About GPA

At Growth & Position Africa (GPA), we recognise the importance of basic services for each of our citizens. However, we believe that you don’t have to be a civil servant to serve our fellow citizens. Instead, we drive change by doing what we do best – partnering both private and public sector to address the glaring disparities that exist for our citizens.

The GPA Lexicon

Language is a roadmap to a culture. To best understand ours we share the vocabulary that we use within the GPA Group. These are the words and terms that guide us in everything that we do.
Our citizens

When we refer to our citizens, we speak of those who benefit from improved service delivery and the transformation agenda within South Africa and the African continent as a whole.

Those we serve

The GPA Group is not just a public sector firm. Nor does it work strictly with the private sector or NPO’s. Our focus firmly on the citizen. With a mandate to bring about change, we recognise that the most effective routes to sustainable transformation are through our partnerships with government, business and foundations, with whom we share our professional services and insightful approach.

Professionalisation
Our mandate to professonalise has three prongs. Upskilling those that currently serve our citizens within the government and those who serve government, such as small businesses, and creating an effective pathway for youth to enter the public service.
The GPA Universe
The GPA Group is our core team, which drives our key services. We do not work in isolation, though, and through our partnerships with those we serve, our collaborations with Academia, and our work with NGOs through our Empowerment entity, we create the GPA Universe – a sphere of influence that directly contributes to change.

Who We Are

Ushering in a new era of consulting.
Committed to transformation

Growth & Position Africa (GPA) is more than just a consulting firm. We are a collective of individuals, each driven to use their skills and capabilities to live a life of service. It is this sense of duty that underpins everything we do at GPA – how can we facilitate impactful change for our people, our communities, our country, and Africa at large?

At GPA, we recognise the importance of basic services for each of our citizens.

However, we believe that you don’t have to be a civil servant to bring about action. Instead, we drive change by doing what we do best – partnering with those we serve to address the glaring disparities that exist for our citizens.

MISSION, VISION
AND VALUES

Motivating everything that we do

We will always drive:

  • Citizen Centricity
  • Impact and Sustainability
  • Value for Money
  • Up-Skilling Internally and Externally
  • Changing the Narrative around Consulting

Our Value System

Integrity
We maintain the highest standards of professional and ethical behaviour, and value transparency and honesty in all communications, relationships, and actions.
Accountability

The GPA Group is not just a public sector firm. Nor does it work strictly with the private sector or NPO’s. Our focus firmly on the citizen. With a mandate to bring about change, we recognise that the most effective routes to sustainable transformation are through our partnerships with government, business and foundations, with whom we share our professional services and insightful approach.

Creativity
We continuously undertake to expand our skills and related solutions beyond conventional ideas and approaches. This allows for new possibilities and innovations to flourish, ensuring real and lasting positive change.
Respect
We value and celebrate the unique and diverse talents of each and every individual, recognising the experiences and perspectives of all stakeholders.
Value Chain
Underscoring the GPA working culture is a value system that drives our sense of purpose within the public sector space, holding us accountable to the citizens we serve through the work that we do.

What We Do

Providing the relevant tools to drive reform

Everything we do is aligned with the national narrative of transformation outlined in the National Development Plan – an ambitious, richly-detailed and citizen-centric strategy. However, government is up against an ever-changing landscape that demands continuous innovation, adaptation and improvement – and while they’re urged to look ahead to new challenges and reforms, they must still meet the basic needs of our citizens.

We know that the transformation agenda is stymied by a lack of specialised skills within the public sector – and it’s delaying the reform that is desperately needed. At GPA, we bridge that deficit and put structures in place to strengthen capabilities allround in a relevant, constructive way.

We aim to improve the quality of service delivery and the lives of all citizens through our work. Through our services, the GPA team will implement diagnostic methodologies and tailored solutions that address the challenges that affect transformation, resulting in improved outcomes for citizens and an effective working environment for those who serve them.

How We Do it

Multi-pronged approach to transformation

The founder and CEO of GPA, Garth Pretorius, has been involved in numerous transformation projects across multiple disciplines, within various tiers of government, and in most of South Africa’s nine provinces. Together with his team, a network of uniquely qualified individuals who share his passion and commitment to transformation, GPA is perfectly placed to drive change and reform.

Through our collective experience we’ve identified five universal areas of need. As such the GPA Group is divided into five entities that each drive a corresponding focus, which work in conjunction with each other within the GPA Universe and culminate in a holistic offering.

Knowledge = Sum of

FUELS

Impact = Sum of

THE GPA FIT FOR PURPOSE FORMULA

The science to the GPA Universe is best demonstrated through our “fit for purpose” formula.

The manner in which we organised and arranged the functioning of GPA is key in delivering against our commitment.

GPA Group plays a pivotal role to generate the necessary knowledge within the wider firm.

The five entities then draws on this knowledge to fuel the necessary impact to unlock sustainable transformation for those we serve – ultimately improving the lives of citizens.

Impact Zones

Work with vision. Grow inwards.
Empower Outwards.

People are important to us. Not just our citizens, but also the members of our GPA team. Our many years of experience have taught us that the traditional office structure can frustrate growth, creativity and problem-solving. Sustainable transformation is the core focus that underpins everything we do here at GPA, thus it’s imperative that we be as effective as possible. To that end, our innovative business model recognises that skills are universal. Instead of divisions along the lines of our entities, the GPA Universe is grouped into four zones with the visionary team in the centre to ensure that we always ask: “What did you do to grow someone else today?”

A collaborative process

Internally, the GPA Group is blessed with core skills and capabilities – but for us to truly affect change in this dynamic environment, collaboration is essential.

The key partnerships that will aid us in making an impactful contribution are:

Academia: Unlocking a pathway for the right skill to enter public service
Professional Bodies and Affiliations: Key to professionalising public service
Private Sector: Enhancing the quality and delivery of goods and services to the public sector