusive, adapting quickly to the needs of customers, employees, partners, and other stakeholders. Mark believes that modern leaders should possess qualities such as empathy, integrity, open-mindedness, self-awareness, and diplomacy while also having the vision, courage, and conviction to innovate and introduce new services and concepts.
Mark believes that business leaders will soon face several challenges and opportunities. Firstly, they must confidently embrace and implement generative AI instead of resisting it. This next generational technological wave should be viewed as an opportunity to elevate themselves, their teams, and their job roles to be more strategic and intelligent, rather than replaceable. Secondly, leaders need to transition from being solely focused on competition and profits to prioritizing people and purpose. This shift should emphasize collaboration, trust, ability, and cooperation. Additionally, they must address changing worker and customer expectations by incorporating the total human experience (HX) within their organizations.
Finding Fulfillment Beyond Success
Mark values spending time with family and friends, although his commitment to his work can occasionally pose challenges in doing so. He recognizes the importance of finding fulfillment in addition to achieving success. Mark finds joy in combining work with leisure, particularly when working on projects in picturesque and unique settings like cruise ships, coastal areas, or mountain resorts, which inspire him. He continues to pursue his hobby of writing children’s books and has recently rekindled this passion on the side.
Mark advises that there will be moments of self-doubt and questioning decisions, but it is important to persevere. He recommends staying focused on moving forward, even when the odds seem challenging. While some may doubt or question your abilities, Mark stresses the importance of staying committed to your vision and being able to encourage and cheer yourself onwards.
