Ziwani’s podcast series RISK tackles the practical realities of taking bold steps in business – reframing the conversation around taking gospel-inspired risks while being grounded in professional responsibility. In this episode, Ashton Fourie interviews Jeff Phiri, Head of the CIS program at DHL about what it means to lead well in volatile business environments.
You can listen to the full episode here.
For most people, war in the Middle East appears on a news feed. For Jeff and his colleagues at DHL, it makes the phone ring in the middle of the night.
When conflict escalated in the region on 28 February 2026, the consequences were immediate. “Some aircraft with people and goods were actually turned around – they never got to the Middle East,” Jeff says. “They had travelled 16 hours just to be turned around.” The disruption rippled throughout the world. “Overnight, thousands of flights were cancelled, shipments were stuck in ports.”
Suddenly, customers were calling, asking where their goods were and when they would arrive. Critical medical supplies, urgent business deliveries and essential products were delayed. At the same time, fuel prices surged. “Right now, jet A-1 fuel has gone up by 70%. A whopping 70%,” he exclaims.
Yet what stands out is not the scale of the disruption. It is the discipline of their response. While many organisations panic when crisis arrives, DHL was able to activate existing risk management protocols. “That’s important, because you must have business continuity,” Jeff emphasises.
First, they ensured their people were safe. “That is number one. Our people are our greatest asset, so safety first.” Then, they rerouted aircraft. “We know that we can’t stop any geopolitical events because those are outside our control. But we can make sure we are prepared.” For example, DHL uses a hub-and-spoke methodology, with multiple country hubs that allow operations to be relocate relatively quickly when conflict disrupts one area. And throughout the process, communication with customers remains critical. “Because customers don’t want to hear about the problem. They want to hear about the solution.”
The lesson is straightforward. Effective risk management begins long before the crisis appears. “The key is preparation must travel faster than the uncertainty,” Jeff explains. “Risk management is anticipating what is around the curve, what is around the bend of the road.”
He repeatedly points to the biblical figure of Nehemiah as an example of how to lead well during volatile circumstances. “In the Old Testament, one of my heroes is Nehemiah,” he states. “He went down on his knees, and he prayed. He prayed first. Then he planned carefully. And finally, he stepped forward with courage.” Prayer is therefore not a substitute for planning, and planning is not a substitute for action.
As a leader, Nehemiah also displayed a particular kind of dual awareness. “He was building with one hand, but guarding with the other, that’s managing risk,” Jeff argues. It means staying focused on the intended goal while remaining alert to what could derail it.
As such, risk management is ultimately connected to purpose. “One has to have a laser focus. Do not worry about other things, the noise is peripheral.” Jeff again points to Nehemiah, who repeatedly refused attempts to distract him from rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall. “He said, ‘I’m doing a great work and cannot come down.’”
Purpose provides clarity when circumstances become confusing. It helps leaders stay focused when opportunities, pressures, and different priorities compete for attention.
In the same way, Jeff is highly intentional about his own travel: “My work trips are not holidays. I am going for a purpose, and it must be mission accomplished. So I refuse any distractions, just like Nehemiah.”
He has spent his career travelling extensively, working in more than 50 countries and visiting over 90. Being away from home for two weeks out of every four, has taught him that some of the most serious risks are not always the most obvious. “When you travel, one of the unique risks you see is around integrity risk,” he says. “You’ll get lots of temptations. You’re alone in hotels.”
Again, his approach is preventative rather than reactive. “I have clear personal boundaries,” he explains, “and they are non-negotiable.” Describing an occasion when colleagues abroad headed to a massage parlour before dinner, Jeff chose to simply avoid the situation by saying, “Guys, I’ll meet you at the restaurant once you are done.” He reinforces these guardrails by having accountability partners and maintaining a structured routine. “Exercise is important. It keeps me grounded. It keeps me from trouble,” he smiles.
Jeff has worked for decades for a German-headquartered global company while being based in Africa – a cultural pairing he describes not as a tension, but as a gift. “The Germans emphasise discipline, compliance, and accountability. And if I look at these German cultural and business norms, they are aligned with my own Christian convictions.”
In contexts where, as he puts it, “corruption in many countries is normalised,” that institutional backbone makes a difference. “We’ve got a framework that helps us to say no.” It is a discipline, he says, that pays off over the long term in relationships with both regulators and customers: “Trust matters in business. Trust matters with authorities.”
He is candid about what happens when leaders lack that support. Sudden regulatory changes create pressure and uncertainty, which can tempt people to take shortcuts. “That’s when some people who don’t have frameworks, start bribing,” he says. “In the short term, it looks fantastic. But you should ask yourself: ‘This decision, what if it appeared in tomorrow’s newspaper? Will it withstand scrutiny?’ If the answer is no, do not take that decision. That is practical risk management.”
Another practical risk management tool is to decide, in advance, what deserves your time and energy, and what does not.
Many entrepreneurs fear missing opportunities. As a result, they say yes to everything. Every partnership, meeting, project, event, and invitation appears potentially important. “But you cannot be effective. We cannot have excellence if you are juggling so many balls,” Jeff comments.
With a demanding role at DHL, active church leadership and mentoring commitments, he is no stranger to the risk of burnout. “Many people fail because they want to please everyone.” For Jeff, the answer is to remain focused enough to recognise which ones are aligned with the purpose God has given you. “Some people went to sleep yesterday, and they did not wake up,” he points out. “So if you woke up today, you must ask yourself: why am I around? What is God’s intent for me?”
In a culture that often celebrates busyness, this is a counterintuitive insight. “I always tell the people I am mentoring, ‘Value time.’ In Africa, one of the things we do not value, unfortunately, is time. We must protect our time.”
What does risk management look like when you’re responsible for moving goods around the world? Jeff maps out the risks facing logistics operators – and, by extension, any entrepreneur moving goods across borders.
As mentioned, geopolitical shocks can disrupt supply chains overnight. So can fuel prices. “You do contract pricing way in advance,” he explains. “So you’ve priced your contract at X, but now there are these new costs, and the client pushes back, ‘No, we signed X. This is a multi-year deal.’” Sometimes, aircraft can be unexpectedly grounded by labour strikes. “You start missing delivery commitments.” The result is margin erosion, pricing pressure, and difficult conversations with customers. In his view, this is what the job requires. “You have to react in hours, not days. You have to be very adaptable.”
Then there’s compliance. “As a logistics company, we operate under very strict regulations,” he says. Carrying restricted items involves significant financial risks (for example, high fines if goods have been declared incorrectly) as well as actual danger (for example, lithium-ion batteries not packed properly can explode mid-flight).
And of course, there are the security risks. “We carry high value goods that attract organised crime and syndicates,” Jeff states. These include hijackings between aircraft and distribution centre, fraudulent shipments, and warehouse theft. “You need to analyse that risk and say, how do you mitigate around that?”
The same realities apply in Africa, but the operating environment often adds to the complexity. Infrastructure is a constant strain – poor road networks, power outages, internet instability, and congestion at every major port, from Durban to Walvis Bay, Mombasa to Dar es Salaam.
Policy volatility is a definite risk in Africa. “Regulations can chop and change” with little notice, Jeff comments. Import or export bans appear overnight, currencies swing unpredictably, licences once granted can just as easily be withdrawn. Inflation only adds to the strain, spiking from 5% to 75% and turning even basic budgeting into guesswork.
As if that weren’t enough, bureaucracy presents another hurdle. “One of the biggest headaches is different interpretations of customs rules,” he says. “I’ve seen a report which shows the average time it takes to clear a truck at different border stations. Some 24 hours, some 36 hours!” For perishable goods, that delay can be the difference between a delivery and a write-off.
“Doing business in Africa is not for the faint hearted,” Jeff cautions. But difficulty is not a reason to stay away. “It’s not about removing the risk, it’s managing it wisely. You need to have your ducks in a row. You need to know the environment that you’re getting into. Then you can have success.”
Many of the risks Jeff describes cannot be eliminated. No company can prevent a war, control fuel prices, or anticipate every regulatory change. But leaders can control how prepared they are, how they respond, and the principles that guide their decisions.
This is the thread running through Jeff’s risk management approach, and why he keeps returning to Nehemiah. Faced with uncertainty, Nehemiah prayed before he planned, planned before he acted, built while remaining alert to threats, refused distractions, and persevered until the work was complete. For Jeff, that same pattern still holds: “We must trust God, we must plan well, and we must lead with courage.”
It is an approach refined through more than three decades of leadership, work in over 50 countries, and some of the most volatile periods the global logistics industry has faced. And on a continent defined by uncertainty, it may be one of the most practical risk-management frameworks a leader can have.
