About

Hi, I’m Paul Smith.

I live in Johannesburg and work on building Civitas, a peer network for founders and CEOs growing businesses in Southern Africa.

I grew up in Pietermaritzburg, spent formative years rowing, researching and lecturing, and have spent most of my adult life obsessed with how people, companies, and communities grow well or don’t.

Things I’m involved with and areas of interest

Founder communities.
Civitas runs CEO forums, mentoring, and events for founders building companies from early traction to real scale. The aim is better decisions, deeper relationships, and less noise.

Business growth.
How small and medium businesses scale sustainably: positioning, offers, systems, leadership, and incentives. I’m especially interested in what actually compounds versus what merely sounds impressive.

Progress studies.
I’m increasingly interested in progress studies—understanding how living standards improve over time, why some societies and technologies deliver broad-based gains, and how institutions, ideas, and incentives shape outcomes for many rather than a few.

Economic growth.
Not as an abstraction, but as a practical force that enables better lives, more optionality, and resilience. I’m drawn to the conditions that allow growth to be inclusive, durable, and ethically grounded.

Longevity & performance.
Sleep, training, nutrition, recovery, and evidence-based ways to stay physically and cognitively sharp over decades. Influenced by endurance sport and the “founder as athlete” mindset.

Running & endurance.
Trail running, long days in the mountains, and the clarity that comes from sustained effort.

Books & ideas.
I read widely—business, economics, psychology, philosophy, and history—and try to synthesize ideas into usable frameworks rather than abstractions.

Culture & human dynamics.
How groups form, why cultures drift, how incentives shape behavior, and what makes some communities thrive while others decay.

Technology & AI.
Practical uses of AI for founders, teams, and creators—less hype, more leverage.

South Africa.
Optimistic realism about what it takes to build great companies and communities here, and why the country still has meaningful upside if we get the fundamentals right.

Elsewhere

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