Business Talk – In conversation with Lift’s Gidon Novick

Gidon Novick is co-founder of South Africa’s newest low-cost airline Lift, which launched in December last year.

He also previously served as chief executive officer at Discovery Vitality, having co-founded Kulula, and serving as Comair CEO.

Novick has a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management, and a BCom CA from the University of the Witwatersrand.

In this episode of Business Talk with Michael Avery, Novick walks through the challenges of starting a new venture during Covid-19, and particularly in the hospitality and tourism sector.

He says that airlines have been through a turbulent time recently, suggesting that the existing airline models are broken, over-indebted, and difficult to sustain.

The price to acquire physical assets and human capital in the industry is low, which created an opportunity for Lift, Novick says.

He tells Michael Avery why Lift stands out, and why he believes it will succeed.

The full interview is embedded below. You can find all the Business Talk with Michael Avery interviews here.