Business Talk – Erika Terblanche and Johnny Moloto on South Africa’s illicit tobacco market
In this Business Talk with Michael Avery article, Erika Terblanche and Johnny Moloto discuss the latest Ipsos research into South Africa’s illicit tobacco crisis.
Terblanche is the Chief Research Officer at Ipsos South Africa, one of the world’s leading market research companies.
She has held her current position for over three years and, prior to this, served as the Global Data Science Lead for Channel Performance and the Global Science Lead for Retail and Consumer Intelligence.
Terblanche also spent over 12 years at The Nielsen Company, serving in multiple notable roles, including Executive Statistician, Senior Statistician, and Measurement Science Business Leader.
Moloto is the Area Head of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for Sub-Saharan Africa at British American Tobacco.
In this role, he oversees critical trade policy, regulatory frameworks, tax compliance, and addressing economic realities in African markets.
He is also a member of the South African Tobacco Transformation Alliance Board of Directors and a strong supporter of reduced-nicotine products and tobacco harm reduction initiatives.
The interview
In this Business Talk interview, Terblanche explains how Ipsos conducted its recent research on the illicit tobacco trade in South Africa and what the report’s findings indicate about the current state of the South African market.
She also discusses how cigarette prices can fall to levels that are normally economically unviable.
Moloto unpacks why the government’s various interventions are failing to provoke meaningful changes in the local illicit tobacco market.
He then outlines the steps and strategies which he believes would yield better results.
Terblanche and Moloto conclude the interview by unpacking how pricing strategies in the illicit tobacco market have evolved and what indicators could be used to determine whether anti-illicit tobacco initiatives are working.
Watch the interview with Erika Terblanche and Johnny Moloto below.
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