Turnaround INQ People

Turnaround INQ has picked a team with the right blend of skills and experience to address a variety of different turnaround situations. Our key people are:

photo place holderMark Ridgway: Mark has 20 years experience in senior management.  Specific industry specialisation includes construction, portfolio management, asset finance and management, debt recovery and turnaround management.Mark co-founded Royal Asset Management in the late 1980’s, which pioneered the fund of fund unit trust management concept in South Africa.  In 1995 he joined ITC Business administrators and served as CEO from 2004 till 2007.  During this period, the business obtained a rating from Moody’s Investor Service as the world’s first non bank provider of third party securitisation administration services.  For the past 2 years Mark has been leading business turnarounds and consulting to international companies regarding credit processes and systems. Read more...

Key Capabilities

  • Strategic focus and tactical planning
  • Operations and efficiency expert with a focus on critical business processes
  • Financial restructuring
  • Growth management and organisational development
  • Due diligence, cost analysis and control
  • Product innovation, development and delivery
  • Board level leadership and relationship management

Core Deliverables

  • Commercially astute with an ability to grasp critical strategic issues
  • Proven background in guiding the development of highly specialised software systems and solutions
  • Strong orientation in operations and finance
  • Experienced in infrastructure and process design, process re-engineering and product innovation
  • Business rescue and turnaround management.
  • Effective and accountable whilst overcoming complicated business challenges
Mark holds a MBA from GIMT (Henley Management College – London)) and lives in Cape Town.  Mark is married and has three young boys.

Syd Muller: Syd has a distinguished business career including 13 years at the helm of Woolworths, one of South Africa’s foremost retailers.             
An accountant by training, Syd progressed through the roles of Finance Director, Managing Director and Chairman, spending 23 years on the Board of Woolworths. During this time he steered the business to an annual growth rate of 20% and to delivering the largest profit of any SA retailer.  Since leaving Woolworths in 2000, Syd has been involved in the rescue, turnaround and resale of Topic stores, and the successful expansion of Accessorize and La Senza. He is in addition, a non-executive director of a number of public and private companies. Read more...

Key Capabilities

  • Deep experience of managing large, complex, multi-site businesses
  • Large scale organizational restructuring and turnaround track record
  • Specific and substantial retail experience
  • Financial structuring within both listed and private company environments
  • Local and international M & A
  • Keen understanding of the importance of brand as a tool for value creation
  • A strong motivator

Core Deliverables

  • Seasoned and experienced business leadership
  • Strong advisory capability
  • Breadth of experience from start-up, to turnaround to large scale established businesses
  • Strong focus on financial performance
  • Incisive understanding of financial structures

Syd is a Chartered Accountant and in addition holds an MBA from UCT and AMP form Harvard.  He lives in Cape Town.


Karl Westvig: Karl has 15 years experience in Consumer Finance and Strategic Management. In 1999, Karl founded a Consumer Finance business with The Foschini Group, a BEE partner and two other executives, called the RCS Group.  In 2005, 45% of the business was sold to Standard Bank, valuing the business at R1.4bn.  He served his three year contract and has exited to develop new business ventures in Consumer Finance and Recruitment.  He continues to serve on the RCS Group Board and is also on The Kuyasa Fund Board, a low cost housing finance company. Read more...

Key Capabilities

  • Board level strategic planning
  • Organisational development
  • Operational Excellence and Efficiencies
  • Change management
  • Performance improvement and performance management
  • Employee engagement
  • Building of Organisations

Core Deliverables

  • Entrepreneur with solid track record
  • Development of strong teams to drive performance
  • Data and Analytics capability
  • Strong credit risk experience in consumer finance and banking
  • On-line experience using social networking to drive new marketing strategies
  • Development of business solutions to grow businesses profitably

Karl holds a Bachelor of Business Science (Hons. in Statistics) from the University of Cape Town and is married with two kids.



Larry Sive: Over the last 30 years Larry has demonstrated exceptional skills establishing and running businesses within the Finance and Credit sector.Trained as a Chartered Accountant, Larry has extensive experience in areas of Trade Finance, Factoring, Confirming and Shipping. He went on to establish ITC which grew into one of South Africa’s premier collection businesses. ITC was later acquired by Trans Union, where Larry served as a Group Director.  He continues to sit on the Trans Union board, in addition to playing an active role in managing his interests in a number of Finance and Financial Services companies. Read more...

Key Capabilities
In-depth understanding of finance and financial structures

  • Expertise in financial structuring and restructuring
  • High-level experience in managing a large national, service sector business
  • Strong business-to-business understanding
  • Skilled Negotiator

Core Capabilities

  • Incisive financial diagnostic skills
  • Negotiating and structuring innovative finance solutions
  • Ability to apply skills across the spectrum of business from large to small
  • Strong deal making and Merger and Aquisition skills
  • Strong international and South African board experience

Larry has a CA from the University of Cape Town. He lives in Cape Town with his wife not too far from his two married children.


Robbie Cowan: Robbie has 20 years experience in consulting to organisations and businesses in the UK, US and South Africa. In 1994 Robbie founded the London based consulting company, Credos, which was sold to JSB Group in 2005. He remains on the JSB board and continues to consult to and advise clients both in South Africa and abroad. He acts as a strategic advisor to leading London law firm Mishcon de Reya and in addition is a non-executive director of a number of private companies. Read more...

Key Capabilities

  • Board level strategic planning
  • Organisational development
  • Pre and post transaction support including due diligence
  • Post merger integration
  • Change management
  • Performance improvement and performance management
  • Employee engagement
  • Board level leadership development and coaching

Core Deliverables

  • Sharp commercial focus with a proven ability to shape strategy and build strong leadership teams
  • Exceptional diagnostic skills in assessing management capability and organisational capacity
  • Strong track record of providing post-transaction support within private and listed company environments
  • Implementation of focused performance improvement plans, at enterprise, business unit and management levels
  • Re-aligning of organisational and management structures with strategy 
  • Design and active management of change processes, engaging stakeholders as necessary
  • Broad cross sector experience and specific in-depth interest in the business services and marketing communications sectors

Robbie holds an MA in Psychology from the University of the Witwatersrand and is based in Cape Town, where he lives with his wife, two big kids, two small dogs and a green parrot.


Colin Morgan:Colin has 14 years experience in the Consumer Goods, Contracting and Transport Technology fields, covering financial, operational and business development roles.Colin has held senior positions in a number of organisations. Most recently he joined a small transport technology and services company as CFO in 2006, found the business was insolvent and was instrumental in its turnaround. He then supported its explosive growth over the next few years to the point that it was awarded, as a key member of a joint venture, a multi-billion rand project in 2009 in which he played a key role. In the same year the public transport business division that Colin had taken full ownership of was awarded contracts exceeding R300 million in value. Read more...

Key Capabilities

  • Organisational and business analysis
  • Commercial and operational strategy and structuring
  • Project and tender analysis, strategy and pricing
  • Financial management, measurement and control
  • Capital allocation

Core Deliverables

  • Broad cross sector experience and specific in-depth interest in the FMCG, Contracting and Transport Technology and Services sectors
  • Exceptional analytic skills firmly grounded in real-world business and operations
  • Experience in start-up and troubled organisations
  • Implementation of business integration, rationalisation and performance improvement measures
  • Development of new lines of business
  • Financial experience and capability up to CFO level

Colin holds a BCom from Rhodes University, BCom (Hons) from UNISA and a CA(SA) qualification (articled at KPMG). He is based in Cape Town, where he lives with his wife and one child, with another on the way.