Chantell Ilbury
South Africa

Future Strategy, Scenario Planning

Chantell Ilbury is one of South Africa’s most exciting scenario strategists and facilitators, working locally and internationally. Chantell believes passionately in the power of scenario thinking to help open one’s mind and then focus it more effectively, making it the most operative form of business strategizing in the new economy. Chantell Ilbury holds a BSc in Chemistry, a post-graduate Higher Diploma in Education and an Executive MBA from the University of Cape Town and has registered for a PhD in integrated business strategy at UCT.

Chantell Ilbury was born in Bulawayo and attended Eveline High School before moving to Natal to study at the University of Natal. After completing her BSc and HDE she started a career in education, firstly as a teacher and then as a designer of computer-based training material for industry as well as bridging courses for post-matric students. Chantell also accepted positions to lecture Chemistry and Education. In 1995 Chantell expanded her approach to education when she founded Scienceworks – South Africa’s first science communication company. She pioneered a radical learner-based approach to science education, which she then incorporated into the design, manufacturing, retail and eventual export, of a range of 16 creative science kits aimed at the 7-16 age group.It was whilst completing her Executive MBA at the UCT Graduate School of Business, that Chantell first met Anglo-American’s Clem Sunter and introduced her ideas on scenario planning. The collaboration led to their co-writing of the number one best-selling book The Mind of a Fox – Scenario Planning in Action, which is about to go into its eighth edition.

As a scenario-planning strategist, Chantell Ilbury has consulted at both a national and international level. She has been invited to lecture strategy at a number of South Africa’s top business schools. Chantell Ilbury is an accomplished speaker and is often called on to address leading businesses on effective management in times of uncertainty. Chantell Ilbury was invited to speak at an international business conference in London on Managing Business in Turbulent Times and was one of the keynote speakers at the Business Continuity International Symposium in Jersey as well as a guest speaker at a leading business symposium on the Isle of Man.