SARIPA Webinar Replay
17 September 2020
Practical help for business rescue practitioners in a complex media environment
More and more South African companies have filed for business rescue over the past year, and the number is likely to escalate further after the strict Covid-19 lockdown.
As a result, public interest in the process is intensifying and the group of affected people is becoming wider. It means business rescue practitioners (BRPs) and others involved in the process will need to learn quickly what effective communications techniques are needed to bring calm to what will probably be an initially chaotic situation.
Experts from the business rescue and communications sectors, in a recent webinar hosted by the South African Restructuring and Insolvency Practitioners Association (Saripa), said not all business rescue situations are the same, so the communication tools used will vary. Some business rescues involve high-profile companies, like listed entities or airlines, and others are state-owned entities. Communication is needed with a wide range of stakeholders, from employees, customers and creditors to banks and parliamentarians, all with different levels of financial understanding and access to media.
The panel shared their experience and expertise on a number of different aspects of communication. This included preparation for engagement with stakeholders and the media, how to find the right advisers, whether different messages or different presentations are needed for each group of stakeholders, whether to engage with or ignore social media criticism, and how to achieve the fairest coverage in the mainstream newspapers.
The panelists, who were moderated by Saripa chair Dr Eric Levenstein, included two BRPs, Peter van der Steen of Metis Advisory and Richard Ferguson of Redford Capital; and three communications professionals, Louise Brugman of Vestor, Stephen Forbes of Meropact and Christopher Steel of Fletcher Advisory.
Click here to access the hour-long webinar
The cost of the webinar:
- R325,00 per SARIPA member
- R350,00 per non-member.
