Steve Johnson - Executive Director: New Business Development

This year marks 20 years service at Frontline Research Group (FRG) for Executive Director of New Business Development, Steve Johnson.? Not commonly known and definitely not bragged about, Steve has achieved his 7th Dan black belt in Karate plus many other accolades including multiple world championships. He cites the skills and focus applied in his Karate as one of the key factors for making better decisions in life. In fact this is where Steve’s journey with Frontline began as he met Kevin Abraham in his Dojo (Club). Steve with Kevin as a mentor, worked on a couple of projects together while he was studying and PE Technikon (now NMU) and on completion, Steve realised that he had potential in the business of research.?

And so he walked out of varsity at the end of 2002 into Frontline Research Group (FRG) as a field worker and project assistant on a new project that FRG had just won,earning R6.50 an hour. Back then, everything was still paper based, time consuming and laborious, but the digital age was definitely breaching the horizon.?

At the age of 24 Steve took over the National Coordination of all the research projects in South Africa - no small feat, but Kevin Abraham sure knew how to pick them and provide a baptism of fire.

“My learning was mostly on the job. I took the approach of never saying no to any job and spent time learning from people above, on the same level and below me, getting to know every aspect of market research and understanding our clients businesses in the best way I could, “ reminisces Steve.

Steve started his travels in Africa, visiting all the countries including South Africa, doing research around Time and Motion studies at all the Coca-Cola plants to assess their staffing efficiencies, which exposed him to many levels of business being done in Africa. From there, Frontline continued delivering good insights and developed the great relationships with its clients that it has today.

Steve has been at the forefront of the evolution of Frontline Research Group over the past decade, from entering into a business consisting of 3 to 4 people, to its current expansion of nearly 50 staff; having never been to Africa, to visiting over 20 countries on this beautiful continent, and taking FRG from being paper based to digital and beyond.

“The information gathering sector is highly competitive, but we have IP and the experience of walking the streets of Africa and getting our hands dirty. More importantly is the passion and dedication of our people that have made Frontline what it is today. We understand the nuances of working in Africa, the cultures and the pulse of the markets based on what our clients are looking for, especially in the traditional trade environments,” says Steve with ardour.

Steve believes that good data is almost always defined by the right research design - right methodology, questionnaire design, the right scripting and the right sample design. - if you get all those right, the data will be reliable, and guide you in your planning and strategy. Frontline always strives to do this and then focuses on not only deliver data as a number; they are delivering a wealth of knowledge, by providing in-depth analysis, insights & direction, based on years of experience in working across Africa.

Steve would like to see the people around him at Frontline Research Group grow from strength to strength by not only working behind a laptop and standing in front of clients, but by travelling and experiencing Africa the way he did, developing a passion for it and for the research that the company does.

“Frontline’s future looks good and even though times have been tough, FRG has come out stronger in the end. And that is testimony to its good leadership team and the people,” expounds Steve.

Frontline Research Group strives to be the leaders in Traditional Trade Research in emerging markets by providing our clients with analysis, insights and? direction across these markets.

If you’d like to increase opportunities for business in Africa, contact the Frontline Research Group on [email protected] or +27 86 999 0407.