Ideas Matter

By Colin Douglas, Rik Kirkland and Crystal Ball

Innovating with purpose in various forms took centre stage when a group of interesting people from different walks of life gathered on a hot summer night in Cape Town to take part in a carefully curated Ideas Salon hosted by Douglas Knowledge Partners (DKP) and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.

Guests enjoyed an enriching evening of sharing views and experiences on the role purpose plays, not only in the business world but also in the creative industries. They also looked at the importance of being able to make a profit in order to be able to make an even bigger impact in a wider sense.

Colin Douglas, founder and Chief Knowledge Partner at DKP, set the scene by explaining that the Cape Town Ideas Salon followed a successful similar event DKP hosted in London - where it has a branch - in April last year. Attendees at the London event commented how much they enjoyed the engaging conversations, leading to some great ideas, and requested DKP to host more such events.

"In the traditional sense, hosting a salon is where conversations happen over good food and wonderful art - but with a purpose," Douglas told the Cape Town guests. Furthermore, DKP chair Rik Kirkland - a former editor of Fortune Magazine and former head of global publishing at McKinsey - flew in from London to moderate the Cape Town event.

"One of the fundamental questions when it comes to purpose in the business world is what the relationship is or should be between purpose and profit. Is it a case of either or? Can they go hand-in-hand?"

- Rik Kirkland, Douglas Knowledge Partners Chair

‍