Strategy & performance
Corporate, digital and go-to-market strategy, then the part most firms skip: initiatives, owners, measures and dashboards that show what is moving.
analyse.inform.transform.
Strategy that survives contact with the business.
QDS is a Johannesburg consultancy helping boards and leadership teams across Africa and the Middle East turn strategy into execution, run complex deals and programmes, and lead the change that makes results last.
We're typically brought in when
- An organisation needs a clear strategy.
- The strategy is agreed in the boardroom but stalls in operations.
- Performance isn't visible, measured or owned.
- A deal, divestment or multi-market rollout needs tight programme management.
- The business is preparing for investment, a merger or a sale.
20+
years across banking, development finance and ICT
10+
countries advised across Africa, Saudi Arabia and Turkey
R200m
in divestments programme-managed to close
US$100m
in international health funding secured
Services
Four ways we work with leadership teams
Practical over theoretical. We keep what works from established methods, drop what slows a business down, and bring in specialists where an engagement needs them.
M&A, deals & programmes
Deal and programme management for acquisitions, divestments and multi-market rollouts, PMO set-up, feasibility studies and sale readiness.
Transformation & culture
Turnarounds, organisational redesign, change and culture programmes, because most strategies fail on people, not plans.
Governance & board advisory
Advisory board and EXCO roles, mock board meetings and governance set-up for companies preparing to professionalise, raise capital or sell.
The QDS Approach
Analyse. Inform. Transform.
Organisations are often over-managed and under-led. We treat people, processes and products with equal seriousness, so the change a strategy needs is the change people commit to.
analyse.
An objective reading of the business as it is: structures, relationships, performance, and the gap between strategy and day-to-day reality.
inform.
Clear, candid insight for decision-makers, including the things they may not want to hear but need to.
transform.
Hands-on support through execution, at EXCO and board level, until new ways of working hold on their own.
Case studies
Selected work
A sample of recent and past engagements. Client names are withheld; references are available on request.
Telecoms & digital infrastructure
Pan-African mobile operator: deal programme across eight markets
Set up the programme office and go-to-market approach for fibre, data centres and cross-border connectivity, and manage deals spanning towers, satellite and private networks.
A single governed pipeline of infrastructure transactions in 8 African markets.
ICT services · Listed company
Listed ICT group: three-year turnaround
Programme-managed the organisational redesign and rebrand, a centralised PMO and sales-enablement function, and authored the ethics programme and public-sector strategy.
A restructured group with a new brand, governance and go-to-market model.
M&A · Connectivity
Connectivity provider: two divestments to close
Programme manager and strategic advisor on the sale of a network services business, then a second carve-out to a retail internet provider, with culture and integration support.
R150m and R50m transactions completed.
Fintech
Payments fintech: growth strategy to advisory board
Facilitated the local and international growth strategy and strategic framework, then joined the advisory board to guide structure, performance management and execution.
A strategy the leadership team owns, with board-level oversight of delivery.
Development finance
Development bank: emerging-market strategy and a strategy execution office
Led the bank's strategy for a multilateral emerging-markets partnership, and designed the tools and operating model of a new strategy execution office during an organisational review.
Board-approved strategy adopted at Cabinet level.
Public sector · Health
National health council: international funding bid
Project-managed the country gap analysis and funding motivation for a global health fund application, and set up the work streams to deliver it.
US$100 million awarded.
Leadership
Leyya Kalla
Founder & Managing Director
Leyya brings more than two decades across banking, development finance and ICT. She led digital products at Nedbank and Absa, including the 2006 digital launch of Virgin Money South Africa, and spent six and a half years in the Office of the CEO at the Development Bank of Southern Africa before founding QDS in 2014.
She advises listed, mid-sized and growing companies on strategy, deals and transformation, sits on the Advisory Board of fintech Paycentral, and co-founded Strategi.exe, a platform linking strategy to performance management.
BCom (Information Systems), Wits · Being a Director, IoDSA · Postgraduate study in Sustainable Development, SOAS · Accredited NLP Coach
Connect on LinkedInHow we work
Our values
We speak the truth
We share the insights and observations clients may not want to hear, but need to.
We keep confidences
Your information stays private. Discretion is part of every engagement.
We act with integrity
We stay true to our values and keep appropriate professional boundaries.
We give our best
The right people, advice and insight for each engagement, drawing on our specialist panel where needed.
contact us
A short, confidential conversation is usually enough to tell whether we can help.