In advance of Bizcommunity's (Bizcommunity.com) forthcoming BizTrends2021 event Jessica Tennant, Bizcommunity's senior editor for Marketing & Media finds out more about the elusive Dion Chang, founder of Flux Trends and one of South Africa's most respected trend analysts.

Chang, who delivers a unique view of trends as business strategy, will host the esteemed speaker lineup at Bizcommunity’s annual trend event scheduled to take place online on Thursday, 28 January 2021.

In our exclusive podcast, Dion Chang reveals details of his multifaceted career, providing context and insight as to how he gravitated towards being one of South Africa's most sought-after trend consultants, and how business can derive value from strategically incorporating trends within their organisations across multiple sectors.

Chang says he’s really excited about their session on the 28th and to expose where the new trajectories of businesses are.

2020 was a remarkable year in so many respects, but it has also recalibrated and reset the trajectories for so many industries and so many businesses… It will be very foolhardy for anybody to think that we can just pick up once we all get vaccinated – which is going to take a long time – that we can just pick up and continue where we left off from 2019. That’s just not going to happen.

"I think so much has changed, so many things have accelerated. A lot of people have been saying that, in terms of technology, we’ve accelerated five years in those five or six months when we started with lockdown. So, with that accelerated trajectory, it’s going to have a ripple and knock-on effect with a lot of things there."

After 2020, he thinks it's important for brands to have a sense of value or integrity or some kind of moral compass because the world has changed radically. So, he says every business needs to relook what they do, what their business model is and what they stand for. "Customers are no longer where you thought they were and they might not be needing what you thought you were selling to them. It’s that kind of massive change of are you selling the right thing to the right people and where are they are and what do they need."

Bizcommunity, in partnership with South Africa's leading business trend consultants, Flux Trends, invites you to join BizTrends2021 - Towards New North and New Narratives on Thursday, 28 January 2021. Register here.