Davos 2017

13 January 2017

With more than 2500 of the world’s top leaders including heads of state, central bankers and representatives from most of the world’s top companies Davos remains the premier conference for making contacts and incubating ideas. It certainly remains relevant from an African and South African perspective.

Does any good really come out of all the talking?

While these conferences typically achieve no “quick fixes” there is little doubt that a global meeting of minds and having common cause is always beneficial. A broad agreement on what the problems and opportunities are is necessary before embarking on any kind of co-ordinated solution. The real value in conferences of this nature however is about making contacts, presenting cases and influencing influential people.

Did any benefit come out of last years’ conference from a South African perspective?

Last years’ conference focused on the “4^th industrial revolution”. It was about technological development and the implication challenges and opportunities flowing from greater connectivity. It was agreed that from a South African perspective the greatest exponential economic benefits would flow from the beneficial impact on education allowing South Africa to realise its’ favourable demographic dividend. Additional benefits were seen in greater access to financial services (with growing smartphone penetration) and improved healthcare. 

Team South Africa returned from Davos feeling that they better appreciated the issues and had assured investors of policy certainty and economic stability. This being a necessary pre-requisite in fully benefitting from “the 4^th Industrial revolution”.

It was agreed that from a South African perspective the greatest exponential economic benefits would flow from the beneficial impact on education allowing South Africa to realise its’ favourable demographic dividend.

So how has the country progressed in 2016?

The World Economic Forum global competitiveness report reflected a small improvement with SA now ranking at 47 out of 138 countries surveyed compared to a 49^th place ranking previously. The most significant areas of progress included enhanced competition, better use of talent in terms of how pay reflects productivity and an important upgrade in the quality of education. Unfortunately many areas remained problematic. These included inefficient Government bureaucracy, restrictive labour regulations, an inadequately educated workforce, political instability and corruption. These are however areas where strong leadership has the potential to make the biggest difference.

This leads us onto the main theme for Davos 2017 namely “responsive and responsible leadership"

Strong leadership has never been more important from a global perspective. An apparent drift towards protectionism, nationalism and popularism reflects the frustration of large swathes of society that are not experiencing economic development and social progress. It is imperative that the benefits of globalisation are experienced by all global society and it is the responsibility of responsible leadership to ensure that this happens.

Once again it will be encumbent on the SA delegation to meaningfully engage on these issues and convince the global community that it is committed to good governance at all levels.  Establishing credibility in this area is critical in boosting SA’s investment destination appeal.