Skip to main content
Opens in a new tab External site
Hero banner Banner
NINTH EDITION

Global Risk Management Survey

Download South Africa Results View Global Report Contact Us

South Africa Results

Aon’s Global Risk Management Survey is designed to assess business leaders’ attitudes towards risk and risk management in general. Running for the ninth time in 2023, the results from South Africa respondents show the increasingly interconnected nature of risk, with traditional business risks and people risks converging to create significant challenges for organisations.

Top 10 Risks Facing South African Organisations Now

The top 10 South African risks reflect a range of interrelated top-of-mind issues, such as political instability, economic challenges caused by issues such as loadshedding and climate change factors which include natural disasters, like the Gauteng Earthquake or the KZN 2023 Floods. South Africa’s Top 10 Risks facing organisations are:

  1. Business Interruption
  2. Economic Slowdown/Slow Recovery
  3. Exchange Rate Fluctuation
  4. Supply Chain or Distribution Failure
  5. Commodity Price Risk/Scarcity of Materials
  6. Failure to Attract or Retain Top Talent
  7. Cyber Attacks/Data Breach
  8. Failure to Innovate/Meet Customer Needs
  9. Political Risk
  10. Cash Flow/Liquidity

Explore the Global Results

Companies are grappling with traditional risks in new guises across both risk and human capital. How can business leaders best prioritise and respond to them?

View Global Report Opens in a new tab

Top 5 Risks Facing South African Organisations in the Future

Alongside asking participants to select their current risks, we also asked them to predict what their five most critical risks would be in three years’ time (2026).

While Business Interruption and Economic Slowdown/Slow Recovery remain top of the list, organisations in South Africa, who participated in the survey felt that failure to attract or retain top talent and political risk will have a bigger impact on their business in the future, with these risks ranking higher.

While exchange rate fluctuation is in the top five risks currently experienced in South African organisations, are not expected to be in the top five within three years.

  1. Business Interruption
  2. Economic Slowdown/Slow Recovery
  3. Failure to Attract or retain Top Talent
  4. Political Risk
  5. Commodity Price Risk/Scarcity of Materials

What Do the Results Mean for Organisations in South Africa?

Organisations are operating in a world that is more uncertain than ever. Geopolitical and macroeconomic volatility is increasing and changing the risk landscape rapidly. On top of that, traditional business risks and human capital risks are becoming much more interconnected, making it difficult for organisations to respond to challenges.

In a period of rapid change and heightened volatility, finance, risk, and people leaders need to come together to better understand how these risks connect. The goal should be to form one version of the truth about the strategic and financial significance of their firms’ risk profile, and to follow a united strategy for mitigating, managing, and bringing capital to these exposures.

Better Decisions Start Here

Have a question? Please complete the form below and a member of our team will be in touch.
Fields marked with an asterisk (*) are required.

Aon and other Aon group companies will use your personal information to contact you from time to time about other products, services and events that we feel may be of interest to you. All personal information is collected and used in accordance with our privacy statement Opens in a new tab .

Please click here External site Opens in a new tab to manage your communication preferences.