To develop the leaders who will deliver outsized results in the AI era, Prosus turned to Duke Corporate Education to curate an unforgettable immersive experience
Writing Patrick Woodman
The unfolding AI revolution offers vast opportunities and disruptive threats alike. It is forecast to add trillions of dollars of value to the global economy over the next few years – but it could destroy legacy companies that fail to keep pace. Seizing the moment demands bold strategic moves and overhauling legacy models in favor of new approaches to leadership.
One of the firms leading the way is Prosus, the power behind some of the world’s leading lifestyle e-commerce brands. Its roots can be found over 100 years ago in South Africa, but today the Prosus Group is headquartered in Amsterdam, with 45,000 people across its wholly owned companies.
Its global portfolio spans startups, scaleups and multibillion-dollar giants alike – and many have shot up that ladder over time. Prosus was one of the earliest investors in Tencent, back in 2001. In 2016, it invested in a promising food ordering and delivery startup in India, Swiggy. Other success stories include OLX Group, the Dutch online marketplace; Latin American food delivery firm iFood; and eMAG, the Central and Eastern European e-commerce firm.
Yet Prosus is also a company that has recognized the need for substantial change – to reinvent itself for the future. The latest chapter began in 2024 with the arrival of a new chief executive, Fabricio Bloisi, who had previously served as CEO at iFood, Prosus’s food delivery business in Brazil. He was accompanied by Gustavo Vitti, who became Prosus’s chief people officer. Under Bloisi’s leadership, the company has embarked on a dramatic shift. Having recognized that it could do more to support the growth of its investments, Prosus is today pursuing a strategy built on creating ecosystems across its portfolio, driven by a vision of unlocking an AI-first world for its two billion customers.
The potential benefits of building more integrated ecosystems across Prosus companies are clear, explains Laureen Rwatirera-Chivere, VP talent management. “There are huge opportunities for the companies we’ve invested in to innovate together, cross-sell, upsell and build products that serve our consumers in new and even better ways.”
Bloisi drew on one particularly influential book: The Geek Way, by Andrew McAfee. Published in 2023, it sets out a vision for leadership centered on speed, experimentation and calculated risk – the style of leadership that has turned Silicon Valley companies into global giants. Underpinning their growth, McAfee writes, is an organizational culture based on four pillars: science, ownership, speed and openness.
Those insights made the book a touchstone for Prosus’s new direction, even inspiring its own internal philosophy – the Prosus Way. It is built around five values – entrepreneurship, results, innovation, people and impact – with an outlook encapsulated in a ‘jet ski’ methodology for innovation, where speed and agility are paramount. The first stage centers on small teams, small investments and small incremental wins and failures. Ideas with proven potential move to the second stage, ‘boats,’ where they are scaled but kept lean, before the final ‘cruise ship’ stage, where innovations are embedded organization-wide.
The jet ski methodology points to the necessity of a cultural shift for executing the major change in strategy envisioned by Prosus’s leadership. AI might be driving exponential change – but adapting to new realities was never going to be only about the technology. “We knew that the thing that would unite us to make those ecosystems successful is a unified culture,” explains Rwatirera-Chivere. And that made leadership mission critical.
Out of the classroom, into the Valley
As Prosus assessed how it could support its leaders and grow their capability for driving the company’s future, there was an appetite for new ways of doing things. “One of Fabricio’s taglines is ‘We’re not moving fast enough,’ and he wanted us to push the boundaries and think bigger – not just 10% bigger, but 10X bigger,” explains Analisa Ponce, global lead for talent and ecosystem development for the Prosus Group. “So when we thought about how to address that with our leaders, one of the big decisions we made was that we wanted a more immersive experience.”
Prosus turned to Duke Corporate Education to design a new program for senior leaders built around a fully immersive experience. There was only one potential destination.
“Silicon Valley generates more revenue than most countries in the world – and a big part of the reason it’s able to do that is the culture within the Valley,” says Rwatirera-Chivere.
The brief was to give participants a real experience of that culture. The result was the Prosus 10X Program: a week-long immersive experience in San Francisco that took place in December 2025. Some 80 senior leaders participated, including company CEOs and C-suite leaders from 12 global businesses across the Prosus portfolio.
Themes across the week included the power of culture as a compass, learning to adopt a scientist’s mindset, innovating with purpose, and building ecosystems that scale. The agenda explicitly linked The Geek Way‘s pillars with the Prosus Way – with McAfee himself delivering the opening keynote. Participants engaged with no fewer than 20 educators and practitioners over the week, including executives at companies such as Google DeepMind and AWS, angel investors and AI experts, while visiting a range of leading-edge organizations.
Ponce highlights a visit to IDEO, the design and innovation company, where discussion focused on human-centered design thinking, as particularly impactful. “The approach to everything was iterative and fast – participants really got exposed to innovation up close.”
Another highlight was a data analytics briefing and game experience with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. “Every single one of the people who were there will never forget that experience – not only for being able to watch and experience the game, but for hearing the story of how it is orchestrated through AI and analytics at every touchpoint in the customer journey. It was mind-blowing,” says Rwatirera-Chivere.
The breadth of experiences curated across the program proved hugely powerful for participants. “The opportunity to connect with talented leaders from across our ecosystem and explore the frontiers of AI with Google DeepMind, Amazon, Distyl and the Golden State Warriors was both inspiring and energizing,” says Sebastiaan Vaessen, Prosus’s global head of strategy. “Every conversation challenged my thinking.”
It underlines the power of the immersive approach. “Being in a traditional classroom would have kept the conversation at a theoretical level – but we’re a company that’s trying to make a real cultural change,” says Rwatirera-Chivere. “Having the lived experience of operators in the space – people doing the work, people showcasing what works and what doesn’t, sharing their challenges – truly brought it all to life.”
Designing for connection
As the 10X Program took shape, one of the major considerations for Prosus and Duke CE was the program’s role as a catalyst for network creation across the group’s varied companies – be they startups, scaleups or major businesses. The cohort intentionally brought together leaders from the same company holding different roles; those from different companies doing similar roles; and those in different companies and departments who were natural ecosystem partners, such as e-commerce companies and fintechs.
But creating the conditions for connections to flourish took more than just cohort selection. The structure put in place around the visits and expert discussions was critical.
“With Duke CE’s guidance we factored in reflection points after every speaker, focusing on how we were going to apply this in our business,” explains Ponce. “We had people from all those different companies working in mixed teams, so they could start building that ecosystem thinking together – discussing common challenges and problems, and starting to look for solutions. They really started making headway on projects they could take back to the business.”
The value of the emphasis on network creation is reflected by participants such as Tessa Ackermann, CFO at the South African e-commerce firm Takealot Group. “The highlight for me was the ecosystem itself,” says Ackermann. “Connecting with peers from other group companies was phenomenal. It’s rare to be in a room with that much collective talent and shared ambition.”
On the record: the 10X commitment
Having created the conditions for new thinking and new connections to emerge, the next challenge was ensuring impact back in the organization. To that end, the 10X Program tapped into the power of accountability for achieving goals.
“The science tells us that if I write down my goal, I increase my chances of achieving it – and if I then tell someone, I increase my chances again,” explains Rwatirera-Chivere. Going public takes this to the next level. “When you make a public declaration, you’re even more inclined to be accountable and follow through on it.”
On the final day of the immersion, participants filmed short videos on how they planned to deliver 10X growth – documenting their commitments not only for themselves, but for senior leadership and stakeholders across the business. Examples included a talent exchange between the iFood fraud prevention team and the CTO of Coin, the fintech business, sharing crucial learning between their organizations. Another was the connection made between Romania-based Freshful from eMAG and Takealot, focusing on personalizing customer journeys and customer behavior analysis. Such talent exchanges have had outsized impact, says Rwatirera-Chivere – helping companies overcome key barriers to growth in areas where they lack internal expertise.
For every one of the participants, accountability has been reinforced from the top. “Our CEO has watched every single video. He’ll tag people on Slack – ‘Okay, how’s it going with this? I want to hear what you’re doing,'” explains Ponce. “We’ve seen the synergies building. What we envisioned is actually happening – and the videos really helped keep people accountable for that.”
Ecosystems in action
The 10X pledges speak directly to the ROI of the program – and to Prosus’s success in accelerating its culture change. The outcomes have been highly varied, says Rwatirera-Chivere. “It goes from, ‘I met somebody who helped us solve a challenge,’ to, ‘I’ve changed my outlook on how we can drive AI within our business operations,'” she explains. “Not only have people learned and found small wins – they’re transforming their businesses, changing their way of working and operating in a positive way, so we can say, ‘Hey, that program was really worth the investment.'”
The view from participants echoes that evaluation. “Calling it a ‘learning experience’ feels like an understatement,” reflects Ackermann. “It was a full immersion into the energy and innovation of Silicon Valley that I won’t soon forget. This was, hands down, the best professional learning experience I’ve had.”
The 10X Program points to the fundamental ideas that will shape the AI-first world – not only for Prosus, but for business globally. This is leadership for the future: designed for connection, inspiring innovation, and driving impact – with people firmly at the center.
Patrick Woodman is editor of Dialogue
