Acumen 22

HE’S WATCHING YOU! TEMBINKOSI BONAKELE SA’S COMPETITION COMMISSIONER

Issue 22

GDP GROWTH

INCENTIVISING THE WRONG THINGS

SHARED VALUE

THE PROMISE OF SUSTAINABILITY

R39.95 incl vat

• Fourth Quarter, 2017

HARMING OR FARMING?

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE KILLS

contents Issue 22 • Fourth Quarter, 2017

Issue 22 • Fourth Quarter, 2017

features

P.18

FARMING OR HARMING?

Author and proponent of compassionate farming Philip Lymbery explodes the myth of cheap meat and reveals the impact of industrial farming on wildlife.

HE’S WATCHING YOU!

TEMBINKOSI BONAKELE SA’S COMPETITION COMMISSIONER

GDP GROWTH

SHARED VALUE

P.22

THE PROMISE OF SUSTAINABILITY

R39.95 incl vat

Issue 22 • Fourth Quarter, 2017

HARMING OR FARMING?

INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE KILLS INCENTIVISING THE WRONG THINGS

HE’S WATCHING YOU!

SA’s Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele outlines the role of competition policy in fostering inclusive economic growth.

ON THE COVER Photo: Chris Gibbons

P.24

DOES SHARED VALUE HOLD THE KEY?

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Cara Bouwer investigates whether or not shared value is working in South Africa.

ACUMEN IS ALSO AVAILABLE AS AN APP for your iPad or iPhone in the Apple App Store, as well as in the Google Play store for your Android device.

P.28

WELLBEING, NOT GROWTH

Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti tells Chris Gibbons that GDP growth is a flawed measure.

P.56

et cetera

p.02 Contents p.04 Contributors p.08 From the Editor p.10 Network

opinion

p.14

Blue-chips, Fast and Slow

Prof. Nicola Kleyn suggests that in the wake of the Bell Pottinger and KPMG debacles, business leaders need to alter the way they make decisions.

p.46 A New Space at GIBS

Gill Cross tells Acumen about GIBS' new

learning space, Co.Central. p.50 Leaks, Audits and Whistle-

blowing in Gupta-land

Tamara Oberholster looks at the audit

profession and exactly what the public can

expect from it. p.54 Fighting the Rise of Internet Addiction

Eugene Yiga reports on how to spot and

deal with an unhealthy amount of

time online.

dynamic markets

p.16 Business Schools Have

Much to Contribute to the National Project

Columnist Trudi Makhaya’s take on the role of SA’s business schools.

p.17 Time to Change the

Commissions Act

Columnist Dan Moyane argues the case for a new law to enable independent Commissions of Inquiry.

south africa

p.32

GIBS lecturer Mignon Reyneke wonders if people who buy fake brands will ever buy the real thing.

You Can’t Buy a Fake Ferrari!

p.36 Not Just an Excuse for Another Meeting

Gaye Crossley explores the ins and outs

of good teamwork.

p.40 AI and Business in SA

Science writer Sarah Wild investigates

Artificial Intelligence. p.44 There Is No Glass Ceiling

Caren Scheepers and Shireen Chengadu

remind us that women still have a long

way to go to achieve equal standing as

leaders in society.

P.80

P.62

p.56 Kigali Works, But At What Cost?

Two senior GIBS staffers meet Rwanda's

President Paul Kagame. p.58 Goodbye Malaria

GIBS' Liezl Rees reports on an innovative

project being run on business lines that

may succeed in eradicating malaria. p.62

Doing Business in Singapore

It may be the world's most expensive city, but as Kate Whitehead reports, Singapore is also one of the most dynamic.

p.68 The Top 8 Things to See & Do

in Singapore

Kate Whitehead says that once the business in Singapore is done, why not try a night safari?

strategy p.70 GDP – Right or Wrong?

Prof. Adrian Saville explores the contention

that GDP growth is a flawed measure.

future p.72 Retail Apocalypse Top trendspotter Dion Chang takes a

close look at retail's perfect storm.

renew

p.76 Perfect Pitch

Travel diva Caroline Hurry stays at home,

visiting northern KZN... p.77 Trail Blazer

...and the Waterberg p.78

The Finer Things

Acumen's fashion expert Cheska Stark tries a Trenery shirt dress and a pair of Onitsuka Tigers.

p.80 Forward Motion

Jacques Marais & Stephen Smith find a

new Fat Bike, and a new trail T-shirt and

shoes from Hi-Tec. p.82 Techno

Gadget guru Aki Anastasiou looks at

the latest smartphones from Apple and

Samsung and a new laptop from Dell. p.84 Books

Chris Gibbons goes on a Journey of Diversity, meets some professional

assassins and an IBM super-computer. p.85 Wine

Acumen's wine expert John Maytham

uncovers three beauties just right

for summer. p.86 Lady Speaks The...

Acumen's musicologist Victor Dlamini

ponders the words and sounds of

Vangile Gantsho.

looking backwards

p.88 The Quantum Mechanics

of Facebook

Sam Cowen attempts to prove Einstein right by being in two places at the same time.

4

contributors

SHIREEN CHENGADU

DION CHANG is an

holds an adjunct faculty role at GIBS, lecturing in open, corporate and MBA elective programmes. She also holds a Director role at the University of Pretoria and runs Chengadu Advisory, a venture through which, in strategic partnership with others, she provides leadership and strategic solutions for individuals and institutions that grapple with the complexities, intersectionality and simultaneity of race, gender, generational and class dynamics.

innovator, creative thinker and visionary. He is a soughtafter trend analyst and, while his feet remain firmly planted on African soil, he uses a global perspective to source new ideas, gauge the zeitgeist and identify cuttingedge trends. He contributes to various print publications and online portals as a freelance journalist and social commentator.

DAN MOYANE is a seasoned broadcaster with 35 years of experience under his belt, having worked as a news reporter, editor and presenter.

His broadcasting credentials include Radio Mozambique’s English Service, BBC, Talk Radio 702, SABC and eNCA. Currently he anchors Morning News Today on eNCA on weekdays from 6 to 9 a.m.

He has been responsible for corporate communication and corporate social investment at MMI Holdings since 2009.

SARAH WILD is a

freelance science journalist, specialising in South African science, technology and innovation. She has worked as science editor at Business Day and the Mail & Guardian, and in 2015, she won the CNN-MultiChoice African Journalist of the Year Award for innovation.

TRUDI MAKHAYA is

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

CEO of Makhaya Advisory, an economic and competition policy consultancy. She also writes regularly for Business Day, was previously deputy competition commissioner and a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where she earned an MBA and a Master’s degree in development economics.

VICTOR DLAMINI

is a writer, columnist, communicator and portrait photographer with a deep interest in social issues.

He collects art and music, especially jazz. He graduated cum laude in English at the University of Natal in Pietermaritzburg.

PROF. ADRIAN SAVILLE is Professor of

Economics and Competitive Strategy at GIBS, and Founder and Chief Executive at Cannon Asset Managers. He has lectured and taught widely in both South Africa and around the world, has received the Excellence in Teaching Award at GIBS on nine occasions since 2007, and in 2012 was nominated for the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Business Professor of the Year Award.

While completing his doctorate in economics, he formed an investment vehicle which became the forerunner to the investment business Cannon Asset Managers.

MIGNON REYNEKE

is a senior lecturer and marketing /business strategy consultant with experience in the corporate and academic fields, both locally and internationally.

She currently teaches the core marketing course at GIBS and is also involved with custom corporate training in marketing and business strategy.

6

contributors

KATE WHITEHEAD is a Hongkonger and has made the city her home since she was eight. She escaped for university and returned after her Master's degree. The author of two Hong Kong crime books – After Suzie and Hong Kong Murders – she's been on staff at The Hong Kong Standard, South China Morning Post and edited Cathay Pacific's Discovery magazine. She writes for CNN, Time and BBC Travel.

editor Chris Gibbons Gibbonsc@gibs.co.za cover photography Chris Gibbons layout and production Contact Media and Communications (Pty) Ltd designer Quinten Tolken proofreader Angie Snyman publisher Donna Verrydt Donna@contactmedia.co.za

ABDULLAH VERACHIA serves as faculty in the areas of strategy and competitiveness and is also the Director of the GIBS Centre for Leadership and Dialogue. He has significant expertise in strategy, competitiveness and sector trends and facilitates a number of high-level strategy sessions and breakaways for companies and governments, and also speaks globally in this area.

Contact Media and Communications (Pty) Ltd 011 789 6339 advertising sales Sean Press Pressman@contactmedia.co.za 082 888 1137

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

EUGENE YIGA graduated with distinctions in financial accounting and classical piano but his career then took an interesting turn when he spent two-and-half years working in branding and communications at two of South Africa’s top market research companies. He also spent over three-and-a-half years working at an e-learning start-up before dedicating himself to his business as a full-time award-winning writer. Eugeneyiga.com

contributors Aki Anastasiou Prof. Nick Binedell Cara Bouwer Dion Chang Shireen Chengadu Sam Cowen Gaye Crossley Victor Dlamini Arthur Goldstuck Caroline Hurry Prof. Nicola Kleyn Trudi Makhaya Jacques Marais Dan Moyane Tamara Oberholster Liezl Rees Mignon Reyneke Prof. Adrian Saville Caren Scheepers Stephen Smith Cheska Stark Abdullah Verachia Kate Whitehead Sarah Wild Eugene Yiga commercial director Howard Fox Foxh@gibs.co.za contact Acumen 26 Melville Road, Illovo, Johannesburg P O Box 787602, Sandton, South Africa, 2146 011 771 4000 Acumen@gibs.co.za

Brought to you by:

Disclaimer: Acumen is the official publication of the University of Pretoria’s Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS). All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. No portion of this magazine may be reproduced externally, wholly or in part, in any form without the written consent of GIBS. The views and opinions expressed by the contributors to this publication are

PROF. NICK BINEDELL is

Professor of Strategy and Leadership at GIBS and was its founding Dean (2000-2015). He lectures frequently at the Rotterdam School of Management and was recently a Visiting Professor at London Business School.

not necessarily the views and opinions of the publishers, GIBS or its associates.

While every effort has been taken to ensure the completeness or accuracy of the published information, errors and omissions may occur. The publishers, GIBS and its associates cannot accept responsibility for any loss, damage or inconvenience that may arise from the unauthorised use of this publication.

8

editor’s note

A BETTER WAY Words Chris Gibbons

“The time is out of joint,” said Hamlet. Although Shakespeare wrote those words somewhere between 1599 and 1602, he could equally well have been commenting on the times we live in now.

South Africa, ruled by a vicious and corrupt elite, a bouffant-haired manchild in the White House and Britons attempting to commit economic suicide.

Russia under a gangster’s jackboot, civil wars across the Middle East and an overweight tyrant with a bizarre haircut threatening nuclear Armageddon from his North Korean throne-room.

And everywhere you look, disaffected, frustrated and angry people.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

That they feel unable to effect change, unequal to the task of improving their lives and uncoupled from their leaders is clear. It’s also plain that a large part of their disenchantment is aimed at business, and it seems that the bigger the corporation, the greater the disconnect from society and distance from its own workforce.

Of course, not all the world’s problems can be laid at business’s door, nor should we expect business to hold all the solutions, either. But there are plenty of ways in which business contributes to the current malaise and, thus, plenty of ways in which it could find, a better way.

In this edition of Acumen, we examine three major, overlapping areas.

The first and broadest relates to the instrument of economic measurement called GDP growth. Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti of the University of Pretoria argues that this is the wrong tool because it incentivises both constructive and destructive behaviour. A mining company that rapes the landscape as it harvests minerals from under the ground and

causes acute health problems for both miners and local communities would likely be a major contributor to growth in GDP. But is this really what society wants or needs?

Similarly, industrial-scale agriculture that encourages practices like deforestation in the Amazon basin in order to plant endless monocultures like soybean is hugely problematic. These monocultures in turn destroy multitudes of small animals, plants and insects – like bees – vital for the planet’s survival. And then the soybean is fed not to human beings, but animals like cows and pigs to service the myth of cheap meat. It’s as wasteful and destructive as ploughing a strip mine through Kruger Park, and Philip Lymbery, author of Farmageddon, sets out the devastating impact of industrial farming in his new work, Dead Zone – Where the Wild Things Were.

The same applies to industrial fishing, where ever-decreasing quantities of smaller and smaller fish are scooped up, also to be turned into animal feed.

Lymbery was initially alerted to the problem while looking at the African penguins at Boulders Beach near Cape Town. The penguin population is in sharp decline due to overfishing.

These are exactly the kinds of destructive practice condemned by Professor Fioramonti, even though they contribute to growth in GDP. Third, we report on the concept of Shared Value, first espoused about a decade ago by Harvard Business School’s

Michael Porter and now practiced by numerous businesses around the world, including here in South Africa. Shared value is where you arrive after deciding that Milton Friedman was wrong when he declared that “the business of business is business”. Porter and his disciples argue that the business of business is to make sure that there’s something on the table for everyone involved – shareholders, of course, but also workers, community, government and the environment.

These are things that we can change if we apply the right pressure to business.

In fact, these are changes that we must demand of business, if future generations are not to look back on our lack of action with despair. In so doing, we will also empower ourselves and begin a process of reconnection with our society.

Also within our control, and the subject of our Cover Story, is how our businesses approach the question fair competition.

There's no doubt that the Competition Commission is one of South Africa's institutions that functions well. It also has teeth and its Commissioner, Tembinkosi Bonakele, a GIBS MBA, intends to use them – if we don't play by the rules. That's just as it should be

.

10

network

NETWORK Words Acumen Contributors

Our regular look at GIBS' events and guests

Mike Brown

Sipho Pityana

BUSINESS MUST RECLAIM ITS VOICE

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

“Business has a responsibility to play a meaningful role as an important partner and stakeholder in society and I think it’s important to know where business comes from and what business thinks,” says Sipho Pityana, convenor of Save South Africa.

Flanked by former finance minister Trevor Manuel and Nedbank Group CEO Mike Brown, Pityana told a GIBS Ethics Forum that this was necessary so that other partners could engage with business and have an appreciation of the constraints under which business found itself.

“I don’t believe we can keep business out of politics, but I don’t believe it’s appropriate for business to set about to be a bunch of political activists. But business must fulfil its role and understand the political space that’s there: it should influence, it should understand and it should contribute as a significant corporate citizen,” said Pityana, who is also Chair of AngloGold Ashanti.

He went on to warn against thinking of either business in general or, more specifically black business, as a homogenous unit.

Trevor Manuel

“I have a discomfort in being associated with [the] Black Business Council which is led by somebody that I know has no ethics and

network

11

no moral standing, according to her earlier conduct which was exposed elsewhere. I get sick in the stomach when somebody asserts to be leading black business with those kinds of credentials because it drags me in as part of that.”

A FORMULA FOR CORRUPTION

Referring to what he called “the project of state capture”, Pityana said it had “very prominent business players. The GuptaLeaks had suggested so and nobody had contradicted this in any meaningful way.”

Explaining the role of accountability in preventing corruption, Makwetu flagged “the lack of consequences for things not going the way they should”. He cited research conducted in various cities around the world, which had attempted to pinpoint the main factors contributing to corruption in any institution. What it came down to, he said, was the following formula:

“Corruption is not just ethical misdemeanours,” stressed Trevor Manuel, “it’s a violation of law, and because it’s not possible for government leaders to actually deal with the issue partly because they replace competent people in administration with incompetents who already start out by owing a debt of gratitude to that leader, you collapse the system the way our criminal justice system has been collapsed in South Africa.”

Nedbank’s Mike Brown told the audience that “it is incredibly difficult to run a successful business inside an unsuccessful society.” For the business community, there had recently been “a rude awakening that politics drives policy, generally, that policy drives economic outcomes and economic outcomes drive the health of society over time. So it’s very definitely in business’s interest to be incredibly involved in policy and if you want to do that, you’ve got to be involved in the politics…”

Brown said that he had been enormously encouraged over the past couple of years by “exactly how strongly business had found their voice, and in particular, an entity like Business Leadership South Africa… It is a very different organisation today from the one I joined 10 years ago. Business in general and South African society are better off for the fact that well-resourced organisations are making their voices very strongly heard.”

Kimi Makwetu

Combatting fraud, corruption, mismanagement and maladministration in any system starts “with accountability at the centre,” South Africa’s Auditor General, Kimi Makwetu, told a midyear GIBS Conference on Fraud and Corruption.

Corruption = monopoly + discretion – accountability Makwetu explained that this means “if you’ve got a monopoly over stuff that you deal with as an institution and you’ve got large elements of discretion allowed to you, and if the level of accountability allowed to you is found to be low, you are bound to have high levels of corruption in that environment.”

He cited the example of a person who had just completed a teacher’s programme.

“The people who have the monopoly to appoint a person to a teaching post in a school is normally the district office of the Department of Education and nobody else. However, the people who are supposed to assess the applications in relation to the standards that are set by the Department for someone to come into the system have also got a level of discretion that they can apply. If that discretion is beyond the technical options that you have as an employer, then it almost extends to the situation of “pay me R5 000 if you want this teacher’s post”.

That’s the kind of discretion I’m talking about.”

Speaking at the same event, Corruption Watch CEO David Lewis stated that he had no doubt that “the leadership of the police, particularly the Hawks and the NPA” were “the greatest obstacle to combatting corruption.” He noted that for this reason, Corruption Watch would develop a campaign around the appointment of the Commissioners of both the SAPS and the Hawks, both of which were due this year.

David Lewis

12

network

DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY BOOSTS DEMOCRACY

The technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution have enabled the democratisation of manufacturing processes, and brought advanced tools directly to entrepreneurs, wherever they may be in the world.

Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma

As a result, the days of waiting for the delayed arrival of technology to reach South Africa’s shores are over: “We can be leaders in technology globally,” said founder of Alt Reality technology studio, Rick Treweek, speaking at a GIBS Forum on Disruptive Technologies, held in GIBS’ new learning space, Co.Central (see p.46). Stephen Gray, founder of The MakerSpace Foundation, said tools such as 3D printing and the proliferation of online instruction resources allowed for creativity and innovation, letting entrepreneurs use new emergent and disruptive technologies. Gray drew parallels with the first Industrial Revolution, when people used new technology such as the Spinning Jenny to create cottage industries, and 3D printing, which he said could be considered the poster child for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. The technology has provided similar opportunities to innovators and craftspeople by providing them with compact versions of industrial tools, democratising industrial processes and lowering barriers to entry, Gray explained.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

WeCustomize is a digital innovation company dedicated to 3D printing of customised products for businesses. Founder Nelson Sekgota explained that his company offers services to create a physical object from a digital file, layer by layer, also cultivating the creativity and participation of clients.

Guests at the forum also had the opportunity to explore Co.Central and to examine a number of disruptive technologies on display.

Rick Treweek

Stephen Gray

NDZ – ON THE STUMP AT GIBS

Following in the footsteps of another presidential candidate, Cyril Ramaphosa, it was the turn of former AU chair and ex-Home Affairs, Health and Foreign Affairs Minister, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma to visit GIBS and deliver her campaign message.

“NDZ”, as she is nicknamed by her support staff, reminded those present that according to Stats SA, more than half of all South Africans still lived beneath the poverty datum line and inequalities remained high, with a Gini coefficient of 0.69 and that “youth unemployment rates remained intolerably high”.

“If we keep increasing unemployed youth, who are becoming angry and frustrated, and keep increasing poverty levels that add to frustration, the levels of stability of our country and the ability of business to do business in a calm atmosphere will be compromised,” she said.

What she called “patriotic business” would want to change the status quo to end deepening poverty, inequality and unemployment, she told the audience.

Nelson Sekgota

network

13

FINTECH INNOVATION – WATCHING CAREFULLY! South Africa’s Reserve Bank is reflecting very carefully “on how to respond to developments in the FinTech space,” its Deputy Governor Francois Groepe told the audience at a recent Strate GIBS FinTech Innovation Conference.

Groepe said that there were three proposals “which could serve to strengthen regulatory approaches to FinTech developments.”

These were: •

Focusing on activities involving financial services rather than on firms or technologies.

•

Continuing collaboration between local and global regulatory authorities.

•

Investing and deciding on the most appropriate structures, such as sandboxes, to keep abreast of FinTech developments and to allow for demonstration of the technology and experimentation with user cases.

Groepe added that he was “in favour of a ‘back-to-basics’ approach” under which regulators should “focus on regulatory principles that are risk-based rather than creating excessive rules-based regulations aimed at these technologies or products.”

Referring specifically to virtual currencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum, Groepe explained that “virtual currency is not without controversy... one of the challenges facing regulators, the private sector, government, as well as law enforcement agencies, is the lack of a common understanding of virtual currencies, including how they operate, the potential risks associated with them, and the vocabulary used to talk about them.”

Francois Groepe

BOOSTING GIBS’ TOP TEAM

Morris Mthombeni

Louise Whittaker

Lecturer Morris Mthombeni has been appointed as Executive Director of Faculty, a role dedicated to supporting and managing full-time faculty while Professor Louise Whittaker takes over as Executive Director of Academic Programmes, responsible for the delivery of the business school’s flagship MBA and other academic postgraduate programmes. Mthombeni, who has been with the business school since 2014 lecturing in the leadership cluster, is a former chief executive of a large investment management business as well as executive director of a large insurance-based financial services company. He has more than 21 years of corporate experience, 15 of which are at executive level, and he is a non-executive director of a listed banking group.

He completed a BJuris BProc LLB from UNISA and an MBA from the University of Manchester (UK). He is currently studying for his doctorate degree. Professor Whittaker, who also lectures at GIBS, is an expert on strategy, governance and ethics, particularly in relation to organisations and information systems. She has supervised over 100 MBA research reports and has managed a multidisciplinary team of academics and administrators in the delivery of academic programmes. She is well published in many respected academic journals

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14

dean's note

BLUE-CHIPS, FAST AND SLOW Words Professor Nicola Kleyn

The quantum of decisions that the human brain needs to make in any given day is staggering.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Countless research studies, the most famous of which relate to the work of Nobel Prize winner Daniel Kahneman in (and out) of partnership with Amos Tversky, have investigated the role of the unconscious relative to the conscious brain in decision-making. If you’ve not yet read Thinking, Fast and Slow you’re missing out. It’s an invaluable text about the relative roles of our fast, instinctive and emotional ‘System 1’ cognitive processes relative to the deliberate and logical cognitive processes that are applied when using ‘System 2’ thinking.

Kahneman and Tversky were not the first to concentrate on cognitive processes.

Back in 1957, Nobel Laureate, Herbert Simon’s book Models of Man introduced the notion of ‘heuristics’. In essence, heuristics refer to the mental shortcuts that we humans use to ease the daily burdens our brains face when making any number of decisions. We apply heuristics every time we develop rules of thumb or educated guesses to navigate our way through a range of decision superhighways including traffic, supermarket aisles and dating websites to avoid the brain overload that would result if we had to consciously tackle each with full attention.

Heuristics also assist us in business.

Whether our decisions occur at the seemingly mundane level of which emails to concentrate on, or the more critical decisions of whether to acquire or walk away, heuristics are at play. Boards, executive committees and other decisionmaking bodies navigate their decisions by ostensibly applying their (System 2) minds, but as human beings behind the decisions, we still try to decide to (use

System 1 and) think fast. Consider for example the old maxim that “nobody ever got fired for choosing IBM”. It’s always been a lot easier to justify the choice of a client, supplier or partner by looking at their historic ‘blue-chip’ brand credentials including positions on global rankings, as well membership of professional associations, to justify key stakeholder choices.

On the back of the Enron scandal and the global financial crisis, unquestionable associations of brands like KPMG and Bell Pottinger with shady business send a clear signal to reconsider whether the blue-chip heuristic is really serving organisations in their corporate selections of clients, partners and suppliers. It’s time for decision-makers, whether as individuals or collectives, to dig a lot deeper into why and how they make their choices. Not just because of the risks of catching fleas from dogs (with apologies to my canine companions) but because businesses around the world need to really rethink how to make conscious (System 2) choices about their roles in contributing to not only economic, but also social and political structures that serve broader society.

The shenanigans that have occurred at Bell Pottinger and KPMG have not only contributed to the demise of social and political trust; they’ve wreaked havoc for the many good employees who worked for these firms and whose CVs now bear the insidious scars of these employer brands.

Now is the time for corporate boards to instruct any individuals or groups with contracting authority to actively show that they have applied their minds (and their consciences) when choosing

whose business they will grow. Moving beyond the application of short-term financial logic is not only the responsible thing to do. It’s good business sense to invest in securing long-term reputation in a world which increasingly demands accountability and transparency.

The recent CEO’s pledge #BusinessBelieves in South Africa identifies six key criteria that organisations can not only use to guide their strategies and behaviour, but they can also use in embedding assessments of current and potential suppliers and clients. If this type of proactive ethical leadership sounds like a step too far, do the next best thing.

Mitigate your reputational risk by performing a due diligence on your current key suppliers, clients and partners. It’s only by applying pressure on the system and sending the message that we value partners with integrity that we’ll change the status quo.

After his firing, former minister of finance Pravin Gordhan implored business and civil society to “connect the dots”. We need to go further than bearing witness to unethical acts and feeling a sense of relief that it didn’t occur in our firms on our watch. Now it’s time to see deeper assessments actively rolled out across the business sector. Having CEOs of large companies take a stand against supporting corrupt systems is the right place to start, but we need to evolve decision-making across our organisations. Thinking using System 2 is a lot more mentally draining than going with heuristics that rely on slick branding efforts to guide decisions.

But the cost of not thinking through who we work with is just too great

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16

opinion

BUSINESS SCHOOLS HAVE MUCH TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE NATIONAL PROJECT Words Trudi Makhaya

White monopoly capital or just plain monopoly? Radical economic transformation or inclusive growth? In recent months, a pseudo-debate about what ails the South African economy, and potential solutions, has been taking place.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

I call it a pseudo-debate because we now know that part of this narrative has been driven by a sustained campaign to divert attention from the looting of the state by a corrupt network of rentiers and to focus energies on a highly racialised debate about the economy. The culprits – the Gupta constellation of interests aided by the discredited public relations firm Bell Pottinger – thought they could get away with this because there is more than a grain of truth in their characterisation of the economy as dominated by a few companies which remain predominantly white owned.

Statistics on poverty also show that the country is still in the clutches of the patterns created by colonial and apartheid dispossession. Poverty is largely black, female, rural and young. South Africa is also one of the most unequal countries in the world. In recent times, inequality within racial groups has widened more than inequality between racial groups, but this does not take away from the wide gap between the typical white and black household.

Since 1994, in the face of a dire postapartheid reality, the government has adopted a range of economic policy frameworks (from the RDP to GEAR to the NDP) and passed hundreds of laws to achieve redistribution, transformation and growth. Some of these laws and policies have been at tension with one another.

A famous example is the tension between the laws passed to protect workers’ bargaining power over wages relative to the aim to export South African products in a global economy with stiff wage competition. In some areas, the policy and legislative framework has been problematic, with glaring gaps and poor guidance from the law. Take the case of land. Parliament has not passed legislation to recognise and protect security of tenure for many holders of ‘informal’ land rights, including farm dwellers. It has also advanced a version of customary law that favours traditional leaders over the consent of the people, an important feature of customary governance.

Government’s ability to effect change in the economy has also been hampered by poor implementation and weak systems of accountability. The poor performance of the education and health systems reflects government’s weak capacity and lacklustre oversight by Parliament.

It’s time for solutions. The hollow debate on radical economic transformation will not get us very far. The irony is that there is enough consensus on the ills facing the economy and the country. There is also a vision – well-articulated in the Constitution – of a society that frees the potential of every person. What’s left is the hard work of crafting and delivering on action plans that can get us there.

Business schools have a meaningful contribution to make in this crucial moment in the country’s history. The failings of implementation in the public sphere are not just about corruption. The post-apartheid project of building public institutions that serve the majority, based on an inherited system that was designed for a minority, is formidable. Add to that the desire to transform the economy from an extractive, enclave mode to one with equal opportunity. It then becomes clear that this is a task that requires the institution-building and management skills that reside in business schools.

It is no surprise that business school academics, save for a few exceptions, have not penetrated the core of the national policy debate. Most business schools do position their role as that of developing leaders not just for business, but also for civil society and government. They offer programmes to these institutions and some leaders in the public sector are business school graduates. However, the comfort zone for most business schools is to engage with problem-solving in the private sector.

Business schools need to embrace the unique role that they can play in taking the country to the next level. Their thinking can help to break institutional inertia and to bring innovation into the public sphere.

They can help give substance and guide action that will help the country realise the values espoused by the Constitution

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opinion

17

TIME TO CHANGE THE COMMISSIONS ACT Words Dan Moyane

South Africa continues to be obsessed with “commissions of inquiry” despite the fact that they are costly and have led to controversial, little or no consequence.

In some cases, their outcomes were not even made public. Perhaps the old law enabling the establishment of commissions should be reviewed and changed to make them more effective?

As far as I know there is no official list of how many commissions of inquiry have been held since 1994. But the fact is that there have been many, so many in fact that it is not easy to recall their names offhand.

These commissions have been established at national, provincial and municipal levels to enquire into a number of matters. We can recall some of the high profile ones, like the Farlam Commission of Inquiry into the Marikana massacre of August 2012.

Five years later in 2017, there have been no consequences worth noting despite the commission’s recommendations.

Now, for some reason or another, there is growing excitement about the need for President Jacob Zuma to urgently establish a Commission of Inquiry into state capture.

Calls are growing from all quarters for this commission. However, this is almost one year after former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela, before her exit, recommended that a Commission of Inquiry into state capture be instituted, and that it should be headed by a judge chosen by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng. But Zuma has launched a legal challenge against the report’s remedial action, saying that it interferes with his executive powers. He wants to appoint the judge who will head the commission, as prescribed in legislation.

So by the time a Commission of Inquiry into state capture gets going, it may be too late, as Madonsela has pointed out on several occasions.

Business leader and CEO Initiative convener Jabu Mabuza has spoken out,

saying “The president can help all of us by immediately appointing this commission of inquiry to put this issue of state capture to rest.” But I have to ask, will it put it to rest?

Will there be real consequences, taking into account the long history of commissions of inquiry whose outcomes have led to little or no consequences?

The governing party has already come out to say such a commission should date back to 1994 to look into other possible cases of state capture that have not been investigated by the Public Protector’s office since the ANC came into power. The ANC wants such a commission to go much wider than the remedial action recommended by the Public Protector’s State of Capture Report.

One has to wonder if this commission would achieve anything at all? Would it become a means to avoid political accountability and individual responsibility by those found to have benefitted from or facilitated state capture?

While one cannot argue about the need to investigate state capture and corruption, one must question how this specific commission will yield different results from previous high profile commissions, which were mired in controversy, or led to little or no consequence. This list would include the Farlam Commission into the Marikana massacre, the Seriti Commission into the arms deal, the Khampepe Commission into the 2002 Zimbabwean elections, the 2004 Hefer Commission into

allegations of spying against the thenhead of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, and the Khampepe Commission of Inquiry into the affairs of the Scorpions in 2006.

The Constitution gives both the president and provincial premiers the power to appoint commissions of inquiry. The law that enables them to do this is the Commissions Act of 1947, a relic of the pre-1994 democratic period. According to the Act, commissions have to report their findingas to the president before they are made public and can only make recommendations to government. So it is up to the president and his government to decide which recommendations to implement or not. They are also free to choose whether or not to publish the findings.

It is time for this law to be changed to bring about independence in how commissions are established, and to give them more teeth so that their findings and recommendations become binding

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dialogue

FARMING OR HARMING? Philip Lymbery, in conversation with Chris Gibbons

Philip Lymbery

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Philip Lymbery is CEO of Compassion in World Farming, a leading international NGO dedicated to improving the lives of farmed animals. He has already written one devastating critique – Farmageddon – of current industrial farming methods and the cost to both consumers and the environment. In its sequel – Dead Zone – Where the Wild Things Were – he expands his thesis and shows why these same methods are also decimating many of the planet’s fragile, yet vital, species.

THE CRUX OF THE TRAGEDY IS THAT WE ARE USING BILLIONS OF HECTARES OF PERFECTLY GOOD FARMLAND TO PRODUCE SOYBEAN AND CEREALS TO FEED ANIMALS, WHICH ARE THEN, IN TURN, FED TO HUMANS. WHY IS THAT A BAD THING?

It’s a bad thing because essentially feeding human-edible crops to industrially reared animals is not only unnecessary, it’s also the biggest single sector of food waste on the planet. In this way, we misuse and waste enough food to feed an extra four billion people, yet there are cries of “needing factory farming because of a looming food crisis”, “we need factory farming to feed the world”. The reality is that if you really wanted to feed people, if you really wanted to feed the world, you’d not do it with factory farming.

SOYBEAN IS A BRILLIANT PROTEIN FOR HUMAN BEINGS?

Soybean is a wonder food. It is high in protein, highly versatile, yet the vast majority of soya in the world is being grown to feed factory-farmed animals. That is the reality. Yes, some of

the oil goes into the human vegetable market, but, actually, oil represents very little of the overall bean. If you look at it, 83% of the bean is the solid meal, 17% is the oil. It’s the meal that is being grown to feed industrially reared animals.

SO WE HAVE CREATED A THREE-STAGE CHAIN WHEN ONLY TWO STAGES ARE NECESSARY? COWS, SHEEP, CHICKENS ARE ABSOLUTELY EXPERT AT CONVERTING GRASS INTO MEAT, MILK AND EGGS?

If you pull back and start at the beginning, from the point of view of feeding people efficiently, of net gain into the global food basket, what’s the most efficient way of producing meat and milk? Well, it’s the cow on a grassy hillside. That grassy hillside, because it’s marginal, steep land on which you’re not going to be growing crops. But grass grows there and cattle have been perfectly adapted over millions of years to turn that grass efficiently into protein, into meat, and into milk.

dialogue

But that cow on a grassy hillside doesn’t make money for the animal feed industry because she doesn’t require grains; doesn’t make money for the chemical industry, because that grassy hillside doesn’t need artificial fertilisers or pesticides; doesn’t make money for the pharmaceutical industry because that cow on the grassy hillside doesn’t get sick and so doesn’t need to be propped up by antibiotics.

What happened fifty years ago, essentially, was the law of unintended consequences. We needed to boost food production and doing agricultural intensification seemed like a good idea.

And then these ancillary industries, these vested interests, the animal feed, the chemical, the pharmaceutical industries came into the picture. Also the machinery, the cages, the equipment manufacturers came into the picture and told farmers this was the new way. They still do now and they’ve reframed the debate about efficiency. So now efficiency is all about using chemicals to produce grain to farm animals.

WHEN YOU BEGAN TO WRITE DEAD ZONE, YOU WENT ON A TWOYEAR ROAD TRIP TO DO YOUR RESEARCH AND YOU DISCOVERED THAT THIS IS NOT JUST ABOUT FARM ANIMALS?

In those two years, I discovered that factory farming not only causes untold misery for billions of farm animals: chickens, pigs, and cattle, but that it is also a major driver of wildlife declines.

Why? Because what factory farming is, in a nutshell, is the grainfeeding of confined animals. In grain-feeding confined animals, the farm animals are taken off the land, the pasture, and put in confinement, in cages and crates. They’re crowded together and that looks like a space-saving idea, but actually isn’t, because you then have to produce their food somewhere else. And instead of using ubiquitous pastures on which to keep the animals, you then have to start using much scarcer, arable land; arable land that really should be dedicated to growing food for people.

The industrial rearing of farm animals has another side which is the industrial growing of crops for animal feed, in vast chemical-

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soaked prairies. In so doing you have a disappearing act: as the farm animals disappear from the land and as these massive fields of monoculture like soybean expand, so the trees, the bushes, the hedges and the wild flowers also disappear. With them go the insects and the seeds that are needed by the wildlife, and so the birds, the bats, the bees, the butterflies, all disappear too.

On other continents, we see the effect with South American jaguars and Sumatran elephants, and even here in South Africa, the penguins are disappearing, leaving you with little else but the crop.

EXPLAIN. WHY ARE OUR AFRICAN PENGUINS BEING DRAGGED INTO THIS QUAGMIRE?

This was really the inspiration for Dead Zone. I was standing on Boulders Beach in Cape Town, inspired by David Attenborough, probably the biggest wildlife hero on the planet. I’d seen him with these birds and I wanted to go and see them myself. I was launching Farmaggedon in nearby Simonstown and went to Boulders Beach, and as I stood there watching the penguins there was a signboard which said: “Threats”. And amongst the threats it said: “Overfishing”. Which means anchovies, pilchards, and so on. Now that word, ‘overfishing’, is a bit like ‘climate change’: there’s no-one to blame, it’s just so big. It’s like a big, bad sticking plaster over the debate. But I had been over in Peru and I’d seen what the anchovy fishery there, the world’s biggest single-species fishery, had been doing to the wildlife. Seabird populations had been decimated, plummeting by more than 90%. I came to realise in Peru that anchoveta was being ground down, not to feed people but to feed factory-farmed animals, be they farmed fish, chickens or pigs, leaving the birds starving. Immediately I wondered if this was why the African penguins were declining at a free-fall rate? I discovered that off the coast of South Africa there is similarly a massive industry hauling these small pelagic fish out of the ocean, grinding them down for chicken feed, leaving penguins, dolphins and other wildlife starving, and heading towards oblivion.

YOU MENTIONED THE HEALTH PROBLEM ASSOCIATED WITH FACTORY FARMING, WHICH IS THE USE OF ANTIBIOTICS. YOU BELIEVE WE’RE DESTROYING OUR OWN HEALTH?

The fact is that 50% of the world’s antibiotics are fed to farm animals to ward off the diseases that are inevitable in keeping animals caged, crammed and confined in stressful conditions.

This is causing antibiotic-resistant superbugs to

Crops grown for animal feed

. . . WE MISUSE AND WASTE ENOUGH FOOD TO FEED AN EXTRA FOUR BILLION PEOPLE . . . ”

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. . . WE HAVE JUST 60 YEARS LEFT OF THE WORLD’S SOILS BEFORE THEY’RE GONE” emerge and contributing to the demise of the modern medical miracle of antibiotics. The World Health Organisation is warning that if we don’t do something, both in human medicine and in animal agriculture, then we could very soon be looking at a postantibiotic era where once again currently treatable diseases will again kill.

South American jaguar

HOW DO WE CHANGE THIS? WHAT DO WE HAVE TO DO?

Changing it is waking up and taking a common-sense approach to agriculture. We need to restore farm animals to their ecological niche as grazing animals, as rotational animals, on mixed farms that are either utilising the ubiquitous pastures which cover a quarter of the Earth’s land surface, and cover much of the land’s surface here in South Africa. Or keep the animals as part of a mixed livestock crop rotation where the animals can restore soil fertility naturally to the land. So, moving away from monoculture, moving away from industrial specialisation, and towards treating farm animals like living, breathing creatures as part of the overall farming package. This would take us away from the wasteful practice of feeding four billion people’s worth of human-edible crops to industrially reared animals.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

It’s also worth remembering that farm animals fed grain are hugely wasteful converters. In that conversion they waste most of the food value, be it calories or protein, in conversion to meat, milk and eggs. It is much better, much more efficient, to keep the farm animals on the land where they’re converting grass, or in the case of pigs and chickens, converting grubs, insects, seeds, food waste, nature’s great recyclers, into things we can eat, a net contribution to the global food basket. Factory farming wastes food, not makes it, but keeping animals within their ecological niche on the land is the way to actually have farm animals giving food to the food basket, feeding people with high nutrient-dense, safe, environmentally friendly food.

WON’T THIS BE MUCH MORE EXPENSIVE FOR THE CONSUMER? WON’T WE HAVE TO PAY MORE FOR THIS OLD-FASHIONED MIXED FARMING THAT YOU’VE JUST DESCRIBED?

No. Mixed rotational farming is the future. There are growing calls for this to happen. For example, Hilal Elver, the United Nations Rapporteur on the Right to Food, is calling for a move away from industrial agriculture to what she calls Conservation Agriculture. Call it what you will, it’s the same, mixed rotational farming. In terms of cost we have to realise that this supposedly ‘cheap’ meat, this factory-farmed meat, is something we pay for three times. We pay for it once at the checkout, the second in our tax dollars for subsidies into agriculture that encourages intensification, and the third is in the huge clean-up cost to our health and to the environment.

Sumatran elephant

African penguin

The ultimate thing is that the world will not allow us to continue with industrial farming for much longer. Because what industrial farming is doing is undermining the life support systems that we need as a society. Just some examples: bees are in rapid decline because of industrial agriculture. Without bees, without their pollinating services, a third of all crops are out of the window – finished. Also remember that industrial agriculture is very hard on the soils. It not only takes soil fertility away but also it is a promoter of soils running into rivers and down into the sea, lost forever, so much so that the United Nations warns that if we don’t do something, if we don’t change our ways, we have just 60 years left of the world’s soils before they’re gone. Then what?

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HE’S WATCHING YOU! Words Chris Gibbons

South Africa’s Competition Commissioner Tembinkosi Bonakele tells Acumen that economic growth and the jobs that go with it are encouraged by enforcing competition law.

But if that growth is to be truly inclusive and to alter the economic landscape, then far deeper structural change may be needed.

“Every time we go fishing, we seem to catch something. If there were no cartels, we would find nothing,” says Bonakele, who is also a GIBS MBA, confirming an observation that the Competition Commission, which he heads, appears to have had a very busy year.

Hunting cartels is a deliberate strategy, he says, explaining that they are economically very damaging.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

“We have whistle-blowers, people who work inside the firms themselves. We also have a Corporate Leniency Policy, which we use deliberately to destabilise the cartels. It’s the classic prisoner’s dilemma: if you tell us everything, we will give you immunity. You then have to decide yourself whether you stay within that cartel, knowing that everyone else in the cartel also knows that they can go and report to the authorities and get immunity.”

Tembinkosi Bonakele

reinforced by cartels. The Arcelormittal fine is the biggest to date in South African competition law history.

APARTHEID’S CARTELS

Because of the cartels and the oligopolies, Bonakele believes South Africa’s economy is hamstrung. Nor is this just his opinion.

He cites a Spanish economist who had opposed the Commission in the case against Sasol for excessive pricing in polymers.

“A lot of big companies were protected by the state from competition. The culture of business has not evolved,” he says, adding that “liberalising and opening up markets does take time.”

“This gentleman asked me how the economy was doing and I told him the bad news, which we’re all aware of. He told me it was a pity because, in his view, he had not seen an economy with such potential, with the kind of firms that we have produced and with the type of innovation here that he had seen. Everybody, the OECD, the World Bank, have all raised this issue of concentration in the South African economy, really undermining its growth and industrialisation ambitions.”

Bonakele believes that South Africa’s multiplicity of cartels finds its roots back in the structure of apartheid South Africa, with its history of control boards and state-sanctioned cartels, like cement, chemicals and agricultural products.

He notes that something peculiar to South Africa is the fact that when a market previously dominated by a single, massive, statesupported player is opened “to a little bit of competition”, the dominant company “actually gets involved in organising the cartel.”

That’s why Arcelormittal – previously Iscor – was fined R1.5 billion in 2016 and, a few years ago, Sasol’s fertiliser division R250 million, for abuse of their market-dominant positions,

THERE’S A COST To back his assertion, Bonakele reminds us that South Africa is currently a net importer of plastic products, when once it had been a net exporter: “Part of our deindustrialisation story is about how uncompetitive our inputs are.” A key input into plastic manufacturing was the subject of a recent excessive pricing case

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brought by the Competition Commission against the dominant producer, Sasol, a case that the Commission lost.

Steel, he says, is another example: “Steel is a classic example of a product that is an input to so many downstream industries.

And if you have high prices of that input, then you are unlikely to industrialise. Part of the problem with concentration is that it tends to be in sectors that are key to downstream manufacturing, which affects our competitiveness .”

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HUNTING CARTELS IS A DELIBERATE STRATEGY . . . ”

Another aspect of the same problem, says Bonakele, is that “state-owned monopolies control key infrastructure. We receive complaints all the time against Transnet about its port charges.

These affect the competitiveness of the entire economy.”

It’s the same in the broadcasting and mobile telephony sectors, notes Bonakele. “When you licence a new broadcaster or mobile telephone company, you’ve got to recognise that they will come up against very powerful incumbents, who have accumulated a lot of resources because of the licensing regime. You’ve got to help the entrant a bit.”

So how does Bonakele approach the problem of changing this structure?

He is also concerned about sectors which are not so heavily regulated, like retail.

“It’s a combination of things. Part of it is continuous advocacy within the state to say that a particular monopoly is not working in the national interest and that policies need to change.

Sometimes industrial policy can help. But in the case of Transnet, we’ve even opened excessive pricing competition cases for both ports and rail charges/tariffs.”

“If you look at the terms of entry in South Africa today, it’s very difficult. Even to start a retail supermarket. People say it’s easy but it’s not – you’re up against an oligopoly of four firms, very strong with very deep pockets. They’re able to squeeze suppliers.

What chance do you have of buying a litre of milk from a producer at the same price as Shoprite? Very little.”

...ON THE SIDE OF THE BIG BATTALIONS

SMART REGULATION

None of this helps the growth of SMMEs, says Bonakele, which is important because that’s the sector which produces employment.

He adds that SMMEs are always the most discriminated against because their volumes are low and that there is crosssubsidisation, “where the smaller guy subsidises the bigger guy”. These are things that can be dealt with by enforcing the Competition Act, “but the legal process is very slow and expensive. The easier route is always to change policy when it comes to state-owned enterprises.”

He is emphatic that there is a clear relationship between competition and inclusive growth: “Unless you have deliberate strategies to open up markets, you won’t see dynamism in the economy. So how do we open those markets? Enforcement of competition policy is one route. But proper regulation is just as important.”

Bonakele explains that the Commission is not seeing new entrants appearing in sectors of the economy which are regulated, like broadcasting, telecoms or banking.

“We have not had an entry in the banking sector for a long time. Why? To start a bank, regardless of size, you must pay R250 million. But surely the systemic risk posed by a small, new entrant is very different from the risk posed by one of the Big Four banks?

“You almost need two or three tiers of regulation. Where you can relax regulation a little bit, but not in an irresponsible way – you could still have prudential rules applicable to smaller banks, but as appropriate, based on the risk they pose to the financial system. But to force everyone to apply the same rules when they are starting out at different times, under different conditions, is very unfair.”

To help SMMEs requires what Bonakele calls “smart regulation” and he points to procurement legislation within the state.

“Currently, it’s about winner-takes-all, or who can provide the goods or services at the lowest price. But that’s not the way to grow SMMEs, because they will collapse. Instead of encouraging people to buy minority stakes in existing monopolies and oligopolies, give them an opportunity to challenge the incumbents. It’s the only opportunity for sustainable transformation in the economy. We tried many things and none have worked. You can even throw money into the SMMEs and it’s not going to work. What they need is access to markets, so the rules of access, whether they are written or the rules of the market, need to be looked at and, if needs be, tampered with in such a way that they are more balanced.”

Bonakele draws the conversation to a close by highlighting another major concern – the emergence of truly enormous multinational corporations and how these behemoths are regulated – or not. One example he gives is AB InBev’s recent purchase of SABMiller.

“South African Breweries Ltd. in South Africa is already a dominant firm, probably controlling 90% of the market. So, from a competition point of view, all that happens is that AB InBev just replaces SABMiller.

“But there are many other large companies. Walmart is one, with a turnover larger than the economy of any African nation. Not a single African country has annual revenue equal to Walmart’s.

So how do you regulate a company like that? Its capacity to put pressure, to lobby, and God forbid, to even corrupt, is so huge that I fear there is a huge regulatory gap in the world. A gap where we see this consolidation, where we are watching, but nobody can do anything about it.”

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south africa

DOES SHARED VALUE HOLD THE KEY? Words Cara Bouwer

In 2011 Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter, together with consultant Mark Kramer, gave the world of business a new buzz phrase: shared value. In the past six years case studies have been written and conferences held in an attempt to crystalise the theory into something practical. South African firms like Discovery and Barclays Africa are converts to a strategy many still don’t quite ‘get’.

Porter and Kramer’s take on the subject was simple: capitalism is under siege and the only way to ensure the longevity of business is to foster healthy societies in which they can operate.

Companies that recognise this link stop thinking only about profits and the philanthropic redistribution of existing value, and begin to focus on “expanding the total pool of economic and social value”. In other words, they use innovation to try to unlock new opportunities which have a benefit to society.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Having put the concept out there, Porter and Kramer have given birth to a global industry of consultants and commentators, from Genesis Analytics in South Africa to Kramer’s FSG. In May 2017 Marc Pfitzer, MD of FSG in Geneva, attended the inaugural African Shared Value Summit, held in Sandton. Speaking on the sidelines of the summit, Pfitzer put it this way: “Shared value happens when investors and corporate leaders decide that the purpose of the business is to address societal needs, and those fundamental decisions enable the allocation of resources to the ‘right’ type of shared value innovation.”

IN SOUTH AFRICA, BEE MEANS WE ARE FAR AHEAD OF PORTER” What often gets lost in translation is the fact that “shared value is not about sacrificing profit”, stresses Ryan Short, Head of Shared Value Practice at Genesis Analytics. Rather the approach says that profits can be bigger and better if you look for openings which also have a positive social impact. “It’s about seeing what social needs are and building opportunities around that,” explains Short.

In many respects South Africa, and the rest of the emerging world, are already mindful of this kind of thinking, given deep social inequalities and challenges which spur on companies to solve for social needs. Think of Safaricom’s M-Pesa mobile money in Kenya as a prime example of an innovation built around a social need. And it is not alone. Just last year, GIBS’ Director for Leadership and Dialogue, Abdullah Verachia, attended a programme with Porter and Kramer at Harvard University in which South Africa’s Discovery Vitality programme was highlighted among the case studies, alongside the likes of Unilever, Nestlé and Walmart.

Reflecting on the fact that a healthcare provider from Africa was included in such august company, Verachia says the concept is not foreign to South Africa. “Enterprise Development is clearly a shared value component, as are many of the components of black economic empowerment (BEE); which puts South African companies clearly – by and large – on the shared value track,” he says.

Short agrees. “In South Africa, BEE means we are far ahead of Porter. BEE is like shared value on steroids. The challenge, because it has been regulated, is that it has become a compliance motivation,” he told delegates at a two-day Executive Education Programme hosted by GIBS in August. Compliance is not the shared value way, rather it asks for a mindset shift, building on similar concepts like social entrepreneurship, the triple bottom line, inclusive business and conscious capitalism.

The difference between these concepts and shared value, explains Short, is that Porter and Kramer have created “a brand that is palatable for the business class, making it acceptable for boards and directors to talk about social concerns, because Harvard said so. But it is not a unique idea.”

Morris Mthombeni, Director of Faculty at GIBS, agrees that while it was Porter and Kramer’s Harvard Business Review article that started the current debate, the idea existed long before. “Few of us really recognise that the likes of the Cadbury family were doing

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Michael Porter

Mark Kramer

this in 18th century England. Being Quakers, they couldn’t serve in the army, so they were excluded from prestigious universities and high positions in government. They retreated into commerce, but felt they couldn’t exclude others, including their workers,” says Mthombeni, who notes that “we have a chocolate company to thank for what we know today as a pension system”.

What Porter did, says Mthombeni, was “take a dead subject, from a business perspective, and make it sexy again, in the process delivering the concept successfully into the C-Suite. Business people are hard-nosed and to really get them to care about having this conversation is a significant contribution to society.”

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Cutting through the rhetoric, in practice shared value can be successfully created through strategies as simple as wellness schemes, recruiting from previously excluded sectors of the population, using local procurement or innovating to take products and services to previously excluded groups. But the real value is created when C-Suite leaders drive the process.

An evolving example of this locally is Barclays Africa, which embarked on what it calls a ‘shared growth’ drive in 2014. Sazini Mojapelo, Group Head of Citizenship at Barclays Africa, explains that the stimulus for adopting this approach came from the 2012 inter-bank interest rate rigging scandal, which claimed the scalp of Barclays CE Bob Diamond. “This scandal opened up discussions around values … and how we can use our core assets and expertise to achieve that which we want to achieve,” Mojapelo told a GIBS workshop.

Because it’s a big ask to shift a massive organisation overnight, the bank started by identifying pilot areas where they could identify social needs, determine the business opportunity and strive to meet those needs. “We started examining the social challenges which speak to us as Africans,” says Mojapelo. They came up with three areas in which to innovate and create value: education and skills, enterprise development and improving financial inclusion.

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Morris Mthombeni

SHARED VALUE IS NOT ABOUT SACRIFICING PROFIT” “Our shared growth strategy is not a CSI strategy, it is a business strategy. It is the heart, front and centre of the business,” says Mojapelo.

But, as Mthombeni noted, without leadership buy-in this approach would have been dead in the water. This is something Mojapelo knows only too well. “You have to have the right personalities and lobbying to move this forward. This is first driven top down. Our Chairman, Wendy Lucas-Bull, and our Group CEO, Maria Ramos, are driving this,” she says.

Discovery’s Vitality model is another homegrown example which has been supported from the top, and which continues to garner international recognition for its wellness focus. According to Discovery, healthcare costs come down by about 25% for Vitality clients.

As Discovery CEO Adrian Gore commented at the 2016 Shared Value Forum in Australia: “Our epiphany in 1992-1993 was a simple idea: focus on the patient. Focus on the customer. Make people healthier. If you can achieve that, at the individual level, you will bring the demand for healthcare down and, at the same time, if you can achieve that you’ll give people value for money, regardless of whether they are sick or healthy.”

Verachia takes pride in the fact that Discovery is seen as a phenomenal example of shared value: “Discovery has managed, through its strategy over the last 20 years, to save lives through preventative life care. This has resulted in huge member numbers from a business perspective – Discovery holds more than 50% of the South African medical aid industry. Their approach is very

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south africa

2006 (based on Reuters and Nestlé data). The question remains, however, whether this value is really filtering down into society.

Nestlé claims that over the past 10 years its efforts have resulted in more than 50 million children eating better and exercising more, that 207 billion servings of fortified food have been sold, and that four million farmers have received training and assistance, among other impacts.

Abdullah Verachia

Dr. Nthabiseng Legoete

STOP TRYING TO MAKE PEOPLE WANT MORE THINGS AND START MAKING THINGS PEOPLE WANT” much around impacting the lives of people and, in the process, they’ve impacted the entire industry.”

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

But they also got lucky, admitted Gore back in 2016. “The reality is that we’ve tapped into macro-trends.” This includes the disruptive power of technology and the fact that the nature of risk has changed, making behaviour choices increasingly fundamental to industries like healthcare and insurance. Addressing both has enabled Discovery to incentivise behaviour for the benefit of both the business and its clients.

This ultimately contributes to better quality of life at a human level, says Mthombeni. “For me the value of shared value goes back to improving quality of life. If you do it right and if you really apply innovation as the underpin, and combine resource scarcity, innovation and frugality into a shared value business strategy and shared value social strategy then you start seeing possibilities everywhere you look. Then a problem becomes an opportunity.”

WHERE TO START

Back in 2006 – notably before Porter and Kramer’s 2011 paper – Nestlé first used the term shared value in a social responsibility report in Latin America. Since then the group has rethought its corporate purpose and no longer bills itself as a food processor or distributor, but rather as a provider of nutrition. Defining this purpose in terms of a social need is now their calling card.

Has this rethink worked? Well, Nestlé’s share price has grown from 39.98 Swiss francs (US$41.49) in January 2006 to CHF 82.50 (US$85.62) at end August 2017. Its market capitalisation stands at CHF 251.92 billion, compared with CHF 166.15 billion in

But, for Mthombeni, the question of whether shared value actually has the muscle to close massive global inequality gaps requires that we interrogate who is setting the agenda and who is determining the nature of societal needs. “If you see shared value only as a positive then I think you’ve missed the point,” he says, stressing that proponents must never find themselves above feedback, criticism and self-reflection. “Consider the words sharing and value. For me the whole notion of sharing implies tension, because somebody has to create value … and then you share it. Do I share after I have finished eating? Or do I share from the first rand that we make? With whom do I share? What are the principles that drive that sharing? When you get into that, then you’ll see that your philosophical view of life will influence the whole notion of sharing.”

While any number of trends are swirling around the shared value debate – from the rise of the sustainably focused Millennials, to mass connectivity, inclusive growth, corporate transparency, the rise of automation and ethical consumerism – what they all come back to is what Short calls the need to “innovate to become more human centred”. Or, as David Blythe, CEO of market insights firm Yellowwood, told the African Shared Value Summit: “Stop trying to make people want more things and start making things people want.”

If you are a Discovery member whose Vitality points score you free flights and rewards, then, yes, you’ll see the human-centred value. If you are a commuter, then, yes, Uber’s digital convenience is making life easier. But in markets like South Africa – facing 60% unemployment among youth aged 15 to 25 and measured as one of the world’s most unequal societies based on the Gini coefficient – are these high-end shared value interventions ever really going to close the inequality gap?

Just ask the recipients of Dr. Nthabiseng Legoete’s Quali Health primary healthcare enterprise, says Verachia. “She’s an entrepreneur (and GIBS MBA – Ed.) who has embedded a shared value principle into her business, which is now profitable while still being able to provide good quality primary healthcare services. The societal benefit is better healthcare access for individuals in the area, and affordability. It has changed the health profile of individuals in the areas in which she operates [Diepsloot, Soweto, Tembisa and Alexandra].”

Peruse the company’s Facebook page and the impact becomes clear. “This is a 5* service clinic with no coast [sic] at all”, “Your amazing service and heart warming reassuring smiles were what my daughter needed”, and “You guys are a bunch of young, lovely, friendly Nurses and Doctors. You make one feel healed before even drinking the medication.”

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That’s how you gauge the effectiveness of a shared value approach, says Verachia: one person at a time

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Heinrich Strauss, Resolve Managing Director

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INNOVATING SUPPLY CHAIN INFRASTRUCTURE

Along with economic growth in Africa comes increased pressure on supply chain infrastructure, creating challenging business conditions and difficulty in matching supply with demand, particularly in the healthcare arena.

“Many African countries have experienced a surge in the volumes of medicines and healthcare products moving through their public health facilities, putting strain on existing infrastructure, and affecting supply chain efficiencies, creating a demand for creative and flexible solutions,” says Resolve Managing Director, Heinrich Strauss.

“From warehousing to clinics, surgical units to laboratories, unique solutions are required to overcome the challenges experienced by ministries of health, aid organisations and other healthcare providers, if their targets of bringing healthcare to even the remotest of areas are to be met,” Strauss expands.

Resolve has developed a unique answer to this supply chain challenge in Africa. Tagged “In-a-Box” solutions, these modular infrastructure designs enable the rapid commission and installation of prefabricated warehouses, clinics, laboratories and storage units with all the componentry required to deliver a pharmaceutical-compliant, validated, total solution, packed and ready for delivery in 40ft containers.

These solutions address a country’s chronic lack of supply chain infrastructure, limited storage space and lack of quality storage facilities, as well as the need for clinics in remote areas. Suitable for both urban and rural settings, the standards and operational benchmarks are aligned with international good warehousing practices, supply chain and design principles.

The materials used in producing “In-a-Box” facilities are significantly cheaper than those employed in traditional building methods, and boast a 30-year plus lifespan. A high focus is also placed on sustainability – each one can be built to green building standards, and designed with water, HVAC condensate and solar harvesting. They can also feature water and waste treatment options, as well as reduced cooling and energy costs due to their energy-efficient panels, doors and lighting design.

“One of the flagship solutions in the modular infrastructure range is our Warehouse-in-a-BoxTM,” says Strauss. “Pharmaceutical warehouses are largely invisible to patients, but they are essential to ensuring that health commodities are available and maintained

in good quality. Poorly constructed, maintained or managed storage facilities put products at risk of damage, diversion or expiry – all of which put health programmes and patient health in jeopardy.”

Warehouse-in-a-BoxTM has been deployed in Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, with another in progress in Mali.

“Clinic-in-a-BoxTM is another innovative design produced by Resolve, and has been deployed all over Africa, including in Tanzania, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Kenya, Nigeria and Rwanda, as well as South Africa. Two years ago, the solution won Resolve the Corporate Innovation Award at the 2015 SA Innovation Awards, held by MyWorld of Tomorrow. Storage-in-a-Box is another successful design, with over 200 deployed in Malawi for the country’s Ministry of Health,” Strauss states.

The configurations available for modular solutions are almost endless, and Resolve has designed Cold-Storage-in-a-Box, which offers pharmaceutical-compliant cold storage solutions for healthcare providers, as well as various Community-in-aBox options, such as school classrooms, libraries, community centres and mortuary solutions. Staff living quarters can even be added to clinic and dispensary configurations. Containerised solutions are also part of the offering, and to-date, Resolve has produced containerised clinics in South Africa, and laboratories in Namibia.

“Facility deployment in Africa is complicated by limitations in developing countries. With unique solutions, however, Resolve has overcome these limitations. In addition to job creation and local business development during construction, its projects have made a significant positive impact on distribution networks in the regions where the units are deployed,” he expands.

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Imperial Logistics group company, Resolve is focused on three key value-added offerings, managed services, technology solutions and advisory services 10 Skeen Boulevard Bedfordview 011 677 5000 Imperiallogistics.co.za GPS Coordinates 26°11’44.48”S | 28° 7’49.89”E

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Lorenzo Fioramonti

WELLBEING, NOT GROWTH GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Words Chris Gibbons

We live in a world whose economies are dominated by a measure called GDP growth. Virtually all policy is centred on it, striving to push it ever higher. But according to Lorenzo Fioramonti, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Pretoria (UP), the GDP model of growth is fundamentally flawed. In his new book, Wellbeing Economy: Success in a World Without Growth, Fioramonti explains why and what needs to replace it.

Lorenzo Fioramonti believes that GDP growth, as it is measured through the gross domestic product (GDP), is wrong because it assumes that an economy will perform better by increasing the quantity of its transactions. Any transactions, anything we buy or consume. But this ignores the quality of those transactions, he says. As an example, he cites health.

“There is no reason why an economy that spends more on healthcare is better than one that spends less,” he says. “What counts is whether people are healthy: America owes 20% of its

GDP to an expensive yet dysfunctional healthcare system. Costa Rica spends a fraction of that, but thanks to public health, its citizens are healthier. Which economy is better, adding that in the case of the latter, “maybe people stay healthy, eat properly and do exercise”?

With healthier people, the second example would have fewer transactions and therefore a lower GDP growth rate. But would we really want a much less healthy society even though its GDP growth rate was higher?

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“Every time I get stuck in traffic, I’m spending resources like fuel to drive around. So, I’m increasing GDP, I’m increasing the economy. Crime, sickness, stress, environmental destruction: these phenomena require payments, because of security, treatment and pollution. But are they an indication of good performance?” asks Fioramonti rhetorically.

THE BURDEN OF COAL

An example he cites is plain to see in South Africa. “We are one of the world’s major producers of coal, but this mining activity has terrible environmental and social impacts. We lose billions of rand in lost productive capacity due to soil erosion, but we keep celebrating coal mines’ profits. We think we have gotten richer thanks to mining, but if you think of the social and environmental costs, then the story is quite different. We spend taxpayers’ money to rehabilitate the land, to look after the sick mineworkers and their families, and to clean up the polluted air and water.

Ultimately, we may very well be worse off.”

Fioramonti believes that chasing GDP growth gives politicians and society the wrong incentives and with a different measure – one, for example, that counted the true costs of extractive industries to broader society – “communities would think twice before allowing companies to mine”.

His clear, straightforward explanation and examples are not easy to refute. But if that’s the case, why don’t more mainstream economists think his way and change the rules?

“We’re bombarded every day: if GDP goes up, we all think society will be better off,” says Fioramonti.

WELLBEING

“Economists know very well that GDP was never invented to measure progress or economic performance. It was only a measure of production. Many Nobel prize winners agree, including Joseph Stiglitz and Amartya Sen. They also admit that more GDP is perfectly compatible with people being worse off.

But if more GDP doesn’t mean more wellbeing, why don’t we try and design policies that really increase wellbeing?”

Fioramonti’s ‘why’ is also quite straightforward: “Let’s face it, a lot of polluting industries have an interest in us believing that growth is the solution to our problems. They fund our universities and our research. Therefore, I’m not surprised that complacency has become so pervasive.”

A faint alarm bell rings and an image of Julia Roberts as Erin Brockovich drifts to mind. Does this mean that Fioramonti is anti-business?

“I’ve got nothing – nothing – against good business. I want to see people make good money. I want to see people thrive. I want to see people having long lives. But that doesn’t necessarily mean a higher GDP, especially in Africa, where our obsession with growth has meant quick and dirty destruction of all our ecosystems and the massive exploitation of our peoples.”

Italian-born Fioramonti is the founding director of UP’s Centre for the Study of Governance Innovation. He’s also a Senior Fellow at the University of Heidelberg and an Associate Fellow at the United Nations University. With that kind of pedigree,

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WHAT COUNTS IS WHETHER PEOPLE ARE HEALTHY . . . ” you might be forgiven for expecting his alternative to GDP to be complex and abstruse. Instead, it’s just called ‘wellbeing’ and in his American-accented English, Fioramonti admits that “it may sound Kumbaya and simplistic, but I think it speaks to what everybody understands.”

EVERYTHING COSTS

Fioramonti’s point of departure is that we – society – have to understand that “there is no way you can grow an economy at the expense of Mother Nature and society. Every time we destroy something, there is a loss. You can’t count that as a plus for growth”. At present, he says, “GDP gives to Mother Nature and its existence, a value of zero. So, anything else is better than leaving it intact. That gives us a wrong understanding of welfare and progress.”

His call is for measures that remind us “that everything out there, whether it’s Mother Nature or people, has a value in its own right.

If we want to change or manipulate it, we should do so only if we can prove beyond any reasonable doubt that our change will improve things.”

Fioramonti is demanding full-cost accounting and regenerative development, which he believes will level the playing field between large corporations, which rely on overproduction and waste, and small enterprises, which are much more attuned to local needs.

By this measure, a coal-mining company would not only have to measure the cost of extracting the coal from the ground and getting it to market against the income from sales – traditional profit – but it would also have to add in costs like land rehabilitation, air pollution mitigation, damage done to public infrastructure like roads by heavy coal trucks, and the long-term cost of treating diseases suffered by miners and their families who live in the coal mine vicinity. Other victims of pollution from the mine would also have to be compensated. Only then would the real economic gain or loss be accurately measured. “As a consequence, many more businesses will have an incentive to shift away from extractive practices towards renewable energy, which is much more profitable once all dimensions are taken into account.” And what about mining? Fioramonti believes that full-cost accounting and regenerative approaches will promote a transition from mining natural deposits to ‘mining’ e-waste: “There is more gold in my phone than under the ground. We should rather mine landfills, thus producing value while reducing environmental impacts”.

Fioramonti notes that his approach to the ‘wellbeing economy’ builds on a very strong tradition of research in business practices, as well as ecological economics and political economy.

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. . . CHASING GDP GROWTH GIVES POLITICIANS AND SOCIETY THE WRONG INCENTIVES . . . ” “I’m not pulling them it out of a hat. It’s hard science,” he argues.

“Time has come for us to realise something that kids know very well – everything has a value. You can only build progress and prosperity through adding value, not by taking it away.”

THE THROWAWAY SOCIETY

He also believes that part of the ‘sickness’, indeed maybe even its core, is consumerism, which encourages us in the continuous process of buying new things and throwing old ones away.

“Consumerism? There’s nothing natural in that, it’s incentivised by our policies,” states Fioramonti. “Governments subsidise the production of oil and coal because they believe it’s adding to growth. Then people consume more oil and coal because it’s made artificially cheap, outcompeting all alternatives. Thirty per cent of the food we produce is wasted. What kind of stupid system is this? We’re destroying our environment and we don’t even use what we produce, thus making a lot of people poorer and hungrier. There’s a crazy economy out there, which instead is portrayed as an example of progress and development, with politicians rewarded for it.

“Every time we waste, every time we destroy, every time we throw away, our growth dial goes up. But if we build durable goods, reuse, and optimise the resources we have, then we are seen as underdeveloped. This is an insane system,” he concludes.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Insane it may well be, but there are a large number of people making even larger sums of money out of this system and therefore, they would have precious little incentive to change it.

“You’re right, but I’m just wondering – to paraphrase the singer Sting – whether they love their children too? Whether they do not realise that this system is self-destructive for them as well? When this ship sinks, everybody dies. The Titanic is a good example – many rich people died aboard the Titanic, too.”

Fioramonti asserts that he is “the most pro-business person on this planet. But I’m pro good business and I’m against bad business. We cannot continue subsidising the bad businesses, those that are destroying our planet and society for their own short-term benefits while outcompeting the good businesses.”

He explains that “every time we believe that coal is good for the economy, we are outcompeting solar and wind and geothermal.

We’re outcompeting the many innovative companies that are trying to generate more revenue with fewer costs and expenses for society. Good business is very interested in the idea of a wellbeing economy. They see value in showcasing positive practices.”

SA’S ANTI-POOR RULES

The conversation ends – like Fioramonti’s book – on South Africa.

Do we need a wellbeing economy as a way of preventing social conflagration caused by the country’s massive social inequalities?

Fioramonti is in no doubt: “Every single day I get more and more convinced that unless we change and do so quickly, we’re heading for a civil war. For more than 20 years, our policymakers have been promising the masses that there will be social justice and this hasn’t happened. Not because of a lack of social grants but because the fundamentals of our economy haven’t changed. The rules of the game are tilted in favour of big companies at the expense of small businesses and artisans. In favour of shopping malls at the expense of local markets and informal economic systems. In favour of large infrastructure at the expense of common resources and the environment. How can we expect to eradicate poverty in such a skewed system? We need more artisans, micro-enterprises and co-production of services at the community level, especially in rural areas, which have been abandoned by the growth economy. This means building a balanced economy, putting local economic empowerment at the core of the development strategy.”

The rules are designed for the poor to stay poor, he believes, and “only if we change the rules will we start levelling the playing field”.

That change of rules, says Fioramonti, means that rather than embracing GDP growth, we need to embrace the wellbeing economy.

He may well have a point

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YOU CAN’T BUY A FAKE FERRARI! Words Mignon Reyneke

The heiress to the Woolworth millions, the luxury-loving Barbara Hutton, is reputed to have uttered such gems as “if you’ve got it, flaunt it” and “why should I walk when I can hire someone to do it for me?” Hutton, not unlike the wealthy and successful of today, understood the value of conspicuous consumption. Brands and luxurious tastes are a social differentiator and no more so than for South Africa’s upwardly mobile.

Here in 21st century Africa, the elite no longer relish the almost exclusive access to brands that the likes of Hutton enjoyed in the roaring 20s. Anyone can buy luxury goods. The only real differentiator is whether they can afford the real thing, or even deem it necessary, thanks to the explosion of counterfeit luxury goods which have put the veneer of luxury within everyone’s grasp.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

While I was studying towards my MBA, I had the privilege of being taught by Mark Ritson, a renowned British marketing professor, all-round guru, columnist and branding expert. At the time he was LVMH’s brand consultant, so he had quite a bit of inside info, and he believed that the whole debate around counterfeiting being bad for brands was overstated.

It wasn’t just behind closed doors that Ritson held views that challenged the notion that counterfeit products are a threat to luxury brands. As he wrote for Branding Strategy Insider back in 2007: “The first flawed assumption is that a consumer who buys a fake would have otherwise purchased the genuine article – this is hogwash. A woman does not buy a Hermès Birkin bag for £10 000 because she needs a handbag. She wants the brand and for all the utilitarian verisimilitude of a £200 copy from Shanghai, this is something even the best fakes cannot offer. It’s true that millions of fake luxury handbags are sold each year. But very few of them, if any, cannibalise the sales of the real thing.”

Is this indeed the case? Certainly, the luxury brands industry has been forceful in its condemnation of the practice, with the likes of Alexander Wang fashion brand recently suing 459 websites for selling counterfeits. They won a US$90 million judgement.

By all means, as Ritson stresses, deal with the illegality but brands should rather be concerned if fakers stop making counterfeits of their brand. Why? Because if a brand is so exclusive that only the rich and ultra-rich know about it and use it, then how do you build a perception of that brand among the masses? How do you differentiate it for its exclusivity?

. . . BRANDS SHOULD RATHER BE CONCERNED IF FAKERS STOP MAKING COUNTERFEITS OF THEIR BRAND” REAL VERSUS FAKE

Anecdotal evidence is one thing, but recently a GIBS MBA student of mine, Natasha Shunmugam, delved into the issue of real versus fake brands for her research project. Her findings are revealing in terms of how South Africans relate to luxury brands across various social strata and, more critically, her work tells us that buyers of counterfeits are unlikely to migrate towards buying the real thing, while brand-buyers now are likely to remain so in the future.

Natasha’s was an interesting topic for a wide variety of reasons, not least of which is the tendency of the Millennial generation (those born between 1980 and 2000) to favour brands on the one hand, while valuing sustainability on the other. While Natasha didn’t focus specifically on Millennials, her survey of 138 individuals of varying ages, races, classes and genders (with a 68% female skew) in Gauteng province, did include a number of Millennials (9% of respondents) and borderline Millennials (25%); so we can assume that many of her findings are applicable more directly to this exciting new generation and, therefore, to future buying habits.

Her research also showed how pervasive the issue of counterfeiting luxury brands was in South Africa – and, indeed, Africa. This is far more prevalent than in regions like Europe and

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IN SOUTH AFRICA THE MAJORITY OF PEOPLE ARE HIGHLY UNLIKELY TO AFFORD LUXURY BRANDS . . . ” good or affordable the fake – would invariably be a ‘no no’. For this individual it is not about the ‘stuff ’, but rather about what having the brand says about them.

Natasha Shunmugam

North America, where people are much more likely to be able to afford the real thing. In South Africa the majority of people are highly unlikely to afford luxury brands and yet we are a society which is extremely aware of luxury brands. This combination gives counterfeits a bigger chance of grabbing people’s attention.

Natasha’s research was wide-ranging in its focus, but several important observations must be noted, specifically around buying behavioural patterns and why South Africans are motivated to buy originals.

WELCOME TO THE CLUB

When it comes to behaviour, she found that if those surveyed had bought counterfeits in the past, then they were likely to do so again. And similarly with originals; if you’ve bought original in the past then you are more likely to do so again. I think there is more to it than just behaviour: often individuals make decisions to buy counterfeit due to economic reasons – they simply can’t afford the real thing – and if you cannot move up the social ladder economically then you are likely to stick to this behaviour. It is also highly likely that those buying counterfeit may never be able to buy the original and certainly, those buyers of originals would put up their noses at fakes. So this divides people neatly into the fake versus real camps.

Where it gets interesting is how aspiration comes into play when South Africans make those first decisions about whether or not to support counterfeits or go original. And this has a lot to do with attitudes, both towards the products and around social perceptions.

If you are a fan of brands, and a believer in the brand promise of quality, and if you are in the camp that fully believes that the characteristics of the brand can be transferred to the wearer by virtue of ownership, then buying counterfeits – no matter how

Natasha’s research shows that self-image is certainly positively associated with the intention to buy originals. There is a decided ego element at play here, which points to the cheapening of one’s personal brand by buying fakes. Status consciousness and self-image were shown to be positively associated with buying an original, because the owner knows it is real. Conversely, individuals who are not that status conscious don’t know and don’t really care if a product is fake.

THE UPWARDLY MOBILE DILEMMA

It is important to remember that, for those who do buy originals, belonging to the luxury buyers ‘club’ is of huge importance psychologically; it speaks to their place in society. This ‘club’ is alluring to many aspirant South Africans, and is a point to watch since those who are determined to work their way up the ranks may be deterred from buying fakes lest they are ‘found out’ when they eventually become part of the coveted ‘club’.

In other words, if you think you are heading upwards socially, does this positively dispose you towards buying originals?

There is certainly enough evidence to suggest that this is true.

For aspirational South Africans, buying fakes would, I think, keep them in their ‘middle class’. So they would rather buy the originals now and aspire to something grander.

And, once you’ve aligned yourself with the originals camp, then research indicates that you don’t go back. For one thing it destroys or reduces the value of your original. And, secondly, for the brand conscious, diluting a brand would be a cardinal sin. You can’t discount a Ferrari would be their credo. It’s just plain wrong.

WATCH THIS SPACE…

For luxury brands, faced with a global slowdown post the 2008 credit crunch, this move into the originals camp can’t happen soon enough, particularly given the saturated nature of the traditional markets in Europe, the United States and Asia. But Africa hasn’t quite been playing ball, despite upbeat projections from the likes of research firm Bain & Co. which said in a 2016 report that “Africa has the potential to be the breakout start in the coming years”. For the record, Bain predicts the luxury goods market will record growth of 2%-3% until 2020, hitting about €280-295 billion in revenue.

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A fake Louis Vuitton handbag

An array of fake high-end watches at a market

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

As South Africa’s demographics and wealth profile shift, so too – believe research companies and luxury brand manufacturers – will the consumption patterns of Africa’s emerging and aspirant black market. But, they – in step with government – have been disappointed by the speed at which this transformation is taking place, and the recent downgrading of South African credit by Standard & Poor’s and Fitch ratings agencies will do little to drive the economic growth needed to chivvy yet more South Africans into wealth.

those who are aspirational the chance to get into the exclusive luxury ‘club’ by saving or extending themselves financially. This is particularly true in South Africa and indicates that, at least for some time, we are likely to see a dual approach to luxury consumption, not unlike the two faces of our economy, with counterfeits representing the second economy and brands, the advanced First World.

Until we get that right, there may well be a lull in the uptake of luxury purchases by aspirant South Africans, but, interestingly, this won’t be a blanket effect. Natasha’s research makes a relevant point about which types of counterfeits are more ‘acceptable’ and supported than others. For example, she found there is more chance of Gautengers buying fake clothes and handbags than, say, sunglasses. Of course, sunglasses are more affordable and might set you back in the region of R2 000 to R3 000; so it is possible to save up for those items. But a Louis Vuitton handbag is, at minimum, R40 000, putting it firmly out of the grasp of many.

Natasha’s research tells us just over half of her respondents saw themselves in the upper classes in the near future. This should be catnip to luxury brands. As these South Africans move up the economic ranks so too will luxury buying boom. We have already had a taste of the power of aspiration and its bedfellow ‘conspicuous consumption’ in South Africa, and we’ve seen how it has transformed the face of Sandton City and Hyde Park into brand Meccas. This gloss feeds the appeal of brands, ably supported by the approval of colleagues, friends and family alike. This sells the desire for original brands and it is that desire that will fuel luxury buying in the future.

This behaviour again highlights that if the cost of an original luxury item is so far out of an individual’s reality, they won’t even try. The slightly more reachable nature of sunglasses gives

But, until then, motorists can continue to pick up ‘Gucci’ sunglasses, ‘Chanel’ perfume and ‘Louis Vuitton’ handbags at any intersection around the City of Gold. Often for a very good price!

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. . . THERE IS MORE CHANCE OF GAUTENGERS BUYING FAKE CLOTHES AND HANDBAGS THAN, SAY, SUNGLASSES”

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGES

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NOT JUST AN EXCUSE FOR ANOTHER MEETING Words Gaye Crossley

Karl Hofmeyr

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

“It’s almost a cliché to say that teams are extremely important, but I think they are,” believes Karl Hofmeyr, Professor of Leadership at GIBS. Why? Because in a VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) world, things are changing too quickly and are too complex for one person to have all the answers.

Grant Ashfield, CEO of teamwork consulting firm LeadershipWorks and a man with his ear to the ground in this discipline, explains that he is increasingly finding that organisations are seeking greater collaboration, and a reduction in conflict and interdepartmental rivalry. CEOs want people to work together towards common goals and take ownership for their roles in the business. Teamwork, says Ashfield, is the answer to all of that.

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Coaching consultant and GIBS alumna Briony Liber fully agrees that teams – especially diverse teams – give greater perspective to problem-solving. “Until you work with people who have different experiences and have walked in someone else’s shoes, it is hard to imagine alternative solutions,” she says.

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However, for teams in an organisation to be effective, an organisation’s team at the top – the executive team – needs to lead by example, says Ashfield. “Any organisation needs to have a small group of people who care more about the overall wellbeing of the whole enterprise, rather than just the individual components of it,” he explains. He adds that the executive team sets the tone and acts as a role model for all other teams in the organisation. Ashfield does warn, however, that many executive teams are actually just working groups, and he stresses that a working group and a team are two very different animals. He explains: “The working group is just a forum of people who are at the top but don’t really work collaboratively or in relation to each other.”

TEAM FUNDAMENTALS

Ashfield points out that, before an effective team can be constructed, the following points should be taken into consideration: 1. The make-up, membership and reason for existence: teams should ideally only be made up of five to 11 people. More than

4.

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this, says Ashfield, starts to make teams unwieldy. It is also important to ensure you assemble a team comprising the right people armed with relevant experience.

Team behaviour: the team needs to be crystal clear on acceptable behaviour, especially when challenging situations arise. “It is behaviour that gets results, not ideas or thoughts,” explains Ashfield. Addressing behavioural issues includes things like team members pulling their weight, outlining the consequences of poor behaviour and dealing with feedback and conflict.

Clarity on goals: the objective of the team must be clearly defined and everybody has to take ownership. Ashfield says: “We always ask teams what their single, most-important priority is over the next 12 months. I think it is a very important question. It gives them a real reason on why they should be working together.”

Measuring performance: once the goal has been defined, there needs to be a good measure of success in place.

Meetings: “Teams that really work have developed a meeting mechanism, and developed cycles and rhythms to meetings,” says Ashfield. He stresses that meetings need to serve a very specific purpose – they are the platform through which teams build relationships with each other, stay on track, remove obstacles and discuss issues.

TEAM ASSEMBLY

The make-up of a team is a vital consideration and there are a number of qualities that make a good team player. This obviously includes the skills set of each team member, but the softer, people-driven skills are often more important.

Ashfield says team members should ideally display the following three qualities, and recommends that organisations actually recruit for them:

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•

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Hunger – you want people who really want to be sitting around the table, working on the goals and playing their part to do whatever it takes to succeed.

Humility – “If you have someone on that team who cannot give credit, cannot apologise, cannot offer help, has to be the cleverest person in the room, and is never able to be vulnerable, it is very difficult for the team to move forward, and as a quality I believe it is even more important than having the right skill set,” explains Ashfield.

Smarts – teams thrive with people who are smart with people, in other words, those with high emotional quotient (EQ).

Liber adds to this by saying: “What brings richness to a team is diversity – diversity of experience, age, culture, race, gender and, most importantly, thinking preferences. If you can bring that into a team, you have a much better chance of getting a comprehensive result.”

Elaborating on the impact this can have to the success of a team, she explains: “If you can find these individuals: some who can look at detail from a very clinical perspective, someone who is very process oriented, someone who is big picture oriented, and someone whose point of reference is how this will affect people, then you have covered most of the different thinking preferences.

It is these thinking preferences that determine how a team engages and makes decisions.”

Hofmeyr warns, however, that although diverse or heterogeneous teams can be significantly more effective than homogenous teams, they need to be well managed. Otherwise they can end up performing well below their homogenous counterparts.

Indeed, for diversity to work in a team there needs to be trust, says Ashfield, and this is born out of caring for each other. “On a team the most important thing is this notion of trust, and trust is the gateway to really embracing diversity, and trust means we

Briony Liber

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THE TEAM NEEDS TO BE CRYSTAL CLEAR ON ACCEPTABLE BEHAVIOUR . . . ” respect the people around the table, and we are very willing to open and be vulnerable to each other.” To foster this level of trust, he suggests that, on inception, team members share the answers to these three questions: 1. Where were you born and raised?

2. How many siblings do you have and where are you in the order?

3. What is a defining moment in your life or something you have overcome that has shaped you?

“These three simple questions unlock a whole new domain of experiencing and relating to each other,” says Ashfield.

TEAM BUILDING Team-building exercises are often the vehicles organisations use to build relationships and trust within teams. But modern-day team-building exercises often miss the mark. Both Liber and Ashfield believe that quality team building needs to be more focused on real team issues. “Often team building is a big laugh, where you run around, build things, but it is very superficial,” explains Liber. “People don’t take the time to get to get to know each other, and it results in the issues being glossed over. And, on an extreme level, those people who cannot complete the often very physical tasks end up feeling inadequate, so they are already starting off at a disadvantage.”

Grant Ashfield

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FOR DIVERSITY TO WORK IN A TEAM THERE NEEDS TO BE TRUST. . . ” Ashfield agrees and says: “These team-building exercises can often substitute for real conversations. There is no work involved and you are not building foundations for your team.”

TEAM DYSFUNCTION

Critically, if this is the case and if team members are not connecting emotionally, then they won’t feel invested in each other and the performance outcomes. Ultimately such a team will end up serving no useful purpose. Patrick Lencioni, in his book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, details five common dysfunctions that prevent a team from achieving meaningful results. Ashfield explains them: • An absence of trust – rather than being vulnerable and open, team members start competing with each other.

• Fear of conflict – functional teams are comfortable with constructive conflict, where people are not afraid to put their ideas on the table and raise issues.

• Lack of commitment – if team members do not trust each other and are not able to talk freely and openly, then they will ultimately not be committed to the implementation of decisions.

• Avoidance of accountability – this results when team members have not committed in the first place, and said “yes” to a decision when they really meant “no”.

• Lack of attention around results – this often occurs when the team and its leader are not committed and, therefore, not focused on results.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

By understanding these five dysfunctions, teams can work towards preventing them by setting ground rules right from the start. Liber recommends taking a day out before getting started.

“What happens all too frequently is that teams usually go straight to the task, and it is only when problems crop up that they realise they could’ve handled the situation differently,” she says.

Team leaders also have the added responsibility of growing and developing the team, says Hofmeyr. He recommends that team leaders look to American researcher Liz Wiseman’s Multiplier Effect for inspiration. The multiplier effect calls for leaders to use their intelligence and skills to make the organisation smarter. It is a leader’s job to see the latent talents of individuals and use those to best effect.

But the leader, says Hofmeyr, should in no way assert his or her ideas onto a team to the exclusion of all else. Here he highlights two very different leadership styles: the Decision-Maker and the Debate-Maker. “The decision-maker is a director, the one who sets up the agenda and debates, whereas the debate-maker – which is the preferential leadership style – is the leader who wants people to go away, do their work and come back with a position, and then take informed decisions, and maybe even change their minds based on the persuasiveness of other people in the team,” he says.

The last piece of advice Hofmeyr offers is for team leaders to speak less and listen more. He elaborates on an exercise he uses for leadership training in which the team leader is given five chips (like gambling tokens) with values decreasing from 120 seconds to 90 seconds and to smaller time frames. During the meeting the leader only gets to play these five chips. “So you need to decide when you want to make a contribution, then you come in at strategic points and play your chips. That is a discipline for the leader to take a step back and be a facilitator, and direct at key times,” he says. This allows the team leader to only talk for around four minutes during a meeting, which allows the team members to really make a contribution.

Although team leaders are often predetermined by their position within the organisation, there are certain qualities that will make for a successful leader, and these include: having credibility and being a good facilitator; enjoying the respect of the team members; having a willingness to confront issues around team behaviour, delivery, performance, etc; being able to identify and avert dysfunction creeping into the team; and having a resultsfocused orientation. Finally, good team leaders must have a level of humility and be prepared to have their own blind spots revealed.

IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP

Good leaders are essential to an organisation’s success. When organisations wonder why levels of engagement are low, why there is no cohesion within an organisation, and why top people are moving on, they need to look to the leaders. Ashfield says: “In the end it all comes down to leadership. This means doing the most important job of all – creating an environment for success”

She adds: “Everyone comes into a team with a different lens determining how they look at the world. A lot of what a team leader’s role should be is to help team members see the world from another person’s view, so you can then see from a far broader perspective.”

TEAM-BUILDING EXERCISES CAN OFTEN SUBSTITUTE FOR REAL CONVERSATIONS”

The glue that holds a team together, however, is the team leader.

The way in which this individual manages the team will ultimately determine the team’s success. Liber describes a leader as a conductor of an orchestra. “It is about being able to see the big picture, understanding how the different members fit together and then making them sound good together,” she says.

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The Tesla Model S features full self-driving hardware.

AI AND BUSINESS IN SA Words Sarah Wild

Artificial intelligence (AI) – teaching machines to think and learn – is either the magic solution that fixes all our problems, or it destroys us. That’s the binary discussion taking place in tech circles about the learning algorithms and computer software that are changing our world.

These impassioned discussions seem far removed from daily South African life and business, but a new report produced by Accenture and GIBS says that AI is already here. The report urges businesses to jump on the AI bandwagon so that they do not get left behind in this technology boom.

Rory Moore, Innovation Lead at Accenture and a co-author of the report, says: “AI is not something you have a polite, civilised conversation about: people start shouting at each other.”

But Moore, a strong proponent of AI, says: “Every few years, you have the opportunity to change the trajectory of a country or economy. Whether we like it or not, it’s coming. We can either put our heads in the sand and hope it goes away, or embrace it.”

As is usually the case with any polarised technology conversation, both sides ignore the grey area. AI is a vast umbrella encompassing a broad range of technology and applications, something which is canvassed in the GIBS-Accenture report,

not simply an omnipotent robot with vengeance and blood-lust melting its circuits.

WHAT IS AI?

AI encompasses computer software that tries to perform tasks usually reserved for humans. These include sensing, understanding, optimised decision-making, pattern and language recognition, learning, and many other cognitive tasks that we take for granted.

In their report, AI: Is South Africa ready?, the authors detail five tangible forms this technology can take: virtual agents, speech analytics, identity analytics, recommendation systems, and cognitive robots.

Virtual agents or online chatbots are able to engage with customers in the place of call centre and sales support staff.

Speech analytics includes software that recognises speech patterns, emotions in voices, allows computers to “understand” what people are saying. Identity analytics, on the other hand, are more about security: they allow people to protect their data and control access to systems. Recommendation systems – which are already at play when Google optimises your search results, Amazon suggests books you’d like, or Facebook tailors advertising to you – focus on content targeting. Then there’s also cognitive robots, in which robots learn from their experiences, the environment and on their own. This is the application that

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGES

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Engineering wizard Elon Musk sees a future of thinking and killing robots if we don’t constrain humanity’s AI ambitions. At best, we become “house cats” to machines; at worst, the human race is expendable. Either way, AI is something to fear and watch very, very closely. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, on the other hand, says Musk is a doomsayer, and AI in the form of self-driving cars and the like will save lives and make the world a better place.

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Uber's disruptive technology was met with violence by metered taxi drivers.

gets most people hot under the collar: for Musk, these learning robots become killers, for Zuckerberg, they are driverless cars.

For example, Cape Town-based start-up Clevva, which was established in 2011, aims to help its clients improve decision-making. “[It] is looking to be the global leader in compliant decision and action navigation,” says co-CEO Ryan Falkenberg. What this means is that they “effectively [offer] staff a decision-making GPS that will ensure, irrespective of context, they consistently ask the right questions, consider the right information, make the right decisions and take the right actions, in line with prescribed rules”.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS!

But AI will influence most industries. “Every industry where human decision-making forms a large part of the value chain, AI will disrupt,” says Falkenberg. “It’s not just where repetitive administrative decisions are being made; it includes autonomous vehicles (impacting professional drivers), medical practitioners, lawyers etc. – everyone who currently extracts value from making complex decisions based on pre-defined rules.”

These AI technologies are already seeping into businesses and the world’s social fabric.

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK IMAGES

Andrew Ng, a computer scientist and a co-founder of online learning platform Coursera, infamously said: “Just as electricity transformed almost everything 100 years ago, today I actually have a hard time thinking of an industry that I don’t think AI will transform in the next several years.”

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Technological leaps like the combine harvester have replaced many jobs.

AT BEST, WE BECOME ‘HOUSE CATS’ TO MACHINES; AT WORST, THE HUMAN RACE IS EXPENDABLE” But AI itself is nothing new: “AI is not a new term, it’s been around for a long time,” says Chen, “but it’s just that now the technology has become more sophisticated. I think AI can help us in many areas, but with casualties.”

JOBS WILL BE LOST...

“We need to understand the other side of AI, regardless of how we romanticise it: somewhere down the line, someone is going to lose jobs and we need to understand the social economic repercussions of that,” Chen says.

Technological leaps often come at the expense of current jobs and livelihoods: whether it was the combine harvester, washing machines, or mechanised drilling, technology and machines replaced people. While those technologies ultimately resulted in more productivity and greater employment overall, in the decades following their introduction there was a spike in unemployment.

Jeff Chen, a senior lecturer at GIBS and co-author on the report, is in neither the Musk nor the Zuckerberg camp, but says that we need to be realistic about AI’s capabilities and consequences.

“Any technology that makes things more effective and efficient eventually takes off, whether we want it to or not,” he says.

Clevva’s Falkenberg says that while many routine jobs will disappear as soon as a specific AI technology is into that industry, an option for other jobs is to “migrate people to new forms of work by offering them augmented AI”. “It’s like first offering drivers a GPS to help them drive better, and then ultimately replacing them from driving with autonomous vehicles.

It is estimated that the AI market will be worth $35 billion and double annual economic growth rates, the AI report notes.

“Our preference is, in as many jobs as possible, to start giving people augmented AI before simply replacing them altogether.

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. . . AI CAN HELP US IN MANY AREAS, BUT WITH CASUALTIES” That said, many routine-based jobs will simply disappear once AI gets more mainstream. And as a result, many people throughout Africa will find themselves even more removed from the formal job market.”

Currently, South Africa’s official employment is at 27.7%, which excludes those who have given up looking for a job. Unofficial estimates reckon that unemployment is significantly higher at more than 40%.

...AND JOBS WILL BE GAINED

“There is no doubt that AI will generate a swathe of jobs that we do not yet have names for and that new skills in areas like robotics and pattern recognition will flourish,” says the report.

“For example, just a few years ago there was no job like an app developer.

“But it is also true that AI will eliminate other jobs, potentially worsen inequality and erode incomes for some parts of the population. The imperative – starting now – is for policymakers to proactively address and pre-empt the downsides of AI. “For example, they must identify the groups that are at risk of being affected disproportionately by job displacement and create strategies that focus on reintegrating them into the AI-driven economy,” says the report.

Accenture’s Moore expects that in two years’ time, all servicebased sites – like those of banks or other service providers – will have chatbots, rather than people dealing with customers’ queries. “Just think: I’m a bank, and my call centre is flooded with people who have forgotten their pin. A bot reduces traffic, and I can redeploy those people.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

“Our stance is not to retrench, but redeploy. Business can become more competitive, can [ultimately] employ more people, but not in the same job,” he says.

This idea needs to be pushed within companies, Moore says.

Executives need to choose to adopt this stance for the better of the country, as well as at a national policy level, with government offering incentives to companies that choose to reskill workers rather than retrench.

INTELLIGENT POLICYMAKERS?

But this boils down to policy and regulation. South Africa’s authorities have not covered themselves in glory when it comes to legislating to include new, disruptive technology, with Uber being the case in point. The e-hailing service, through which a passenger can order a taxi via an app and pay automatically with their credit card, has exploded into the South African transport space. The American technology company has been in the country since 2013, but four years later there is still confusion

about the regulations and licensing process of these e-taxis. Also, metered taxi drivers have responded to the competition from the cheaper service with violence, with metered taxi drivers saying that Uber is taking away their livelihoods.

“We need a more enlightened approach from regulation,” says Moore, noting that over regulation can also stifle budding technologies.

He maintains that the only way that government can regulate AI, which is such a fast-moving space, is through a strong lead from business.

“There’s no way government can cope – it moves too quickly for regulation to work. Business needs to guide government,” he says.

“Stuff is happening, and South Africa needs to get ready to compete. It is being held back by a cumbersome regulatory framework.”

However, the report recognises a number of obstacles ahead for AI in the country. “South Africa is facing myriad structural and cultural hurdles as well as social dilemmas, which may hamper or delay businesses and governments from fully integrating AI technologies into the economy, ultimately impacting the potential upside to growth and competitiveness that AI presents,” the authors write.

NO MAGIC WAND

But while technological disruptors such as AI can only flourish in an enabling environment, simply sticking AI into a company does not mean that the company will flourish.

“In the end, it’s never, ever, ever about the technology. It’s about how cleverly you use the technology,” says Chen. “AI can only be powerful if it is fed the right kind of data, it gives you an answer based on the information it gathers.”

This helps to level the playing field between larger and smaller companies: “For the company with fewer resources, it doesn’t mean they can’t compete. They just have to compete smarter. AI isn’t your determinant. It’s your strategy.”

Asked whether he thought AI would doom or save humanity, Chen says: “I’m not in the Elon Musk or the Zuckerberg camp, but I think AI is something important. If you don’t use AI, another company will and it will give them a competitive edge.”

But that competitive edge hinges on having a strategy: “A company must have a plan, and if they don’t have a plan for how to utilise this technology – not only immediately, but also long term – they’ll be left behind,” he says

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WE NEED A MORE ENLIGHTENED APPROACH FROM REGULATION”

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THERE IS NO GLASS CEILING WOMEN LEADERSHIP IN EMERGING MARKETS Words Caren Scheepers and Shireen Chengadu

In 2015, 20 years after 189 countries adopted a blueprint to achieve equality for women, UK’s The Guardian newspaper reported the United Nations as saying: “A girl born today will be an 80-year-old grandmother before she has the same chance as a man to be CEO of a company – and she will have to wait until she is 50 to have an equal chance to lead a country.”

Although the discussion around gender equality in government, the workplace and society is not new – and many may feel that the conversation is getting rather tired – the above quote highlights that while women have made significant progress within this sphere, they are nowhere close to achieving an equal standing within society, and especially not as leaders.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Since the days of feisty feminism, courtesy of the 70s and 80s, are over, women need to employ a fresh approach to driving the numbers of female leaders and role models in society. In our book Women Leadership in Emerging Markets, we set out to tell a different story, by changing the lens through which we view women in leadership within the emerging market sphere. We looked to identify not only the barriers, but the opportunities being offered to women, and then seek the best solutions for change.

Up until now, western feminism has focused on the glass ceiling.

This concept, however, does not exist for many women within emerging markets. In fact, many of them are still stuck in the proverbial basement, with no way out. It is for this reason that any disruption to the status quo needs to be dealt with more holistically, and across all segments and layers of society.

and Uganda, who straddled a range of professions including accounting, consulting, law, engineering and medicine. What emerged was the fact that although the various countries were unique in their challenges, the slow progression of women in leadership roles followed a number of similar themes: the feminisation of poverty, lack of access to birth control, lack of education, a lack of access to finance for both further education and entrepreneurship, and lack of employment opportunities, to list just a few.

It is for this reason that we wrote a book specifically focused on women from these worlds. Our aim was not to drive home a feminist agenda and push women’s rights to the exclusion of men. Instead we set out to give a voice to the women in emerging markets, and to inspire them through the voices of our interviewees. We sincerely hope that the resilience of the 46 women we interviewed, who are true pioneers and role models, will help motivate many more women.

EXIT POINTS

The first step to creating change is to understand where girls, and then women, are encountering barriers on their leadership journey. Although we recognise that there are many issues shared by women around the world, women in emerging markets have more societal hurdles holding them back. These barriers, our research shows, are driven by culture, tradition and religion.

Before we can set about attempting to change the status quo and take up these opportunities as women, it is important that we understand the exit points for women in emerging markets.

This requires us to ask what factors determine whether or not a woman will go the distance. This discussion needs to take place without making value judgements about whether women chose, or not, to move into positions of leadership. One of our primary messages in this book is that women need to have a choice about all aspects of their lives, but integral to that choice is having equal opportunities to advance if they so desire.

In our book we interviewed 53 top-tier business leaders, 46 women and seven men, from a number of emerging markets, including the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) along with people from Poland, Malaysia, Malawi

Our research led us to develop a conceptual framework of a woman’s leadership journey. This framework gives a very clear indication of the various exit points on the leadership journey where women will opt out. Understanding these exit points is

EMERGING MARKET BARRIERS

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vital as it gives a very clear picture of where changes need to be made to enable more women to reach top echelons of leadership.

Factors influencing women include parental role models, teachers and access to finance. Issues surrounding contraception and family planning and their choice around when to start a family is another challenge that sees a number of women exit the leadership journey. Corporate culture and flexi-hour support also influence a woman’s decision to remain in the corporate space.

And once women become more senior they then start focusing on leadership goals and styles, and it is only here that they start to encounter what we term the sticky floor or ladder, and the glass ceiling.

UNLOCKING DOORS

Once we understand these exit points, we see that at the root of the gender equality problem is the need to start changing mindsets early on in the lives of young girls. This also tells us that society must stop looking at gender equality through siloed lenses and look at it rather in conjunction with race and class, and then stand back and note the intersectionality of it all.

Through our research we identified three areas where work needs to be done. Collaborative efforts need to take place between three tiers: government or the macro-level, the meso- or corporate level, and the micro- or personal level. Perhaps, however, the biggest responsibility in driving change lies in the hands of women themselves. They need to start believing in themselves and their abilities more to lead authentically. They need to realise that women can have it all – motherhood and leadership – and they need to start asking for what they want, stand up for what is right and negotiate better packages for themselves. They also need to start educating all children from an early age around issues of gender equality.

Summing this up is the force-field analysis in Figure 1 below, showing the overall forces needed to drive change, and those that are encouraging the status quo.

. . . WOMEN NEED TO EMPLOY A FRESH APPROACH TO DRIVING THE NUMBERS OF FEMALE LEADERS . . . ” A WIN-WIN

“One reason people resist change is that they focus on what they have to give up instead of what they have to gain,” said Pastor Rick Godwin. This is especially true when it comes to addressing gender inequality. Research tells us that organisations with greater female representation in leadership roles have a noticeable impact on the competitiveness of businesses, so why turn away from a proven business advantage?

Secondly, it is important to note that gender equality is not something to do just for the sake of having more women in leadership. Rather it is about having the right calibre of women in decision-making roles, women who can help to create a different ethos of doing business. John Gerzema and Michael D’Antonio’s book The Athena Doctrine, shares how their survey of 64 000 people from around the world found that “traditionally feminine leadership roles are now more popular than the macho paradigm of the past.” Women and men bring different aspects to a leadership team and, working together, they complement each other.

And finally, gender equality in the workplace is seeing that men are increasingly seeing similar benefits to women, including paternity leave and greater work-life balance; ideals espoused by their female counterparts

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FORCE-FIELD ANALYSIS OF GLASS CEILING FORCES OF CHANGE Sponsoring/mentoring women Access to finance entrepreneurship Organisational flexi-hour support Access to tertiary education Pioneers as role models

FORCES FOR MAINTAINING STATUS QUO Emerging markets: Patriarchy & internalisation Emerging markets: Institutional voids in support Emerging markets: Poverty & inequality Gender careers; -leadership roles Stereotypes: moterhood; self-employment Women Leadership in Emerging Markets: Featuring 46 Women Leaders by Shireen Chengadu and Caren Scheepers, R558, www.takealot.com

Figure 1: Force-field analysis of workplace gender inequality in emerging markets.

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A NEW SPACE AT GIBS Words Chris Gibbons

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

“Space, the final frontier”, begins the monologue that opens every episode of Star Trek. But for educators, including the team at GIBS, space is far more than a frontier. It’s a place or a time or a platform or a blank canvas, in which, during which or on which learning can take place. And if that sounds very broad, it’s meant to be. Called Co.Central, it’s GIBS’ new, flexible, modernist learning space.

As you might expect, Gill Cross, who looks after Co.Central and was responsible for its design and development, doesn’t have an official title. When pressed, she describes herself as its “innovator and chief agitator”, but she’s very clear about its purpose.

“It acts as a means for educators to rethink the way we do things, but also as a space where anything can happen and anything which you can envisage the client doing in there, we could do for you.”

Her analogy has nothing to do with Star Trek and everything to do with art.

“Like an exhibiting artist in an art gallery, the space takes on the qualities of the artist’s work that’s being exhibited there. I see it very much as a gallery space where we can curate anything a client would need and augment GIBS as a creative brand.”

Cross notes that education itself is changing.

“It’s becoming far more democratised in terms of the way people want to learn and consume education, and the types of experiences they want to have. They want to be a part of cocreating that. And that looks back into the ‘Co’ part of Co.Central.”

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People, she says, want to be in charge of their own learning journeys, particularly if that journey is non-academic or less formal. Co.Central gives them the spaces and tools to let them become what they want to become, she explains, noting that this also forces academics and lecturers to carry on being relevant.

“We have a space that’s almost like a meme for us. There’s no longer a front-of-class in the empty box, so what do we do?

Well, we can’t do very traditional, transmission-based lecturing anymore, so what else can we do? We need to provoke those sorts of questions in our faculty.”

Cross agrees that Co.Central contains elements of theatre.

“When we looked at the space, we looked at how you would enter it, and both doors have been designed with an almost camera obscura feel, with double mesh on the doors, so you can’t quite see what’s in the space until you open it.”

There is also ambient lighting that changes colours and mood lighting that can be adjusted, along with a WiFi-based projection system that is technology agnostic, allowing participants to stream video direct from their cellphones.

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Along with sight and sound, touch, taste and smell are also catered for, with brightly lit emoji boards as you enter the facility – press the right emoji to show exactly how you’re feeling – and then follow the smell to where a barista is waiting to offer you either a very exotic cup of freshly brewed coffee or a bespoke tea.

“It fires up different parts of your brain,” says Cross, “and depending on whether you want a tea that picks you up with a lot of hydration in it – a tea bomb – or a tea that’s more calming like camomile, it plays into that sense of creating your own journey and experience in this space.”

But Cross is quick to dispel the notion that this is “a high-tech innovation space – it’s not. It’s a far more fluid, highly ambient space that is flexible. No 3D printers or CTC machines!”

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Co.Central was designed by Local Studio, a “young architectural practice… that works in the Beirut of Johannesburg,” where Cross says, “they take mostly social housing development projects and want to use architecture to connect people to space and with each other. I like their philosophy of taking old buildings in Hillbrow and making them into multipurpose spaces. They’re problem-solvers.”

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So what does Cross think might emerge from Co.Central?

“Hopefully things I’d never imagined, and hopefully it takes on a life of its own in terms of it being used in ways we had never thought. I’d like to start having different dialogues with very different people in the space. We could also start having curated events about arts and culture there.

“We’re hoping that clients who use the space – for things like ideation sessions or hackathons, perhaps? – clients also get a sense of, wow, this is a space where we can actually start thinking and behaving differently.

“It becomes a synonym for ‘business unusual at GIBS’ and it contributes towards differentiating GIBS as a creative, progressive brand. We can offer ‘business school of the future’ stuff right here, right now.”

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Or, to borrow once again from Star Trek, Co.Central is a space that allows learners and faculty “to boldly go where no one has gone before”

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LEAKS, AUDITS AND WHISTLE-BLOWING IN GUPTA-LAND Words Tamara Oberholster

Corporate accounting scandals are nothing new. There’s something particularly irksome, however, about auditing scandals. Perhaps it’s because external auditors are seen as playing an important function in guiding investment decisions. When high-profile audit failures happen, there is often a public outcry.

Such was the case in the infamous Enron scandal. The energy company’s audit firm, Arthur Andersen, was found guilty of obstructing justice amid an investigation into the company’s attempts to cover up billions in losses. This ultimately resulted in the downfall of the firm – once part of the “Big Five”.

The remaining “Big Four” – KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and EY – have also been touched by various audit-related scandals.

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RECENT AUDITING FIRM FINES

In South Africa, these cases have largely been ignored by all except those in the auditing profession. But in June 2017, the public discovered a new interest in auditing. This followed leaked emails showing that KPMG South Africa, which had audited Linkway Trading, a company owned by the controversial Gupta family, appeared to have been aware that Gupta businesses had categorised family wedding costs as business expenses, for tax deduction purposes.

The money for the wedding is also alleged to have been laundered from the Free State provincial government, via a dairy project, through Dubai and then back into Gupta business accounts in South Africa.

Four KPMG partners, including Moses Kgosana, CEO at the time, attended the Gupta wedding, giving rise to perceptions that the auditor’s independence was compromised. Kgosana, who was due to be appointed chairperson of Alexander Forbes, withdrew from the appointment in the wake of the leaked emails.

In August 2017, PwC was fined a record £5.1 million by the UK’s Financial Reporting Council (FRC) for misconduct over its handling of the financial statements of professional services firm RSM Tenon. This topped the previous FRC record fine of £5m – also against PwC just three months earlier, issued in relation to the 2010 collapse of Connaught, a social housing provider.

In September 2017, following an internal review by KPMG International, Kgosana’s successor, Trevor Hoole, also resigned, along with the firm’s chairman, Ahmed Jaffer, chief operating officer Steven Louw, and five senior partners. At the same time, KPMG South Africa announced its intent to take disciplinary action seeking dismissal in relation to Jacques Wessels, the lead partner on the audits of the non-listed Gupta entities.

In 2016, Deloitte Brazil was fined $8m for fraud and for failing to co-operate with an investigation.

In a media statement, KPMG International said that although it had found no evidence of illegal behaviour or corruption, the investigation did find work that “fell considerably short of KPMG’s standards”. It announced a series of leadership changes and governance reforms, and pledged to donate the R40 million in fees it earned from the Gupta accounts to education and anticorruption NPOs, and refund SARS the R23 million earned for producing a report for the revenue authority on a so-called “rogue unit”.

In the same year, EY was fined $9.3m by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for improper relationships with clients. In February 2017, EY’s Indonesian firm was fined $1m by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) for falling short of auditing standards.

In August 2017, KPMG was fined $6.2m by the SEC after signing off the audit of an oil and gas company that had overvalued its assets by more than 100 times.

THE KPMG SA SITUATION

KPMG ended its professional relationship with the Gupta family in 2016. Despite this, and all the actions outlined above, the firm – and the auditing profession in South Africa – still seem to be in

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the public opinion dogbox. The Independent Regulatory Board for Auditors (IRBA) is also investigating the firm. KPMG has promised to co-operate.

But how guilty is KPMG SA? KPMG has admitted that it should have severed ties with the Gupta family earlier, and that partners attending the wedding was unwise, but the probe by KPMG International found no evidence of fraud, corruption or illegal activity. It did find, however, that the SARS Report (Report on Allegations of Irregularities and Misconduct) may have been misleading and was not subjected to adequate risk management and quality control checks. Furthermore, with regards to the auditing of the Gupta entities, the internal investigation found that “audit teams failed to apply sufficient professional scepticism and to comply fully with auditing standards”.

Nevertheless, the public perception seems to be that the auditor is to blame for more than just shoddy work, and should have unearthed any fraud or money laundering taking place. What the situation has made clear is that there appears to be a substantial gap in terms of public expectations of an auditor’s role and what the auditing industry is legally mandated to do.

UNPACKING ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Fulvio Tonelli, Head of Risk for PwC Africa, explains that the primary objective of an auditor is to express an opinion on whether the financial statements of a company, as a whole, are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

“It can only express this opinion once it has obtained reasonable assurance,” he says. “To achieve reasonable assurance, the auditor follows an approach to conduct tests on key touchpoints in a business, including controls – which are determined by adopting a risk-based approach in the setting of the audit plan. In executing the tests, the auditor is required to exercise professional judgement and scepticism and follow the International Audit Standards.”

This doesn’t place a specific obligation on the auditor to uncover or try to detect wrongdoing or non-compliance with the law. This responsibility rests primarily with the company’s management.

In an email response to questions, EY expressed similar views: “Standard ISA 240 specifically deals with the role of the auditor in relation to fraud in the conduct of an audit of financial statements.

This standard makes the point that the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud lies with management and those responsible for the governance of the entity. These parties may use various means of managing the risk of fraud: internal controls, policies, internal auditors, etc. The responsibility of the external auditor is to consider the risk of fraud and how that might affect the fair presentation of the reporting entity’s results,

. . . OUR FINES ARE TOO LOW AND WON’T CHANGE AUDITORS’ BEHAVIOUR”

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. . . IN JUNE 2017, THE PUBLIC DISCOVERED A NEW INTEREST IN AUDITING” financial position and cash flows. Audit procedures are designed and performed by auditors to be responsive to the assessed risk of material fraud.”

“The auditor is not a fraud investigator,” reiterates IRBA CEO Bernard Agulhas. “The auditor’s responsibility is not to discover money laundering, corruption or financing of terrorism. However, the standard relating to fraud makes it clear that auditors must develop procedures to see whether there is a possibility of fraud.”

ROLE OF THE IRBA

Agulhas explains that the IRBA is specifically mandated to protect the public and investors. “There’s often a misperception that we exist for auditors, but while we are there to support auditors, we are actually there to protect the investing public against auditors.”

The IRBA comprises a secretariat of 80 people, overseen by a board appointed by the finance minister. It was established by an act of parliament in 2006 and reports to National Treasury. It is unusual in that it is both a regulatory body and a standards setter.

While the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) is the membership body for the accounting profession, with close to 50 000 CAs, only 4 000 of those are registered auditors, regulated by the IRBA. “A registered auditor performs a public function,” says Agulhas.

“That’s why auditors, unlike accountants, are regulated.” Whereas accountants and FDs prepare financial statements for their company board, the auditor has to give users of those statements – investors – an opinion on whether they are reliable or not.

The IRBA inspects registered auditors to ensure compliance with issued standards. Non-compliance (a failed inspection) attracts an IRBA investigation. Investigations can also be triggered by public complaints or, as in the KPMG case, initiated by the IRBA where, for example, media coverage indicates an auditor warrants investigation based on such information.

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Auditors are required in terms of the Auditing Profession Act (APA) to report “reportable irregularities” to the IRBA if identified during the audit process. The APA defines a reportable irregularity as any unlawful act or omission committed by any person responsible for the management of an entity, which has caused or is likely to cause material financial loss, is fraudulent or amounts to theft, or represents a material breach of any fiduciary duty.

“Auditors in South Africa have obligations in terms of the APA and IRBA professional regulations to consider an appropriate response to unlawful conduct,” Tonelli explains. “The former requires auditors to report certain unlawful conduct by management to the IRBA, whilst the latter requires the auditor to gain an understanding of the non-compliance or wrongdoing

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THE AUDITOR IS NOT A FRAUD INVESTIGATOR” within the business and evaluate whether it should be reported to an appropriate authority, or only raise it with management for corrective action.”

In short, auditors are required to report reportable irregularities to the IRBA, which is required to address every complaint received and to pass along relevant information to other authorities (e.g. reporting potential tax evasion to SARS). The IRBA has no jurisdiction over the auditor’s client, however – only the auditor.

If KPMG did uncover a reportable irregularity during the Linkway audit, it would have been required to report it to the IRBA and to follow up with Linkway. This would generally be the extent of the firm’s responsibility (issues of potentially compromised independence aside). At the time of writing, KPMG was still finalising the internal investigation, and declined to comment on the matter.

Other requirements relate to South African anti-money laundering and combating of financing of terrorism laws, which include the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA), Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Act (POCDATARA) and the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA). These require any citizen (not just auditors) to report potential crimes to relevant authorities.

CONSEQUENCES – POTENT OR PITIFUL?

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

EY notes that the World Economic Forum has ranked South African audit standards and capital markets as number one in the world for the last seven years running, which it says is “testament to the fact that existing regulations and practices are already working”.

Unfortunately, given the nature of auditing, IRBA investigations tend to take time. Agulhas admits this means the public may think nothing is happening. Furthermore, when IRBA investigations culminate in a disciplinary hearing, the auditor can either admit guilt and pay a fine, or dispute the findings in court. The latter may also delay the process considerably.

EY notes that should a case go to court, however, unlike many countries in the world, South African auditors may not limit their financial liability in any way in the event of a civil suit – they are exposed to unlimited liability.

IRBA disciplinary hearings are open to the public. The disciplinary committee also has the power to “name and shame” wrongdoers.

“We don’t do it often, but there’s a lot of pressure on us to publish auditor names, and we are looking into it,” says Agulhas.

IRBA sanctions, currently calculated according to the Adjustment of Fines Act, are pitiful. “Because of that limitation, we issue very

low fines,” Agulhas says. “The maximum is R200 000 per charge, which is nothing compared to those issued by international bodies, the FSB or even the fees charged for audits. We realise our fines are too low and won’t change auditors’ behaviour. We’re busy with the Fines Project, looking at how we can de-link our Act from the Adjustment of Fines Act and get our board to decide on the fines.”

The IRBA could technically also suspend a firm’s licence to operate, but Agulhas says this could have far-reaching consequences, for example, in terms of job losses, which is why it has not pursued this option to date. It does, however, revoke individuals’ licences on occasion.

One potential change that may boost regulation and compliance is implementing the suggestion by the World Bank (in its 2013 South Africa Report on the Observance of Standards and Codes for Accounting and Auditing) that all members of the accounting profession be regulated.

Agulhas says that the IRBA has suggested to the finance minister that it oversees this function and has put together a proposal for his consideration. “If we have jurisdiction to regulate other players in the financial reporting chain, I think we can address business failures much better,” he opines

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WHAT ABOUT WHISTLE-BLOWING?

The KPMG/Gupta “scandal” erupted thanks to a series of leaked emails (aka #GuptaLeaks), provided by a whistleblower and being investigated by the amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism and Scorpio. These emails have brought a number of potentially dodgy happenings to light, and prove the value of whistle-blowers in combating corruption.

Yet EY’s 2017 EMEIA Fraud Survey found low awareness around the internal whistle-blowing hotlines many companies offer (21% of people surveyed). Frighteningly, 52% of respondents had information or concerns about misconduct in their company, but 48% of those had faced pressure to withhold information, and 56% chose not to report their findings.

The Platform for the Protection of Whistleblowers in Africa (PPLAAF) offers whistle-blowers the ability to securely submit information via Tor and gives guidelines and support too, including legal and media assistance and advocacy.

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FIGHTING THE RISE OF INTERNET ADDICTION Words Eugene Yiga

As technology use becomes more widespread, individuals and organisations need to become aware of the dangers of technology addiction.

Does my online use cause significant problems in my relationships, my work, or how I feel about myself? Do I often neglect or ignore important responsibilities in favour of going online? Have I tried to cut back on my Internet use with little or no success? If you answered “yes” to these questions, you might be dealing with an Internet addiction.

“Regardless of your age and your interests, the Internet provides an accessible source of information and an endless supply of entertainment,” says clinical psychologist Dr. Colinda Linde.

“Increasingly, this Internet is no longer tied to a home computer and can be accessed almost anywhere via smartphones, laptops, tablets, gaming consoles, etc. Wherever you go, the Internet is waiting for you.”

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

But when does normal use cross the line and become excessive or even harmful? Because Internet addiction is not (yet) a formal diagnosis, there are no agreed standards for what defines addictive behaviour. The one thing almost all professionals agree upon is that the number of hours spent online is, by itself, not enough to indicate a problem.

“One person may spend forty hours or more per week on the Internet because his or her job depends on it,” Linde says.

“Another person may spend twenty-five hours per week chatting with family members in another country. Is this an addiction?

Is it excessive? This depends on how the time online is (or isn’t) interfering with other important areas of life such as work, school, health and in-person relationships.”

That’s why, in addition to the three opening questions, Linde suggests asking four more: Are other people concerned about how much you use the Internet? Do you often go online because it takes your mind off problems in your life? Has your Internet use steadily increased over time? Has the quality of your life deteriorated as a consequence of the amount of time you spend online? Again, answering “yes” might indicate an addiction.

. . . WHEN DOES NORMAL USE CROSS THE LINE AND BECOME EXCESSIVE OR EVEN HARMFUL?” “Internet addiction is not as yet an official DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] diagnosis, but it is largely viewed as an impulse control disorder similar to pathological gambling,” she says. “As a rule of thumb, if a person repeatedly goes online to avoid real-world responsibilities or difficulties, and this avoidance creates even more problems in his or her life, this may suggest the presence of an addiction to the Internet.”

PSYCHOLOGICAL ADDICTION IS REAL

There are several kinds of Internet addiction. These include addictions to online games, online gambling, social networking, entertainment and pornography. And while we typically think of addictions as pertaining to substances, chemicals or drugs that can produce dependence and tolerance (i.e. the more they are used, the larger the amount that needs to be consumed to produce the same effect or get the same degree of pleasure), any behaviour or activity that produces a reward can, in theory, become addictive. At the very least, it can turn into an unhealthy habit that interferes with the quality of one’s life.

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“Alcohol, nicotine and various other drugs can produce tolerance, dependence and withdrawal symptoms when discontinued, which are the most obvious signs of a physiological addiction,” Linde says. “Often, obsessive activities that do not involve chemicals are seen as not having the potential to be addictive, as they are ‘only in your head’. However, research has demonstrated that psychological addiction is real and is associated with neurochemical and biological changes in the brain.” Several studies over the last two decades have shown the groups most at risk. From a demographic perspective, these include children (Zboralski, 2009), young adults aged 16 to 29 (Bakken, 2009), and males as a whole (Tasi, 2009). From a psychological perspective, these include those with pre-existing depression (Young, 1998), low self-esteem (Niemz, 2005), obsessive compulsive symptoms (Jang, 2008) and neuroticism (Tsai, 2009). Finally, it’s been shown that people with poor social support have a greater likelihood of Internet addiction (Tsai, 2008), which is associated with factors such as alcohol consumption, family dissatisfaction and general stress (Lam, 2009).

“We don’t know the causes of Internet addiction,” says psychiatrist Dr. Frans Korb. “However several associated factors have been identified thus far. On a psychological level it has been shown that whenever a person feels overwhelmed, stressed, depressed, lonely or anxious, they might use the Internet to seek solace and escape.”

Korb explains that people suffering from depression and/or anxiety may experience feelings of isolation or stress and then ‘self-medicate’ by using the Internet. The lack of emotional support means that they may go online to fill this need.

“The role of personality – the nature of the ‘addictive personality’ – has also been suggested,” he says. “People that are overly shy and withdrawn cannot easily relate to others and also tend to be at higher risk of developing Internet addiction. The role of cross-addiction may also play a role in that people with Internet addiction might also have (or have had) problems with other addictions such as drugs, alcohol, sex, pornography, gambling and so on.”

ACCESSING TREATMENT FROM A SPECIALIST

As much as having access to the Internet can be beneficial in many ways, it’s become increasingly clear that we cannot keep ignoring the risks. Indeed, some of the physical and emotional disturbances caused by excessive online (or technology) use are hard to ignore.

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“Physical symptoms are those that are typical of long periods in front of a computer and include things such as backache, headache, carpal tunnel syndrome and strained vision,” says counselling psychologist Tamara Zanella. “Other symptoms include isolation and a preoccupation with the Internet, an inability to reduce one’s use of the Internet, and withdrawal symptoms when it is reduced.”

Zanella admits that many of these symptoms might sound common since our lives increasingly revolve around using a smartphone or computer and being online. However, it’s important to remember that this use is deemed problematic when it negatively impacts one’s social, emotional or occupational functioning and when one is replacing other activities and relationships with Internet use, despite being able to recognise the negative consequences of doing so. This would indicate that normal Internet use has turned into problematic behaviour that could be considered an addiction.

“When an individual is struggling with pathological Internet use, it’s important for them to access treatment from a specialist,” Zanella says. “Internet addiction is a treatable condition but it can be difficult for the individual to achieve on his or her own. Our society requires one to access the Internet in order to function effectively; it’s therefore not possible to maintain abstinence as in many other treatment models for addiction. It’s also important to remember that Internet addiction can often present with other co-morbid conditions such as anxiety and/or depression.”

Cognitive behavioural therapy has shown efficacy in treating addiction and is also effective for working with anxiety and depression. An individual may also benefit from medication to treat their anxiety and/or depression whilst undergoing treatment for the Internet addiction. Either way, first contact is likely to be a general practitioner who would be able to recommend a psychiatrist as well as a psychologist for specialist treatment.

“Companies could support this by creating an automated message to step away from the machine at regular intervals and provide an area where people can take a mindful walk to re-presence themselves,” says Neil Bierbaum, executive and life coach, and cofounder of the Practical Mindfulness Program. “Many companies do have these chill areas but still have the culture that you’re not being productive when you’re there. This unconscious aspect of corporate culture still needs to shift.”

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. . . WE CANNOT KEEP IGNORING THE RISKS”

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KIGALI WORKS, BUT AT WHAT COST? Words Professor Nick Binedell and Abdullah Verachia

We spent two-and-a-half hours with Rwanda’s Paul Kagame just days before his inauguration in August. He wrapped up a meeting with the Egyptian president, blocked out his diary and cleared the room of all except for himself and the 56 of us there as part of a teaching programme. “Ask whatever you want,” was his invitation. And so we did.

Kagame did not use notes, nor did he shy away from responding fulsomely. He was forthright, open and direct. It’s hard to think of many presidents who could replicate this level of access.

Not surprisingly the conversation was held according to Chatham House Rules, so while we respect the meat of the discussion is off limits, it is certainly possible to share our impressions of this imposing man and his leadership approach.

The briefing session was an unusual opportunity to hear his views on leadership, to understand his commitment to the presidency and interrogate his plans for the country. He is articulate, tall and imposing, clear and astute. He has a dry sense of humour and a deep capacity to connect with his audience. He is determined and pragmatic, and has a good sense of global developments. He is clearly a high-performance individual who may be affable but is every bit the military commander. He is, in short, a strong leader in every sense of the word.

DICTATOR OR LEADER? Just recently during the launch at GIBS of his book Making Africa Work, former Nigerian president Olusegun Obasanjo praised the likes of Rwanda and Ethiopia for their achievements under such strong and all-but-unassailable leaders. “I don’t know whether you would call them benevolent dictators. I would call them strong leaders,” he said, noting that these strong leaders were as important as strong institutions, “especially [for] a country that is still building up”.

Paul Kagame

HE IS ARTICULATE, TALL AND IMPOSING, CLEAR AND ASTUTE” Obasanjo pointed to an African way of leadership, an approach which takes cognisance of the nuances of a difficult past. And, in our conversation with him, Kagame too mentioned that we should be thinking about the African way, particularly with reference to the continent’s painful history.

In the case of Rwanda, this history is impacted not only by the colonial legacy but also by a bruising and brutal genocide. One which Gourevitch, in his book We Wish to Inform You That Tomorrow We Will Be Killed With Our Families, describes how one in 10 people were killed, including 70% of the Tutsi minority

PHOTO: GETTY/GALLO IMAGES

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

We are not alone in trying to understand him. There have been any number of attempts by commentators to categorise Kagame’s approach. The likes of Harvard’s Michael Porter is a fan of the Rwanda economic transformation story under Kagame’s leadership. As is former British prime minister Tony Blair. Some regard his approach as “business-like”, others as a “balancing act” and there are the detractors who accuse him of being heavy-handed, of squashing political dissent and media rights and, to quote author and journalist Philip Gourevitch, of being “unapologetically authoritarian”.

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population in just six weeks. More than a million people were slaughtered during the inter-ethnic violence.

This was the brutal world which shaped a young Paul Kagame.

Born in Rwanda into a prominent Tutsi family (his mother was sister to a king), Kagame was three when his family was forced to flee their homeland. He grew up as a refugee in Uganda and eventually joined the rebel military force being assembled by now Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, in the process befriending Museveni and becoming his intelligence chief. He was one of 50 leaders who went on to form a Rwandan liberation force – the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) – which managed to enter Rwanda to end the 1994 genocide, gain control, pacify the population and restore peace.

Even today, the fear of another uprising has seen the criminalisation of ethnic slurs and divisions. Kagame is adamant that no discrimination will be tolerated and, to highlight the fact that some 25% of the population have great grandparents who are both Hutu and Tutsi, Kagame has taken a DNA test showing that he too has both Tutsi and Hutu heritage.

Building social cohesion is as challenging a job as the economic revival of the country, but Kagame’s visible success in this regard is the reason why 98.63% of Rwanda’s 6.9 million registered voters endorsed him for a third term and why, prior to the 2017 vote, 98% of Rwandans voted “yes” in a referendum to allow Kagame to serve for an additional seven years (up from the previous five-year terms). This puts the man who took over as president in 2000 in the driving seat until 2024.

RWANDA’S ECONOMY

What will he do with that extra time? Build on the legacy which has transformed Rwanda over the past 17 years and turned Kigali into a clean and model city.

To really understand the impact of his policies, it is important to understand the Rwanda of today. Yes, the country is small, with a population of just under 12 million people, a GDP of US$8 billion and GDP per capita (adjusted for purchasing power parity) at about US$1 800. The country’s annual growth rate, since 2005, is between 8% and 10%.

Juxtapose this to the situation in 1994 when, coming out of the genocide, the country’s economy had shrunk by 50%, inflation was 64% and GDP per capita (PPP adjusted) was US$673. This was a country of 5.1 million people in which most of the skilled professionals had been targeted during the civil war. There were two million refugees abroad and 900 000 displaced people, and almost half of Rwanda’s children had lost one parent.

While the first turnaround steps in 1994 involved managing inflation, reforming public administration and liberalising the economy, the real growth trajectory came when Kagame officially became head of state. That’s when Vision 2020 was formulated, following a broad consultation process, and a long-term development strategy was established to transform Rwanda into a knowledge-based, middle-income country.

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OBASANJO POINTED TO AN AFRICAN WAY OF LEADERSHIP . . . ” Kagame and his colleagues continue to position Rwanda as an ICT economy, as a country which is open for business and eager for foreign direct investment. Rwanda is ranked second in Africa (behind Mauritius) for ease of doing business by the World Bank and, in South Africa, we often talk in envious tones about the fact that it takes 48 hours to set up a business in Rwanda. The Rwanda Development Board (RDB) continues to drive a concerted and strategic focus on investment, exports, tourism, IT promotion and SME development; so much so that Harvard graduate Clare Akamanzi, the current head of the RDB, is also a member of cabinet.

EDUCATION

Kagame’s other big push has been education, and the government now offers free education to Grade 9. Today 98% of boys and girls have universal primary school education, although improving secondary education remains a serious challenge.

Gender parity has been a massive drive and, today, 67% of the Rwandan Parliament is made up of female MPs. The government also continues to fight corruption, a push reflected in the fact that Rwanda is ranked as the third-least corrupt country in Africa, according to Transparency International.

If this seems very in line with the Singapore model, it is. Rwanda has worked closely with Singapore, highlighting the resonance the Singapore story has with an African developmental approach.

And, of course, for those looking to draw more parallels, Singapore’s founding prime minister, Lee Kuan Yew, ruled for 31 years.

Kagame was clear with us that he did not feel western democracy was the ideal model for Africa. But, with 98% of voters backing his continued presidency, it would be remiss to label his regime as authoritarian, in spite of opposition party claims of pressure and significant deviations from the western model.

In fact, concerns around succession certainly preoccupy Kagame.

And rightly so. During our discussion he laid out details of a change of leadership in due course. He stressed the importance of maintaining stability, and to keep making progress economically and socially. This is the only way to ensure that Rwanda never falls prey to the sort of madness which decimated the country less than two decades ago.

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This fear of repeating the past is ultimately what explains modern-day Rwanda. Many countries – including South Africa – could do well to learn from this

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Female Anopheles albimanus mosquito

GOODBYE MALARIA Words Liezl Rees

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

It’s 11 a.m. in the small Mozambican town of Boane, and the temperature is already 35 degrees, with the humidity at 90%.

In the sweltering heat Silvia Simao, wearing overalls and boots, a face mask and shield, and carrying a spray pump weighing 20 kilograms, is busy spraying the indoor walls of a house with insecticide. She’s part of a team of 150 sprayers that work six days a week to reduce malaria in Boane, which is also the name of the district. Her team has a massive and important job ahead of them over the coming months. Collectively they will spray 55 947 houses in Boane, protecting 120 000 people from malaria.

Silvia and her co-workers are part of a team assembled by an unlikely coalition that includes the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria (GF), the governments of Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland (MOSASWA) and a South African initiative, Goodbye Malaria, which is heavily backed by Nando’s Robbie Brozin, along with co-founders of the initiative, Sherwin Charles and Kim Lazarus.

The goal of the coalition is to eradicate malaria in the region completely and, for once, the prospect of success looks encouraging. Over the last three years the incidence of malaria in Boane has dropped from 13.75% to a remarkable 1%.

A NEW APPROACH TO MALARIA ELIMINATION IN AFRICA?

Started in 2013, Goodbye Malaria – a social benefit organisation – has been working hard to raise awareness and funding for malaria elimination programmes in Mozambique.

Supported by international restaurant group Nando’s – which provided the initial capital to set up the organisation – as well as other corporate partners, Goodbye Malaria uses a community development model to mobilise funds and advocate against malaria, while creating employment opportunities at the same time.

A recent public-private partnership initiated between Goodbye Malaria, the Global Fund and the governments of MOSASWA, has brought hope for a new collective impact model that will ramp up malaria elimination activities in the region, saving millions of lives while providing much-needed employment opportunities for people living in affected communities at the same time.

A grant, totalling $9.78 million, was awarded to the Lubombo Spatial Development Initiative 2 (LSDI2), a Goodbye Malaria initiative, by the Global Fund earlier this year. What makes this Malaria is transmitted through the bite of a female Anopheles mosquito, known as “night-biting” mosquitoes as they typically bite between dusk and dawn, which are infected with one of several plasmodium parasites.

Infection results in an acute febrile illness with symptoms including fever, chills and a headache. While preventable and treatable, if not treated malaria quickly becomes lifethreatening by disrupting the blood supply to vital organs.

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grant different is that it’s the first to be co-founded by both the Global Fund and the private sector (through Goodbye Malaria), thereby connecting the global malaria community with local government and the private sector, in a co-ordinated effort to eliminate the disease.

The Global Fund, together with the private sector, hopes that this grant will change the landscape of how the global community tackles and solves social issues around the globe. Part of the grant is an agreement that Goodbye Malaria will contribute $4 million, from the private sector. Nando’s, a long-time supporter of Goodbye Malaria, has committed to provide the major portion of this funding, says Sherwin Charles, CEO of Goodbye Malaria.

Goodbye Malaria’s flagship programme is the LSDI2, a crossborder, regional programme working in South Africa, Swaziland and Mozambique, and has been operating since 2013. The programme works directly with the Mozambican Health Department’s National Malaria Control Programme in a unique public-private partnership.

Mozambique, as a high malaria transmission country, shares 3% of the global malaria burden while Swaziland and South Africa are low transmission countries. This makes it a strategic area to tackle if elimination in Southern Africa is to be achieved. Most of the work undertaken by the LSDI2 programme is therefore focused on Southern Mozambique, in Maputo Province.

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. . . FOR ONCE, THE PROSPECT OF SUCCESS LOOKS ENCOURAGING ” Children under the age of five are most susceptible to illness and death, with 70% of all malaria deaths occurring in this age group.

According to the WHO, malaria remains a major killer of children under five years old, taking the life of a child every two minutes.

For those who do survive, malaria accounts for 15% of healthrelated absenteeism from schools, and impairs as much as 60% of schoolchildren’s learning ability in endemic areas.

It is estimated that malaria has cost sub-Saharan Africa US$ 300 million each year since 2000 for case management alone, and up to 1.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) annually. It could be controlled, and treated, for much less.

COLLABORATION, INNOVATION, ELIMINATION

By taking a collective impact approach in Mozambique the new partnership between the Global Fund, Goodbye Malaria and the governments of MOSASWA, hopes to provide an innovative

The key malaria intervention of the programme is Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS). Not only does it protect the community from malaria but sprayers are recruited locally, creating much-needed employment and improving the efficiency of the programme as they are both familiar with the local terrain, and known to community members. LSDI2 has employed over 400 local Mozambicans during the past year alone, more than 50% of which are women.

Initially starting in Boane in 2013, the programme was rolled out to include the districts of Magude in 2014 and Marracuene in 2016; while Manhiça and Moamba have been added for the current spray season. A target of 205 781 houses to be sprayed, protecting 588 195 people across the five districts, has been set for 2017/2018.

THE SOCIOECONOMIC BURDEN OF MALARIA

While half the world’s population is at risk of contracting malaria, nowhere has the disease exacted a greater toll than in Africa. By virtue of weather, ecology and poverty, 90% of the 212 million cases reported, and 92% of the 429 000 malaria-related deaths recorded in 2015, occurred in Africa. Sub-Saharan Africa is most affected, with thirteen countries in the region accounting for 76% of malaria cases, and 75% of malaria-related deaths, globally.

In countries like Mozambique, where infection rates are high, the poor are impacted the most. Households in Africa are estimated to lose up to 25% of their income to the disease, perpetuating the cycle of poverty, while there are also significant implications for companies through workforce absenteeism and reductions in overall company productivity.

Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS)

Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) involves the spraying of a residual insecticide on the interior walls of houses that serve as a resting place for mosquitos. Mosquitoes die when they come in contact with treated surfaces, preventing disease transmission. The potential of IRS is only realised when at least 80% of the houses within a targeted area are sprayed. It is effective for three to six months depending on what type of insecticide is used and the type of surface on which it is sprayed.

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NOT ONLY IS THE PROGRAMME INNOVATIVE IN ITS STRUCTURE, BUT ALSO IN ITS ACTIVITIES” template for malaria control and elimination programmes that can be replicated across Africa.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

By leveraging off the strengths of the various partners, and working collaboratively, the aim is to accelerate from malaria control to pre-elimination in southern Mozambique while at the same time accelerating the transition from pre-elimination to elimination in Swaziland and South Africa. A target of achieving zero local transmission in Swaziland, South Africa and Maputo province by 2020, and achieving pre-elimination status elsewhere in southern Mozambique by 2025, has been set.

Nando’s Robbie Brozin

Not only is the programme innovative in its structure, but also in its activities. By taking a business mindset and using it to drive efficiencies to maximise impact, Goodbye Malaria has improved the standard model of an IRS programme. This includes using detailed data-driven dashboards to aid management with monitoring operations; the development of a smartphone application with GPS tracking of where and how many homes have been sprayed; training and hiring practices which pay close attention to local customs and sensitivities; and detailed management supervision and development of processes leading to best-in-class coverage percentages.

malaria has increased to US$2.9 billion per year, it’s less than half the amount needed to maintain the gains made against the disease.

By the end of 2016 Goodbye Malaria reported it had cumulatively protected more than 350 000 people across the districts of Boane, Magude and Marracuene in southern Mozambique, through IRS. The number of malaria cases has dropped significantly with a 46% decrease in Boane, 89% decrease in Magude and 43% decrease in Marracuene.

The public-private partnership model currently being followed by the Global Fund, Goodbye Malaria and MOSASWA, with its unique combination of resources, expertise and commitments, brings promise of a new approach other regions across the continent can adopt so Africa may say “goodbye” to malaria once and for all.

The recently awarded Global Fund grant will allow Goodbye Malaria to ramp up its activities, protecting 2.7 million people cumulatively in the MOSASWA region from malaria while employing over 1 400 local people in the process.

The importance of achieving malaria elimination on the continent cannot be overemphasised or underestimated. Africa’s people are its hope and future, and their health and well-being is critical if they are to build and advance the continent to the next level of economic progress and security

The success of the programme will be measured by the Global Fund on the number of confirmed malaria cases in Mozambique, South Africa and Swaziland; the proportion of households in the targeted regions receiving IRS; and all four of South African and Swaziland’s border health posts being operational and reporting information into the National Health System.

BUILDING ON PAST GAINS AND NEW PARTNERSHIPS FOR SUCCESS

The number of people that have died from malaria in Africa has almost halved since 2000. However, while global funding for

When control activities are neglected a resurgence of the disease can occur within just one infectious season. Given the recent plateau in development partner support for such programmes, against the backdrop of many other critical global priorities, African governments must play a bigger role in securing diverse sources of funding to ensure the sustainability and stability of their malaria control efforts.

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Goodbye Malaria raises funds for its malaria programme in Mozambique by selling a range of African inspired products, made by South African entrepreneurs and small businesses, including hand-beaded bracelets and jewellery, shirts, pyjamas and teddies which are sold to individuals and corporations. Visit www.goodbyemalaria.com/shop to “Save a life in your sleep”.

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DOING BUSINESS IN SINGAPORE Words Kate Whitehead

Singapore is a wealthy island city state on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Home of the Singapore Sling – a potent gin-based cocktail – it has transformed itself over the last decade into a hip, high-tech business hub.

Its location is key. While neighbouring Hong Kong has long been seen as the gateway to China – a position that is becoming increasingly obsolete – Singapore’s geographic location lends itself as a gateway to Asia-Pacific.

“No-one here just targets Singapore, entrepreneurs are focused on accessing Asia-Pacific,” says Chris Reed, CEO of Black Marketing.

Chris has lived in Singapore for eight years and says the ease of doing business and the ability to move swiftly in and out of the city are what have kept him there, allowing his business to thrive.

Black Marketing offers personal branding. Most of his clients are outside Singapore so he travels regularly to Hong Kong, Sydney and across Asia-Pacific.

“Everything works here, it’s a phenomenal place to do business. I can land in Changi Airport Terminal 3, wave my passport through and in 30 minutes be in the city centre,” says Reed.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

EASE OF DOING BUSINESS

Singapore is regularly cited as one of the easiest places to do business. It’s currently listed number two on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking (New Zealand has the top spot).

The actual process of registering a business is straightforward and can be done quickly and better still, online. Setting up a bank account takes longer – usually about two weeks.

Competitive tax rates are also a big draw. The highest tax rate is 22% for individuals and companies pay about 17%, but can apply for tax incentives, says Kim Leng, the Singapore director of TMG Group, which provides financial advice and services to companies around the world.

“Singapore has double tax treaties in about 70 to 80 countries which is wonderful for our clients expanding in this region,” says Leng.

The Singapore business district and city

“In the UK I was paying 58% tax, here I pay less than 5%. They don’t believe in taxing people. You don’t pay tax on dividends, you can pay yourself dividends,” says Reed.

And there is a lot of support for entrepreneurs and start-ups, whether they are local Singaporeans or foreigners. Reed says he has received grants to help him market his business overseas as well as additional funding for employing Singaporeans. It is worth noting that the local population is very well educated – in 2015, 52% of the non-student population held post-secondary qualifications and 28% held university qualifications.

“Every way you look they are trying to help – you don’t get that kind of support in Malaysia or Hong Kong,” he says.

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A POCKET ROCKET

For such as small place – 719 square kilometres – it certainly packs a lot of punch and that’s a lot to do with recognising its own weaknesses and playing to its strengths.

“We don’t have natural resources. What we do have is manpower and we are always trying to get people with the right knowledge to spearhead industry to the next step,” says Leng.

The government spotted the growth potential of technology and FinTech early on and worked hard to attract the big players to the region. It has paid off – Google and LinkedIn both have regional headquarters in Singapore. And in 2014, it launched the Smart Nation initiative to apply digital and smart solutions to improve

EVERYTHING WORKS HERE . . . ” business and life in Singapore. There are even grants for the elderly to teach them to use an iPhone and keep up to speed with the latest technologies.

“A lot of our Silicon Valley clients, when they decide to expand in Asia, choose Singapore because of what the government has done to promote technology,” says Leng.

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A robot handles a solar panel on the module production line at the REC Solar ASA manufacturing facility in Singapore.

SINGAPORE’S POLITICAL STABILITY IS ESSENTIAL FOR FOREIGN INVESTMENT” Manufacturing maintains a significant one-fifth share of the economy, dominated by electronics, biomedical manufacturing, engineering and chemicals. It is the world’s third-largest oil refining centre. Singapore serves as a major regional hub for shipping, air transport, logistics and financial services. Other key emerging sectors include robotics, biotechnology and lifestyle products and services.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Singapore’s political stability is essential for foreign investment.

It practices a modified version of the Westminster Parliamentary system. Each parliament sits for a maximum of five years. The ruling People’s Action Party has dominated since 1959, before Singapore became independent in 1965.

An interesting aspect of life in Singapore – and one that adds plenty of colour – is the multicultural mix. Singaporeans are made up of Chinese (76%), Malay (15%) and Indian (6%) people. While this led to some racial conflict in the past, today there is racial harmony and each group keeps its cultural traditions and rubs up quite happily against the others. You only have to walk through Chinatown and see Hindu temples and mosques sitting next to Chinese temples to appreciate this. Today, young Singaporeans see themselves as Singaporean first and Chinese, Malay or Indian second.

OUT WITH CORRUPTION

A major cause for concern for foreign investors looking to enter markets in Asia is bribery and corruption – think India, Thailand,

Myanmar and Vietnam. But Singapore maintains a zero-tolerance policy for bribery. It was the British who established the city’s Corruption Practices Investigation Bureau in 1952 and the body remains strong today. Any attempt to bribe an official can result in arrest. Singapore came seventh in the graft watchdog Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index for 2016, up from eighth place in 2015 – and it’s the only Asian country listed in the index’s Top 10 ranking.

So far so very good, so what are the drawbacks? Perhaps the key one is the cost of living – this year, Singapore retained its title as the world’s most expensive city for a fourth consecutive year, according to the cost-of-living survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit. It found that Singapore was 20% more expensive than New York and 5% more expensive than Hong Kong. Compared to other Asian cities it offers relative value when it comes to domestic goods and personal care, but housing is hugely expensive and it is the most expensive place in the world to buy and run a car. Singaporeans are eligible for Housing Development Board (HDB) properties and 90% own their own homes, one of the highest rates of home ownership in the world.

But foreigners are not eligible to buy HDB properties and renting can take a large chunk of monthly income.

For the last few years, Singapore’s economy has slowed, worrying many that it might be in danger of entering a recession. But recent data suggests that it has turned that corner.

Labour market data released by the Ministry of Manpower in August suggest that companies in the service sector – which make up 70% of the economy – are coming out of a period of gloom and expecting more favourable conditions in the latter half of 2017.

What’s more, people are investing more in businesses. Bank lending at the end of June 2017 was up 7.6% to S$635.5 billion compared to the previous year – the fastest pace of growth in two years.

A lot of this investment is thanks to the very upbeat manufacturing sector that is driving the economy. In June 2017,

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The Bukom Shell refinery off Singapore

manufacturing surged 13.1%, well above the 8.5% predicted by economists earlier this year. Much of this success has been down to surging global demand for semiconductors and related equipment.

OPTIMISM RETURNS?

And this is making people feel more optimistic. A survey of business expectations released in August by Singapore’s Department of Statistics found that 5% of firms expect more favourable business conditions in the second half of this year compared with the first half of the year. This is up from -1.0% the previous quarter and the first positive result after almost two years of pessimistic results.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

But not all industries are doing well. The retail and food and beverage sectors are still struggling. In addition to lower demand, there is also the challenge posed by the rise of e-commerce. And the construction industry is also facing tough times – the sector shrank 5.6% in the second quarter of this year.

The message to would-be investors seems to be, choose your industry wisely. There is still business success to be had, but not in all areas and not all the time. Likely the safest sector to back is one that aligns with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s vision for a high-tech Smart Nation.

In his annual National Day address in August, Lee said: “This is the spirit of Singapore. Always looking ahead, planning ahead, and staying ahead, so that when the future arrives, we are prepared for it, to ride it and to grow with it. That is how we got here. That is what we must keep on doing together, to open up fresh opportunities for ourselves and our children.”

ETIQUETTE

Singapore is comprised of many different cultures – Chinese, Malay and Indian Singaporeans – who all follow different customs. Personal relationships are central to business relationships so it’s important to be respectful and not accidentally offend someone.

SINGAPORE MAINTAINS A ZEROTOLERANCE POLICY FOR BRIBERY” Business cards are exchanged on introduction and should be presented and received with both hands. If seated, it’s considered polite to arrange the cards on the table to correspond with where each person is sitting. Male Chinese Singaporeans and Malay Singaporeans will happily greet you with a handshake, but when meeting a female Malay Singaporean, it’s best to wait and see if she extends her hand. If she doesn’t, then a slight bow with the hand over your heart is appropriate.

Singaporeans tend to have a calm manner and be soft spoken.

Avoid aggressive or loud behaviour as it will be viewed negatively and it’s also best to avoid cracking jokes until you know someone well. Similarly, tardiness is looked down on so be punctual for meetings and deliver reports and respond to emails promptly.

It can take several years to develop good business relationships, so take time to get to know people before rushing to propose a deal. Ahead of a negotiation always send a list of the people who will attend the meeting and sit where you are asked to sit as there is usually a hierarchy that needs to be followed. Although Singaporeans are tough negotiators, the discussion will be unrushed. It’s important not to lose your temper or you’ll lose face and risk damaging your reputation

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THE TOP 8 THINGS TO SEE & DO IN SINGAPORE Words Kate Whitehead

When the business is done, Singapore reveals why it is one of the world's most popular tourist destinations.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

For the best view of the city, take a ride on the Singapore Flyer at dusk as the city’s downtown skyscrapers are lighting up.

At 165-metres high it is 30 metres taller than the London Eye and offers panoramic views not only of the city but also of the

LITTLE INDIA

Located east of the Singapore River, this is one of the most vibrant parts of the city. Start off at Mustafa Centre, an indoor market that is open 24 hours and a great place to pick up a sari or sample Indian and Asian food. Then head down Serangoon Road and explore the nearby streets, taking in the mix of Chinese and

Singapore River, Raffles Palace, Marina Bay and Empress Palace.

From there it’s an easy stroll – or one-minute cab ride – to the Raffles Hotel for the city’s most famous cocktail, the Singapore Sling, which was created at the hotel’s much-loved Long Bar.

Hindu temples, and mosques and churches. If you’re still hungry there are plenty of family-run kitchens and restaurants serving Indian favourites such as tandoori dishes as well as local must-tries such as roti prata (fried flatbread) and teh tarik (hot milky tea).

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK

THE SINGAPORE FLYER

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THE WHITE RABBIT

ZOUK

SENTOSA

GARDENS BY THE BAY

CHINATOWN

SINGAPORE NIGHT SAFARI

In the 1950s Dempsey Hill was home to the British Army.

The former barracks have been transformed into bars, art galleries, spas and restaurants. The garrison church has been transformed into the White Rabbit, a bar/restaurant that serves European comfort food with a twist: think macaroni and cheese drizzled with truffle sauce and deconstructed Black Forest cake.

PHOTOS: SHUTTERSTOCK & GETTY/GALLO IMAGES

This man-made island off the southern tip of Singapore was designed for fun and relaxation and is very family friendly.

There’s a string of soft-sand beaches, two 18-hole golf courses and a butterfly park. Universal Studios – part of Resorts World Sentosa – is a popular attraction as is Port of the Lost Wonder, a water park. There’s an open-air cable-driven chair lift to get from one end of the island to the other and a casino for adults.

Make sure you come here hungry because it’s really all about the food. A good place to start is the Maxwell Road Hawker Centre that offers a huge array of Asian delicacies at affordable prices. If you’re a history buff, go to the Chinatown Heritage Centre on Pagoda Street to learn about the Chinese immigrants who helped found Singapore.

Among the many temples in the area are the Thian Hock Keng Temple – the oldest temple in Singapore – and Buddha Tooth Relic Temple which holds what Buddhists regard as the left canine tooth of Buddha, recovered from his funeral pyre in Kushinagar, India.

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Singapore’s best-known nightclub, Zouk opened in 1991 and last year moved to new premises in The Cannery, a space previously occupied

by Ministry of Sound. The 898-square metre club has five bars, livestreaming screens, a state-of-the-art sound system and main dance floor that can accommodate 1 900 partygoers. The interiors are industrial hip with a futuristic vibe inspired by New York and Berlin’s rave clubs and warehouses.

This 101-hectare colourful and futuristic nature park in the bay area of Singapore was voted the city’s top attraction on TripAdvisor.

You can’t miss the Supertrees, standing 25 and 50 metres tall, these tree-like vertical gardens are designed to give shade in the day and at night come alive with lights and music. It’s free to walk around the park, but if you want to step inside the climate-controlled conservatories or walk among the Supertrees there’s a fee.

Opened in 1994 and located next to Singapore Zoo, this is the world’s first safari for nocturnal animals. Expect to see wildebeests, gazelles, rhinoceroses, tigers and Asian elephants. You can take a 35-minute tram ride, but if you follow one of four trails through the park you’ll end up seeing more animals. The Fishing Cat Trail recreates a night-time trek through the jungles of Singapore and on the Leopard Trail you’ll see a huge collection of wildlife indigenous to Southeast Asia

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GDP – RIGHT OR WRONG? ARE GROSS DOMESTIC PRODUCT AND ITS GROWTH THE RIGHT WAY TO MEASURE PROSPERITY AND PROGRESS? Words Professor Adrian Saville

Elsewhere in this edition of Acumen, we talk to Professor Lorenzo Fioramonti about his new book, Wellbeing Economy – Success in a World without Growth. In it, Fioramonti argues that GDP growth is a deeply flawed measure of economic progress that encourages destructive as well as constructive activity. We invited GIBS’ Professor of Economics, Finance and Strategy to comment on Fioramonti’s ideas.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

When it comes to setting goals and assessing the performance of a country, or more specifically the performance of a country’s economy, the barometer that is applied in almost every instance is growth in gross domestic product (GDP). Such growth is widely regarded as the primary way of measuring and assessing the performance of an economy and in setting goals in terms of economic objectives.

When it comes to South Africa, the goal that has been set is well known. It’s captured in the National Development Plan (NDP), where the objective is 5.4% economic growth per year. The argument is that if the economy is able to achieve and sustain growth of this order then this would correspond to, or manifest in, the transformation of the economy and broad-based improvement in social wellbeing.

It’s not governments or policymakers that are alone in emphasising economic growth. Ratings agencies also are fans of economic growth as a way of assessing the prospects, health and success of a country’s economy and its society. If we take South Africa’s position, it’s widely established that the ratings agencies have downgraded South Africa in part because of sluggish economic growth.

In fact, a rule of thumb runs that ratings

agencies look for an economy to achieve economic growth of one percent ahead of population growth. In short, by a wide set of standards, economic growth counts as a front-and-centre factor in assessing the performance of an economy.

If growth matters so much, then the evidence that comes from the recent performance of the South African economy is deeply concerning. Since 2012 economic growth has steadily ratcheted lower and has sat below population growth for three years running. To add to this parlous state, at the end of 2016 and the start of 2017, economic growth went negative taking the South African economy into recession.

GROWTH, RIGHT?

When it comes to broad-based evidence, there’s no doubt that growth matters.

Indeed, when we look at the relationship between economic growth and things that correspond with the wellbeing of societies, a strong relationship exists between economic growth, income per person, employment rates, human development indices and general socioeconomic wellbeing. Of this set, human development indices are a good illustrator of the relationship between economic growth and wellbeing, because human development indices capture

not just income per person but also measure other important aspects like female participation in the labour force, unemployment rates, the number of doctors per person, infant mortality rates, education levels, safety and security, life expectancy and much more. If we take the relationship, then, between human development indices and GDP per person, which is the result of economic growth, the result points to a strong positive correlation. This reinforces the argument for setting economic growth as a primary objective in terms of national policy and a country’s developmental imperative.

Notwithstanding these arguments and evidence, in his book Wellbeing Economy, Professor Fioramonti puts a question mark over the central role that we give to economic growth in setting policy

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and in measuring the performance of an economy. His argument is that whilst growth might matter, there are many key aspects that are lost or misinterpreted, ignored or overlooked and miscalibrated, in measuring growth in GDP and the size of the economy.

GROWTH, WRONG?

To explain, economic growth might be recorded as a high number, but this could be the consequence of an extractive or unsustainable industry. Forcing a commercial fish stock into extinction, destroying a timber plantation or pulling ore out of the ground are all examples of extraction that would be recorded by statisticians measuring economic growth as a positive contribution, yet are destructive and unsustainable. If we look around the world, we find some standout examples of countries whose growth or economy is influenced disproportionately by extractive industries: chief amongst them, Chile, Australia, Brazil, Russia and South Africa.

To put a second aspect into the pot: the activity might not be extractive or depletive, but it might be “bad”. For instance, building jails, the activity of divorce lawyers, and efforts to hide a commercial crime would all count as contributions to economic growth because they would represent activity, but it’s fair to argue that high incarceration rates, societies filled with litigative action and businesses that are filled with hidden commercial crimes are not good outcomes for society. Yet the statistics for GDP growth would faithfully measure and record this activity as being a contribution which would then translate into higher incomes per person. This really is a perverse outcome.

Another way in which we need to be careful in using economic growth as a primary guide is that growth can be exclusive and unequal. To explain this point, we could have an economy that runs along at 5% growth per year and, in the fullness of time, that would compound into a larger economy. But then the

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IT COUNTS NAPALM AND COUNTS NUCLEAR WARHEADS AND ARMORED CARS FOR THE POLICE TO FIGHT THE RIOTS IN OUR CITIES” statisticians take this total figure and divide it by the size of the population to measure “income per person” as if everyone in the population is average.

Yet we know from every society that there’s no instance in which incomes and opportunities are spread equally and proportionally. Therefore, growth needs not only to be “sustainable” and “good”, but it also needs to be “inclusive”.

KENNEDY KNEW

The idea that we need to be cautious about using economic growth as a primary guide is not new. The late Bobby Kennedy, as far back as 1968, reminded us that America’s gross national product “counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them…It counts napalm and counts nuclear warheads and armored cars for the police to fight the riots in our cities…

[It] does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning…it measures everything in short, except that which makes life worthwhile.”

This leaves us with a requirement that we rethink this factor that we have put front and centre, as if it is the objective to achieve in driving and measuring the performance and success of a society.

To return to Lorenzo Fioramonti, he argues that economic growth needs to shift its emphasis and its attention away from “more of what we have” and in favour of what he refers to as “the wellbeing economy”. Where a wellbeing economy, by definition, is adaptive, which means it learns by doing, it can change and transform itself from extractive to inclusive, that it’s integrative, that it recognises the various components and parts and aspects that make up the whole, that it is empowering and that it is equitable.

This better definition of prosperity and improved approach to measuring progress points us to some intriguing prospects. An example of activity that goes in the direction of wellbeing is that of Norwegian chemicals group Yara, which has just announced a battery-powered, zero-emissions, fully autonomous cargo ship to replace some 40 000 diesel truck journeys made annually to take fertiliser from its plant to the port. Another example is Costa Rica which has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2021. Incidentally, Costa Rica’s per person income is similar to South Africa yet its wellbeing is ranked as amongst the highest in the world. As a last point, we should not forget the mountain kingdom of Bhutan, which has replaced the measurement of gross national product with the measurement of gross national happiness.

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The pursuit of growth cannot be for growth’s sake but needs to be growth for the greater good

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RETAIL APOCALYPSE THE NEW RULES OF RETAIL Words Dion Chang

“Mallageddon” is another of the apt descriptions that is being flung at the retail sector – globally as well as locally. But is there indeed a retail Armageddon underway, or have retailers just been ignoring the undercurrents that have eroded and reshaped the traditional retail landscape?

On 1 August this year, Stuttafords – the once iconic department store of South African retail – finally closed its doors, at the age of 159. This watershed moment illustrated perfectly the tipping point – and crossroads – at which the retail sector finds itself.

Nor is it just a South African phenomenon, but a global one.

In America, Macy’s department store announced in January that it would close almost 70 stores, shedding more than 10 000 jobs.

Sears and JC Penney also announced store closures, while retail chains like American Apparel, Radio Shack and Urban Outfitters have disappeared completely.

Whether it’s in New York, London or Johannesburg, retailers are consolidating, streamlining and retrenching. Most people boil it down to a sluggish global economy. In South Africa, of course, it’s not just sluggish, we’ve barely emerged from a recession. If you’re not in the 1%, disposable income has all but evaporated, but it is just one element of a very complex set of challenges facing the retail sector.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

THE PERFECT RETAIL STORM

Sluggish economies can recover and recessions can recalibrate, but this retail apocalypse is not simply a matter of disposable income. Consumer mindset has changed radically since the Great Recession. In the last decade digitisation has altered the business landscape and the ripple effect has spawned new economies such as the gig economy, the sharing economy and, most importantly, the on-demand economy. Collectively, these economies have not only shifted consumer behaviour, but also altered consumer attitudes on consumption.

The sharing economy has propelled the growing mantra of “less stuff, more stories”. The eco-friendly messages of “sustainability” and “social impact” are hitting home, and the concept of transient ownership is more widespread: you don’t need to own something in order to experience or enjoy it.

Coupled with a growing appreciation of transient ownership is the issue of brand availability and homogeny. Globalisation has

. . . RETAILERS ARE CONSOLIDATING, STREAMLINING AND RETRENCHING” brought what were previously unattainable international brands into the country. The store-within-a-store concept, to house these international brands, has become obsolete – one of the main reasons for Stuttafords’ demise. Department stores have simply become landlords to brands. Compared to the shiny shrines of flagship stores, these meagre offerings lack variety and curation.

People are also travelling more, and many international brands have opened their own stores in SA, which brings us to brand homogeny. Almost every mall in South Africa houses the same retail chains. There is very little to differentiate mall offerings.

This has built the allure and appeal of artisanal goods. Consumers are looking for something different: something unique and preferably handmade. The blurred cycles of fast, disposable fashion are beginning to look outdated and inappropriate.

THE IMPACT OF E-COMMERCE

Even if consumers are buying fast fashion, that spend is increasingly happening online.

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In South Africa, online shopping is still in a nascent stage, so sceptics will argue that online shopping only accounts for around 1% of retail turnover and therefore has no bearing on this retail decline. I beg to differ.

In America, online shopping only accounts for 8% of turnover and yet the ripple effect is evident. Even if the percentage of online shopping is small, it is nevertheless rapidly altering consumer behaviour. Consumers might not be buying everything online, but the pre-shopping process is becoming fully entrenched. The more they research before they buy, the less likely they are to wander around a mall and make impulse purchases. This creates the rise of the “stealth bomber shopper”: someone who goes to the mall but parks at the closest entrance to where they need to go, so they can get in and out as fast as they can. There’s no dawdling, no browsing and therefore no incidental or impulse shopping. And yet we keep building or expanding our malls.

This is the elephant in South Africa’s retail space.

MY MALL IS BIGGER THAN YOUR MALL

Globally, consumers’ appetite for malls is declining. They are no longer the centres where people gather, be it for entertainment, a first date or a shopping expedition. Digitisation has changed those needs, and many malls in America are either empty, disused shells, or being reappropriated as centres for healthcare or education. The slow but steady demise of malls in America is what economists refer to as ‘a market correction’. “We are overretailed,” says Ronald Friedman, a partner at Marcum LLP, which tracks consumer trends. We should take heed. South African mall culture is where America was in the 1990s, and their decline started shortly thereafter.

South Africa has a chronic oversupply of retail space, coupled with diminishing consumer spend: a precarious combination.

The IMM Journal of Strategic Marketing reveals that out of 2 082 shopping centres across Africa, 1 950 are in South Africa.

In terms of the square metreage of retail space, South Africa ranks as sub-Saharan Africa’s most saturated retail market, with more than 10 million square metres of retail space, representing 88% of the available space in the region. According to the South African Council of Shopping Centres, South Africa has the sixthmost shopping centres in the world – and yet, we continue to build more malls.

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SOUTH AFRICA HAS A CHRONIC OVERSUPPLY OF RETAIL SPACE . . . ” support from this lost customer base and compete on the level of other super-regional centres following the introduction of large international retailers for instance Hamleys, H&M, Cotton On, Mango, G-Star and specialist entertainment offerings such as Bounce and KidZania”.

Ironically, two months after that article was published, Mango closed all their standalone stores, as did Nine West and River Island. Retail brands are contracting desperately, so none of the usual suspects can be counted on to fill this new retail space.

Indications are that H&M is one of the only international retailers with the capacity to expand, but even with this capacity, retailers globally no longer see the point of having numerous outlets in one city. A combination of an impressive flagship store with online shopping has killed the need to have multiple stores in the same city.

To lure tenants into these mega-retail spaces, mall landlords still rely on metrics like “foot traffic”, which is the same as the music industry ignoring digital downloading and live streaming to calculate album sales in the digital era.

THE LAST MILE, DIGITISED AND ON-DEMAND

One of the most noticeable new trends in retail is the digitisation of the last mile (the final journey of product to customer). The last mile is now not only digitised, but more importantly, on demand.

Like the sharing economy, the on-demand economy is rapidly reinventing the retail sector.

Rethinking a store’s function, and extending the functionality of a brand is where the new competitive edge lies, and usually this means taking the store to the customer.

In February this year, the Fourways Mall expansion project broke ground. Costing R23.7m, it will see the mall become a retail behemoth of 175 000m² under one roof as the project will eventually engulf the existing mall with Fourways Game, Fourways View, Cedar Square, The Buzz Shopping Centre and Leaping Frog.

In fashion retail, there has been a refinement of the “try before you buy” model. Amazon now allows you to keep an online order of clothing for seven days before returning items you don’t want.

Fashion retailers in Antwerp have collaborated with hotels to provide a “fashion mini-bar” targeted at female business travellers. Just like a beverage mini-bar, these fashion mini-bars sit in the room’s wardrobe with items that might come in handy for unexpected occasions like an unexpected business dinner, rainy weather, gym gear, etc.

Reporting on this expansion, Construction Review commented that “The redevelopment is anticipated to aid in regaining

In food retail, e-commerce concepts like “click & collect” (buying online but physically collecting your purchases) have evolved.

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Amazon lets you order groceries via a mobile app and book a collection time at a “fulfilment centre” (a term set to become ubiquitous with hybrid retail) where you simply drive into a parking bay and a packer loads your order into your boot, without you having to leave your vehicle.

Walmart offers a different click & collect service using a giant, refrigerated vending machine that stores your perishable groceries until you collect them.

THE FUTURE OF SHOPPING So where to for retail’s future?

Let’s be clear. Malls are not going to disappear overnight, but building bigger malls is not going to be sustainable either. One of the fundamental new rules of retail is understanding that you no longer simply sell a product, but should provide a solution – an integration of product and service. This new dynamic is manifesting in interesting ways. Some brands have launched “brand museums” – a way of documenting a brand’s persona and adding the all-important role of storytelling – while others have converted their stores to centres of learning: e.g. don’t just sell me nappies, help me deal with being a new parent.

But for a glimpse into the future of retail, we need to look at the dovetailing of two very powerful forces: China’s Alibaba (the future of retail) and Gen Z (the next-generation customer).

While Amazon grabs most of the headlines for retail innovation, the core business model is still traditional: buy products from suppliers, add a profit margin and sell on to customers.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Alibaba’s founder, Jack Ma has a very different approach. Last year, he coined the term “New Retail” – the integration of online, offline, logistics and data across a single value chain. Add seamless, cashless payment systems into the mix and you have an almost perfect, post-retail apocalypse solution. According to a McKinsey report, this potent business model has ensured that China’s e-commerce market is already bigger than US, UK, Japan, Germany, France and South Korea combined.

Ma also pursues his twin goals of knocking down trade barriers and boosting the fortunes of small businesses. Alibaba has one of the simplest mission statements of any large company: “to make it easy to do business anywhere.” It is a model of philanthropic or conscious capitalism that most companies are only now trying to pivot towards.

Layer onto this the impact of Gen Z, the new obsession for marketers and employers as they make their way into tertiary education and the job market. Understanding them as consumers is a masterclass in future retail.

Selling products to this tech-savvy and world-wary generation is not going to be easy. Remember, even though they’ve not had spending power, they’ve been responsible for researching products online for their parents for years. They’ve been subtly guiding the family spend all along.

Like Alibaba, Gen Z doesn’t distinguish between buying online, looking at things on social media and buying offline. However, technology has changed what Gen Z really wants. Electronics and gadgets take preference to clothing. For fashion retailers, these teenagers are going to be very tough customers. Increasingly, for this generation, fashion is less about fitting in, and more about making choices that reflect their own identity. Aligning themselves with brands that mirror their value systems is key, and even then, the product is becoming secondary. It’s a social media generation, so experiences define them more than the products that they buy.

Marcie Merriman at EY explains, “Today’s teens live out their lives on social media, where social currency is built on experiences. They don’t want to buy stuff. They’re buying an experience and the product they get through it is kind of a bonus.”

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That should strike fear into the hearts of any retailer. Best you study the new rules of retail. Unsurprisingly, you’ll probably find a handbook online

ELECTRONICS AND GADGETS TAKE PREFERENCE TO CLOTHING”

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Hyena feeding

Thanda tented interior

Zulu dancers

PERFECT PITCH Words Caroline Hurry

In northern KwaZulu-Natal, Thanda Safari guests learn why the Buffalo Thorn (Ziziphus mucronata) is so sacred to the local people.

The overuse of the word ‘dream’ in holiday brochures has made it redundant, weighed down with expectations rarely met. I prefer the Zulu word umoya, meaning life force, easily unbalanced by stress or neglect of the ancestors.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

A good sangoma can bend reality and bring umoya back into harmony, but it takes a tracker like Nhlathla Msweli of Thanda Safari to facilitate a more intimate understanding of the Zulu culture.

Loquacious as a tribal chief, Nhlathla explains how a Magic Gwarrie (Euclea divinorum) branch can divine water or carry food, but no tree is more sacred to the Zulu people than the Buffalo Thorn, or umLahlabantu in the vernacular. The roots are pulverised for painkillers, the leaves treat skin and respiratory ailments, while the thorns ­‒ pointing backwards and forwards to “remind our people never to forget the past, even as they look to the future” ­­‒ snag the spirits of the dead, and bring them home.

“Let’s say Uncle George dies in Richard’s Bay. We will bury his body at home but one of his relatives will go and put an umLahlabantu branch at the place he died. He will speak to it, saying: ‘Listen, Mr. George, I’ve come to fetch you.

Come with me, and let’s go home. We will go together.’

“He will find a taxi, buy an extra seat for the branch, turn to it and explain: ‘We are taking the taxi now, Mr. George.

Soon we will cross the river and stop at the Empangeni spaza to buy a Coke for me and a beer for you.’

“Back home, the family will be waiting for the relative with a goat, which is then fed with leaves from the umLahlabantu branch before being slaughtered. Small pieces of its liver and intestine are burned for the ancestors, while the rest of the branch is put on the grave. Family and friends eat the goat while the old people, who might soon join Uncle George in the afterlife, drink his beer.”

Nhlathla’s evocations are as thrilling as our animal sightings on this 14 000-hectare Big Five reserve, which included elephant, giraffe, buffalo, white rhino and lions, just a duiker-leap away.

Afternoons were spent within tent ‒ think safari chic with polished wooden floors, starlit showers, and private sundecks overlooking umbrella tree-festooned hills and browsing nyala. That evening, Zulu dancers grooved with guests in the boma, and in the early hours, the spine-tingling whoops of hyena sounded more melodious than the Drakensberg Boys’ Choir.

On a pre-dawn drive, we found four feasting on a buffalo carcass as crows and vultures watched from acacia trees.

As the rising sun further illuminated the beauty and harshness of that primal scene, I realised my own umoya, hitherto in short supply, had returned. No sangoma required!

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Caroline Hurry was a guest of the Thanda Safari Tented Camp: www.thanda.com

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TRAIL BLAZER Words Caroline Hurry

Featuring southern Africa’s only savannah biosphere reserve, prehistoric rock art, mountains and sprawling savannahs, the Waterberg’s pristine environment has much to offer those seeking family time in the wilderness.

“Give him a farm in the Waterberg.” That’s how Paul Kruger dealt with fractious politicos back in the 1800s when the mountain range, once teeming with wild animals, had become a wasteland – home to draft dodgers, gun runners, ivory traders, and hooch brewers who set up Vaalwater, still the area’s most significant town. Human greed and the muzzleloader wiped out the once abundant elephant, giraffe, lion, leopard, hyena, rhino, buffalo and antelope.

“Stories were told of bold and lucky hunters killing 20 tuskers in one morning,” wrote Eugene Marais in The Road to Waterberg, after settling here in 1907. Addicted to morphine, Marais wandered through the mountains and valleys researching animals, holding magic shows, and writing groundbreaking books, until late one afternoon in March 1936 when he shot himself under a tree.

Relations between the Setswana people and the Dutch-speaking settlers were often fraught. Where settlers had forced the locals off the land so they could farm

Biking with giraffe

it, black mambas suddenly infested the area. It was alleged a local nyanga had “doctored” a fertile female to breed with as many snakes as possible and black mambas still proliferate here.

Shaped for thousands of years by cycles of fire, flood and drought, the biodiverse tapestry of the 15 000km² Waterberg terrain offers ancient mountains scything through the sourveld, bushman rock art and hominid fossils.

Thankfully, environmental rehabilitation and wildlife management is restoring the Waterberg to its former glory, one example being the Lindani private game farm, a 3 000ha wildlife sanctuary 30km north of Vaalwater, offering eight secluded lodges and an eight-bed tented camp for hire, all with pools and braai areas. Guests can self-cater or opt for homemade meals from the farm kitchen.

Being a party of six, including two children, we chose Skebenga Lodge, perfectly positioned for privacy and wilderness immersion. From our verandah, we saw a troupe of 30 baboons

The Waterberg view

swinging from Stemfruit trees as a warthog, tail aloft, ran though the grass with three piglets in her wake.

During the day, we walked two of the four Green Flag hiking trails between seven and 11km, stopping to examine leopard and caracal spoor. Lindani is rich in birdlife (200 species) and home to herds of giraffe, buffalo, wildebees, zebra, impala, steenbok, waterbuck and kudu.

We spotted several raptors including a brown snake eagle but never actually encountered any snakes.

There’s also 50km of mountain biking track or a 100km circular ride on farm roads through the Waterberg. We picnicked alongside the Koperspruit where the boys rode mini rapids on tractor tubes while the adults quaffed G&Ts. The UNESCO Waterberg Biosphere Reserve features rock formations formed over millions of years and a diverse array of fauna and flora. Guided game drives and visits to sites of interest can be arranged

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Lindani hike

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THE FINER THINGS Words Cheska Stark

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

HIS CHECKLIST 1.

Comme des Garçons Blackpepper, R1 400, Maison Mara www.maisonmara.co.za Blackpepper is intoxicatingly warm and mysterious.

A compelling blend of earth tones and invigorating spice, Blackpepper is sophisticated and long-lasting.

2.

Onitsuka Tiger sneaker, R1 999, Tread+Miller A classic pair of white sneakers is a must-have item in any man’s wardrobe. This sports-inspired shoe takes you from ordinary to preppy cool. Keep them white and keep them clean are the only rules.

3.

Shirt, R450, Old Khaki www.oldkhaki.co.za A classic value shirt is a must for every man. This one can be worn to work or sleeves rolled up for weekends in the sun.

4.

Watch, R4 699, Fossil www.superbalist.com Build up your selection of accessories with the help of this watch, which has modern features and timeless style. Features include fitness tracking, notifications, function control and it’s Bluetooth enabled.

5.

Golf tee, R599, Trenery A collared tee is a wardrobe staple. This season, instead of getting another ordinary colour, why not invest in a coral one? No, it’s not pink, it’s coral. Totally on trend and easy to wear under the sun.

6.

Panama hat, R225, David Jones at Woolworths This Panama-style hat is everything you want it to be: an even weave and it holds its shape. Typically worn with blazers or linen suits but now totally cooler to pair with shorts, tees and at the beach.

7.

Sweatshirt, R1 299.95, Billabong www.billabong.com/za A cozy grey sweatshirt is a must-have every season.

This mélange style, with hood, is great to take with you everywhere: not only casual, it goes with everything.

8.

Oakley sunglasses, R1 425, Sunglass Hut Add this pair of Oakleys to your sunglass collection and you will never look back. Classic, stylish and cool, black goes with everything and their tinted lenses make sure they get the job done!

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HER CHECKLIST 1.

Shirt dress, R1 299, Trenery Summer 2017/2018 is all about pops of colour and this bright tropical green, Pantone colour of 2017, rules this year. This shirt dress is the perfect item to pair with flat sandals and a wide-brim hat.

2.

Heimstone Vivian bag, R7 130, Maison Mara www.maisonmara.co.za Lipstick: check, phone: check, style: check! Everyone loves a touch of animal print so this purse bag is top of the list for party and holiday season this year.

3.

Hat, R549, Mimco You cannot get through summer without a wide-brim hat and we are not just talking about sun protection. This musthave accessory, reminiscent of luxurious 50s holidays gives your poolside, and everyday, look some extra glam.

4.

Heels, R1 299, Witchery It’s party season and that means one thing: new heels.

These beautiful black ones are a great investment – a statement with the ruffle, yet classic in black.

5.

Estée Lauder Pure Colour Envy Hi-Lustre Light Sculpting Lipstick in Shameless, R440, Red Square Once again a pop of colour is a trend not to ignore this season, even when it comes to your lips. While red, orange or pink are safe go-tos for a statement lip, this purple will really turn heads.

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Gold & diamond star stack ring, R3 800, Ambra Fine Jewellery www.ambrajewellery.com Who needs one when you can stack a whole lot? This star ring is the perfect addition to your collection.

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Organic linen draped T-shirt, R699, Trenery A simple top can be stepped up a notch with this cool print.

It’s easy to wear to work or with shorts at home. Don’t let the blue hues throw you, as it can be worn as a neutral, paired with any other colour.

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Wrap dress, R990, Jota-Kena jotakena.com This floral wrap dress is one of those items which looks sensational every time you wear it. It’s pretty print is eyecatching and the shape is as flattering as it is trendy

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FORWARD MOTION Photographs Jacques Marais Words Jacques Marais and Stephen Smith

With or without an internal combustion motor, here are half-a-dozen ways to get ahead (and stay ahead) of the pack. Funky or fun. Far-fetched or absurd. Classic or alternative. Acumen’s motion maestros check out six incredible ways of having fun while moving from Point A to Point B …

HUMAN-POWERED

IN THE SADDLE – AVALANCHE CHOMP 26” FAT BIKE

ON YOUR BODY – HI-TEC HICKOW SHIRT (BLACK/JET BLACK)

ON YOUR FEET – HI-TEC V-LITE WILD-LIFE LOW I

WHAT IS IT: Join the fat bike revolution with the extremely affordable Avalanche Chomp 26” Fat Bike. This basic and nononsense bike sports extra-wide tyres, thus allowing you to cycle on anything from sand dunes to snow, way beyond where any normal bike would take you.

WHAT IS IT: This is a technical garment for all true trail lovers! The Hi-Tec Hickow is a unique T-shirt perfect for the trail and general outdoor leisure. It is lightweight and able to handle warm days, thanks to its highly breathable and quick-drying fabric. The easy-wearing polyester fabric is soft on the skin, while trimmed sleeves and a crew-neck design make for a snug and comfortable fit.

WHAT IS IT: The V-Lite Wild-Life Low i was originally constructed as a trail shoe, and it therefore embodies the all-encompassing Hi-Tec vision: “get to the world outside, because everyone deserves a view”. This shoe transfers perfectly from pavement to trail, with key technical features to keep you comfortable and looking great.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

WHY DO YOU WANT IT: Terrain that would have once been unimaginable becomes a piece of cake on the Avalanche Chomp. Fat bikes are designed to negotiate technical trails that seasoned mountain bikers would avoid, from the icy snowfields of Lesotho, to the towering dunes of the Namib Desert. It even makes for a sassy and sexy pavement-hopping cruise through the suburbs in its shiny sootblack and green colour.

WHY DO YOU WANT IT: The Hi-Tec Hickow shirt includes moisture-wicking technology and is seriously soft and comfortable to work out in. It works just as well with your favourite jeans, with an athleisure-inspired cut and design that seamlessly transitions from the gym to the pub. Reflective elements add a safety element if you do plan any night running.

DESIGN USPs: You get this: a lightweight alloy frame and fork, the work-horse Shimano Acera 24-speed gear set-up, cable disk brakes and a kick-stand for convenience. A curved top tube leans towards a gender-neutral bike, while Avalanche Bicycle Company supports the bike with replacement parts and spares.

DESIGN USPs: The 100% polyester fabric has been specifically engineered to ensure you benefit from optimum breathability and quick-drying properties, as the ultra-light fabric will wick moisture away from the skin. A body-hugging fit furthermore ensures that you stay stylishly dry, all the way from trail to town.

GO GET IT : Go to avalanchebicycles. co.za/bikes/dealer-locator for a list of dealers.

GO GET IT: Available online from www. hi-tec.co.za, or find a registered dealer on the site.

PRICE: R6 140

PRICE: R299

WHY DO YOU WANT IT: You want it because the trails are calling and there is just no better way to navigate the outside world than in these utterly dependable shoes. The V-Lite Wild-Life Low i footwear range rate as one of the Hi-Tec stable’s premier products, and they will keep your feet cushioned and comfortable. A low-cut fit is perfect for day hikes or longer walks, and will keep your feet cool, even in summer.

DESIGN USPs: The ultra-lightweight V-Lite WildLife Low i is an outstanding outdoor shoe with major crossover and technical features. These include patented Hi-Tec i-Shield technology, basically an invisible, protective layer that repels water and dirt from sticking to your shoes. An OrthoLite® Impressions insole has also been inserted for added comfort when outdoors on the trails. An XLR8>>> impact-absorbing midsole ensures long-lasting cushioning to keep your underfoot protected and stable, while durability and grip gets the nod via the MD-Traction outsole for superior ground control.

GO GET IT: Available online from www.hi-tec. co.za, or find a registered dealer on the site.

PRICE: R1 099

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FOR THE PLANET

FOR THE HEART

FOR THE HEAD

MOTORISED On the motorised side, we look at three cars similar at first glance, but with many a difference under the hood and inside. Read on and see which appeals to your soul...

FOR THE HEART: RENAULT CLIO GT-LINE WHAT IS IT: In the Clio, Renault has a genuinely appealing compact hatchback, full of character as well as quality. The GT-Line is the pick of the range, a pacey little car that falls into the range below the Clio RS. WHY DO YOU WANT IT: The GT-Line might not be as crazily frenetic as the Clio RS (which costs R380 000 and produces 142kW and 260Nm), but it manages to hit the sweet spot between performance and practicality.

DESIGN USPs: With 88kW and 205Nm under the bonnet and agile handling, the GT-Line is entertaining to drive. The engine is a little 1200cc unit with a turbo and mated to a six-speed manual gearbox.

Fuel consumption, therefore, can be a very respectable 5.3L/100km, unless you get caught up in the joy of this cracking little car. As you’d expect of a Renault, the interior is full of technology, with a 7-inch touchscreen media/navigation system, loads of safety features and little extras like cruise control and an Eco mode.

GO GET IT: The Clio GT-Line is priced at R264 900, and as with Renault’s entire range, comes standard with a 5-year/ 150 000km mechanical warranty. The Clio range also boasts a standard 3-year or 45 000km service plan. Visit www.renault.co.za for more information.

FOR THE HEAD: KIA CERATO 1.6 EX HATCHBACK

FOR THE PLANET: MITSUBISHI TRITON 2.4 DI-DC MIVEC DOUBLE CAB

WHAT IS IT: The Cerato is Kia’s counter to the VW Golf and its peers, and the 1.6EX is the most affordable option in the range.

WHAT IS IT: A bakkie for the planet? I know – it doesn’t quite sound right and perhaps I’m stretching the brief here, but for a full-size bakkie, the new Mitsubishi Triton is remarkably frugal (...plus, no-one is going to get South Africans to stop driving bakkies!) And I could always argue that this car is “for (traversing) the planet...”

WHY DO YOU WANT IT: It’s practical, and you’re after a practical, familysized hatchback from a quality brand that doesn’t break the bank. Value and space are more important to you than keeping up with the Joneses, and you think the whole SUV craze is just silly.

DESIGN USPs: There’s nothing particularly fancy about the 1.6 EX – it’s the entry point to the Cerato nameplate, after all. But it does feature a radio/CD player with Bluetooth, electric windows all round, rear park assist, air-con, cruise control and steering wheel controls for the infotainment centre.

For safety, there are six airbags, ABS braking and EBD. It is also very spacious, with a surprisingly big boot and great legroom all round.

GO GET IT: A Kia Cerato 1.6 EX manual can be had for R299 995.

All Ceratos include a 5-year/unlimited mileage warranty and 3-year/ 90 000km service plan. Visit www.kia.co.za for more information.

WHY DO YOU WANT IT: We know why everyone wants a double-cab bakkie – it has to be the most practical vehicle type on the market for anyone who has a family, a dog or a hobby (not scrapbooking). Mitsubishi comes with a pedigree of great engineering, especially in the off-road world, and this latest Triton has been a long-time coming.

DESIGN USPs: The only engine option is a 2.4-litre turbodiesel with power output of 133kW and torque of 430Nm, and either a six-speed manual or five-speed automatic gearbox, available in both 4x2 or 4x4. The Triton is one of the most SUV-like trucks on the market, with great ride quality and a compact turning circle, while the fuel consumption is a claimed 7.6L/100km.

GO GET IT: The Mitsubishi Triton 2.4 Di-DC is priced from R479 900, and a 5-year/ 90 000km service plan and 3-year/ 100 000km warranty are standard.

Visit www.mitsubishi-motors.co.za for more information

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TECHNO Words Aki Anastasiou

APPLE IPHONE 8 AND 8 PLUS

Same design with new enhancements Price from $699 to $949 It was just over 10 years ago that Apple released the first iPhone to the world.

Since then, companies like Nokia and Blackberry, that didn’t anticipate the disruption that Apple would cause, are now history. Apple has since sold 1.2 billion devices.

Last month, fans waited with anticipation to see what Apple would launch for their 10th anniversary.

Apple continued its current trajectory by introducing the iPhone 8 and 8 Plus. They look similar to the previous range, but there are some big changes.

The back of the phone is now made of glass. Don’t panic! Apple says this glass is the toughest ever used on an iPhone. The new device features Apple’s new A11 processor that makes the phone at least 20% faster. It also has an improved camera and, for the first time, wireless charging.

APPLE X

The future of the smartphone, according to Apple Price $1 000

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

But wait there’s more… or rather, in Apple lingo, “we do have one more thing”. Tim Cook introduced to the world the iPhone X (pronounced iPhone 10) – calling it the future of the smartphone.

The new phone is very different to any other iPhone. The size is in between the 8 and the 8 Plus. The magic is in the screen.

Apple’s flagship device features an edge-to-edge Super Retina HD display – you don’t get a sense of a border. The home button is gone and the device now uses 3D facial recognition to unlock and authenticate you. You simply swipe your finger in an upward motion from the bottom of the screen to access it. It will also feature wireless charging. But let’s not forget the big stuff though – Apple has taken the emoji to the next level by introducing animoji. The front-facing camera scans your face and then uses a character that you choose from their selection to mimic your expressions in an animated way. I know what you’re thinking… right now you’re probably rolling your eyes and asking yourself, “Is this what humanity has come to?” But prepare to dig deep into your wallet. This device is Apple’s first $1 000 phone, so don’t even think of starting to do that conversion into rands. I do predict, even though you might be brushing me off, that you will be using those animojis.

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SAMSUNG NOTE 8

Possibly the most complete smartphone in the world Price R19 000 The Samsung Note 8 is not only beautiful but, from a practical point, it is probably one of the most complete smartphones on this planet right now. It truly is a magnificent device. Take all the controversy about phones exploding and phones catching alight out of your mind. The Note 7 was a disaster for Samsung. They have spent massive resources to make sure it never happens again. For starters, every device goes through a thorough 8-step battery check process. The unique selling point of the Note 8 is the S-Pen. They have added even more features than before and made the S-Pen a lot more user-friendly, so a digital handwritten note feels very real. The Quad HD Super AMOLED infinity display right up against the edges makes the phone feel bezel-less. One of my favourite features of the phone is the app pairing. You can open two apps simultaneously, side by side on the screen and use them on one screen. No need to toggle between apps.

DELL XPS 13 2-IN-1 Price R29 000 Dell’s XPS range of notebooks is their premium range of computers that have the best of everything. They are made out of carbon fibre, machined aluminium and the screens are hardened with Gorilla Glass. The XPS 13 2-in-1 is a tablet and a computer in one. The screen swings 360 degrees so you can use it as a tablet. I loved the fact that this Windows 10 Pro machine has a touch screen; it really makes such a massive difference when doing tasks and presentations. If you’re a macOS user, don’t test this computer, you may fall in love and file for divorce from your

MacBook. The XPS 13 has an UltraSharp Quad HD+ display, Intel’s top-of-the-range processor and a 9-hour battery life, and weighs just 1.24kg. It’s a great device but boy is it expensive! Once you start using it though, the quality of the computer will bring down your anxiety level of what this cost your credit card

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BOOKS Words Chris Gibbons

A JOURNEY OF DIVERSITY & INCLUSION IN SOUTH AFRICA – GUIDELINES FOR LEADING INCLUSIVELY

HITMEN FOR HIRE

JONATHAN BALL PUBLISHERS TAFELBERG I R275 Developed a little ‘problem’, have you? Need someone to ‘take care of it’ for you? No, I’ve not been watching too many episodes of New Tricks or The Sopranos on TV. According to Mark Shaw, you simply go to your local taxi rank and ask around until you find an izinkabi – the colloquial Zulu name for a hitman.

GORDON INSTITUTE OF BUSINESS SCIENCE

Shaw reports that they’re quite common and not at all the polished, expert assassins of fiction. Nor do many of them live very long, dying quite often at the hand of another killer.

Shaw’s an expert on the subject, having visited some very dark, dangerous places to meet some very chilling people. Drug-fuelled strands run through Hitmen for Hire, among them the brutal gangs of the Cape Flats, the Nigerians – who also run prostitutes – and almost the entire minibus taxi industry. According to Shaw, the violent origins of the minibus taxi industry in the 80s laid the foundation for much of the current carnage.

Most disturbing, but unsurprising, is the role played by the SAPS. In the taxi industry, for example, there is “widespread corruption and collusion among law-enforcement officers” and plenty of corrupt police officers who “often warn their gang contacts in advance of a planned police drugs raid”. Corruption goes right to the top of the police force, and Shaw cites Generals like Richard Mdluli and Joey Mabasa.

No, this is not a TV series. It’s modern South Africa and it’s frighteningly real.

NENE MOLEFI KNOWLEDGE RESOURCES I R325 For many people, diversity is an academic concept to which people pay lip service.

Not for Nene Molefi, who has travelled many miles down this road.

Her journey began as a child in Soweto, where black people from other African countries were viewed with suspicion, where Tshivenda and Xitsonga speakers “were considered inferior: supposedly darker, they were deemed less sophisticated, less everything…” and where “all white people were clever. They were all smart. They were all rich. And they would rather allow a dog to sleep inside the house in bad weather than to shelter a black person because they were all racist.”

DEEP THINKING – WHERE MACHINE INTELLIGENCE ENDS AND HUMAN CREATIVITY BEGINS

GARRY KASPAROV JOHN MURRAY I R315 Much is being written and spoken now about Artificial Intelligence.

Will the machines rise up and kill us, as implied by Elon Musk? Or will they simply take all our jobs, as Jeff Immelt has suggested in a previous edition of Acumen?

Someone who has been on the receiving end, as it were, of a machine is former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov, who became, in 1997, the first world champion to lose a match to a computer – IBM’s Deep Blue II.

Each chapter of the book ends with a section called Insights and Tips – in essence, a worksheet to help the reader overcome the prejudices which we all carry with us.

Deep Thinking is the story of that loss, of how Kasparov played badly, of IBM’s brutal determination to score the win, of underhand tactics and espionage during the match itself, all told by the man who came second with an engaging honesty, especially about his feelings then and now. But it is also a tale of how computers evolved as games-playing machines, of how programmers thought they could work, and why they didn’t – at first.

It’s an invaluable resource if you’re attempting to deal with diversity and inclusion in your own workplace and to understand how your own background and upbringing may be blocking your actions and responses. But more than that, it’s also a remarkable testimony, seen through the eyes of a bright, intelligent, female victim, of just how distorting, unfair and inhuman the system of apartheid truly was and how its long shadow still falls on us today.

In this way, Kasparov presents a far more optimistic scenario for humanity. Computers crunch numbers at very great speed, far, far faster than any human. But the human brain is needed not only to harness the machines, but also to dream. “Machines cannot dream,” he reminds us, and we will need the machines “…to turn our grandest dreams into reality”

Through her personal experiences as she grew up, went to university and entered the world of work, Molefi reveals fundamental truths about how humans interact with other humans, and how our stereotypes influence and condition those interactions.

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WINE Words John Maytham

Acumen’s wine expert picks three of the best at three different price points: Everyday, Dinner Party and Out To Impress.

EVERYDAY The Journeyman is the South African vinous equivalent of hen’s teeth. It is a cabernet francdominated blend made by Boekenhoutskloof ’s Marc Kent in very small quantities and only in exceptional vintages – 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2015. And it is only the latter vintage that has been commercially released – in September of this year. To get a bottle of any of the previous vintages you had to know someone who knew someone who was close to one of Marc’s people. And to get a bottle of the 2015, you had to fork out R1 500. And stand in a queue behind the other rich people who were clamouring for their shot at one of SA’s rarest wines. Happily, the same ethos of seeking the highest quality

possible is discernible throughout all the ranges of wine produced by the Boekenhoutskloof team – and at considerably less than R1 500. For 3% of that princely sum (R45 for those without calculators) you can buy a bottle of the 2017 Porcupine Ridge sauvignon blanc. Despite the difficult drought conditions, 2017 is looking like a pretty special vintage for those that managed the challenges well. This sauvignon is absolutely redolent with tropical fruit flavours.

Far too often sauvignons in this price bracket have a mouth-puckering acidity. That’s not the case with the Porcupine Ridge – just enough to provide a steely backbone around which the flavours coil and curl. An utterly compelling value proposition.

DINNER PARTY That wonderful rugby flanker Jan Boland Coetzee has been at the helm of Vriesenhof for nearly forty years since buying the farm in 1980. (Although the Coetzee family has been associated with land ownership in the Stellenbosch area since 1682.) And like many brands that established themselves in the 1980s, Vriesenhof has struggled to stay front of mind in a wine world that increasingly looks for innovation – for new areas and young guns, and which turns a slightly sneering eye on the establishment. Jan Boland ‘refreshed’ the

range in August – doing away with the (second) Paradyskloof label and putting the seven wines now made by the farm into stylishly new and very attractive packaging. Winemaker Nicky Claasens is also making wines in a fresher, more modern style. The farm’s chardonnay has always been a winning proposition, with notable ageing potential, and the 2017 unwooded version is utterly charming – a perfect picnic or sushi wine with its marzipan and citrus bouquet and succulent palate and dry (RS 1.5g/l) minerally finish. ARP R90.

OUT TO IMPRESS Rosé wines have traditionally been something of an afterthought in the South African wine industry – not taken too seriously, not made with much care or discernment. But that is slowly changing as more producers look to offer a rosé of weight and interest. We’re still some way shy of elevating rosé to the heights it enjoys in Provence with wines like Domaines Ott and Château Pibarnon, but the trend is upwards. Anthonij Rupert Wines earlier this year launched the country’s first premium rosé, the Jean Roi Cap Provincial Rosé 2016, made from cinsault, grenache and shiraz and named for the French Huguenot from Provence who pioneered the

viticultural history of L’Ormarins wines more than 300 years ago. The packaging – a “bespoke regalstyle bottle” is very striking, as behoves a wine costing more than R300 a bottle, and what’s in the bottle is equally impressive. The pink blush colour moves one to poetic licence, putting this taster in mind of the colour of a just-fading sunset on Karoo mountains; the nose is of peach and spanspek melon, and the palate has a weight and acidity that is worlds removed from the cloying sweetness of most local rosés. This is a delicious aperitif wine, but it also has sufficient heft to accompany a summer delight like crayfish on a braai

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LADY SPEAKS THE...

Words & Pictures Victor Dlamini

Vangile Gantsho has emerged as one of the most important new voices in poetry. But those who are paying attention also know that she's making a name for herself as one of the improvisers of the poetry-meets-jazz genre.

At a recent performance at The Orbit in Johannesburg, Gantsho was joined on stage by the duo of Yonela Mnana at the piano and Lex Futshane on double bass. Where Mnana’s playing suggests a sustained whisper, Futshane’s takes full advantage of the big bold sound of his instrument. As always Myesha Jenkins provides an educated introduction to the poets that she features in her jazzmeets-poetry evenings at The Orbit Gantsho joins a long line of innovators, those whose lyrics were written as much for the page as for the jazz format. This includes Nikki Giovanni and Gil Scott-Heron, whose The Revolution Will Not Be Televised remains one of the most powerful soundtracks for freedom. These lines from Scott-Heron are still as riveting: There will be no pictures of you and Willie May Pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run, Or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.

NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32

Vangile Gantsho

Or report from 29 districts.

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Gantsho brings to her lyrics a disarming simplicity. But as anyone who’s ever listened closely to My Baby Just Cares For Me or even the enduring classic Autumn Leaves, the great lyricists know how to say so much more than a first hearing of the lyrics might suggest. It is no surprise then that she calls herself a poet and an activist. Because these other cultural innovators were impatient to change the world.

She says that her earliest memories are of road trips in the family bakkie, a red one in which her father always played music. At home the music that played as a backdrop to chores in the kitchen was that of Miriam Makeba and Caiphus Semenya. But there was something else too that she could hear, what she calls “whispered politics and laughing men”. But if these were the sounds of her youth, she says her own taste has steered her towards Thandiswa Mazwai, Mthwakazi, Bongeziwe Mabandla and Indwe.

When asked about her relationship with jazz, she pauses and adds, like so many before her, that she’s not even sure she knows what jazz is. But she’s quick to add “in the same way that I cannot tell you what exactly a poem is”. Clearly Gantsho grasps that labels solve as many problems as they create. But she adds: “Only that I know what I feel. There is music I can write to, and I have

found this music to make for interesting conversations with my poetry. When writing, I may listen to Bobo Stenson or Nduduzo Makhathini. When preparing a space for creativity, I may listen to Sibongile Khumalo, Nomfundo Xaluva, Nina Simone or Zim Ngqawana.”

All these are musicians who in many ways defy both convention and categorisation. They insist on being true to themselves. And yes there is always a cost for such authenticity but the beauty of the music more than makes up for it.

Gantsho concludes, “Interestingly, I have always been the black girl who couldn’t dance, perhaps that is why my writing does not follow a particular obviously identifiable rhythm. As a result, the first time I performed with a jazz band, I nearly collapsed during rehearsals. It was Gloria Bosman who calmed me down and eased me into a conversation with the music.”

Gantsho has been published in publications including The Agenda (2004), Sabel (2010), Wits Press (2011), Botsotso (2015), New Coin (2017) and Illuminations (2017). Her first collection was called Undressing in front of the window (2015) and in it are to be found the seeds of much that will soon blossom as major poetry

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THE QUANTUM MECHANICS OF FACEBOOK Words Sam Cowen

The other day I was on Facebook having a lovely conversation with a nice man I didn’t know very well who had recently done a show I felt was worthy of compliment. In the middle of what was originally intended to be a very short conversation, another chat window popped up, this one from a close friend who was Very Angry Indeed. Her husband, who I had never liked anyway, (how can you like anyone who took a rugby pause during his own wedding reception to watch a Bulls game?) had forgotten her birthday. She was almost apoplectic with rage, her Facebook chat moving faster than the Dow Jones every time POTUS sends a tweet.

“He’s a bastard and you don’t even care!!!!” she said with a very sad emoticon.

acquaintance did indeed have very creepy children. “I’m totally here for you!”

“I’m so stunned at his behaviour, I don’t actually know what to say,” I responded with perfect truth and a heart.

“Good, because I need your advice. What should I say to him?”

I finished off my conversation with the nice man and turned my full attention to my friend, sending my own character reference for her husband to her in the form of the word ‘Dick’.

“That was like a scene from 30 Rock!” he said.

It went into the wrong chat box.

It went into the chat box of the nice man.

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While I wouldn’t have sold a kidney to take it back, I would have considered bartering off a less essential organ.

I apologised instantly. I blamed Facebook.

I blamed my friend’s husband. I blamed a world where men were allowed to forget their wives’ birthdays because of gender inequality. I grovelled.

That seemed to do the trick. She was mollified. I turned up the heat.

“I hope you’re going to give it to him,” I wrote furiously.

“He deserves to know how awful he’s made you feel.”

The other chat box popped open. It was the nice man.

I went back to being charmingly apologetic.

“You’re terribly kind, I’m so sorry.”

We exchanged a few words about the show itself and the disappointing buffet afterwards. He made a joke about huntergatherers and how shortcrust pastry brings out the worst in people. I parried with an anecdote about a lady who tried to sneak apple pie into her handbag. We sent laughing emoticons.

“Sam? SAM?” Oh dear. Back to rage.

The nice man was extremely nice. He said he thought it was hilarious.

“I’m right here! I’m trying to be supportive without ripping X a new one.”

Meanwhile, my angry friend was getting progressively angrier at my slower-thanusual responses. I paused my chat with the nice man and turned my full A-type Lioness attention on her.

“Oh thank goodness, I thought you’d gone.”

“I can’t believe you’d say that!” I said, agreeing with the nice man that a mutual

“You have to be honest,” I typed, ignoring my own failure to follow this instruction.

“I’d have a discussion about priorities.

Because your birthday should be one for him. You’re a beautiful person and he doesn’t deserve you.”

There. That should do it. It was becoming very stressful being two people at once.

You’re not being two people at once, I told myself defensively. You’re being funny and charming and you’re being caring and kind. Yes, said a little voice, but you’re doing it at the same time with two people who don’t know they are in a group chat and neither of them is getting your full attention and they don’t know that either.

It’s disingenuous.

And because no-one wants to be disingenuous, least of all me, I decided to bring the whole silly thing to a close.

That’s the problem with Facebook, there may be only one person with you in the chat box but there are an infinite number of chat boxes for you to be in at the same time. And that involves a schizophrenic amount of energy-splitting.

“We must do coffee sometime and I will apologise in person,” I said cheerily to the nice man.

The angry friend replied.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for, you give the best advice!” she said.

And sent a smiley face

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