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Blog
Corporates must move from ticking the boxes to a meaningful contribution South Africans have been through hundreds of years of colonisation and then apartheid from the early 1960s to 1991. Both systems were brutal on the spirit of people, demeaning them and eventually making them feel and be treated in an inhumane way. This was the foundation and basis of institutional racism. A small minority got the spoils of their victory over the owners of the land they occupied. This is a tale not reserved for SA but has happened on our continent, the Americas and Asia. The birth of ‘white privilege”. In the US, 1965 was the year that the US allowed black women to exercise their right to vote. Like colonialism and apartheid, slavery has had the same impact on the African American - as an aside isn’t it strange we don’t hear groups referred to as Italian American or Irish American in a land of immigrants. Recently as part of the Black Lives Matter(“BLM”) protests, the BLM founders have urged many large department chains like Nordstrom, Target and Walmart to set quotas and buy at least 15% of their product from Black owned businesses...sounds familiar? Post democracy in 1994, the new government set about actively addressing the inequalities in the economy. The government encouraged change through a somewhat organic process of industry charters, which will help self-govern the pace of change. Six years into the experiment, this was not delivering the required outcome. Legislation was introduced to compel companies to change. Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) was introduced into the lexicon of corporations. This was immediately seen as a punishment, the corporate SA started to ‘game the system’. Corporate financiers at the merchant banks saw this as an ideal opportunity to introduce high levels of complexity and billions of Rands of funding to ‘comply’ with legislation. Enter the modern-day oligarchs of South Africa. A few, who are now household names with some celebrity status, billionaires were created at the behest of the power brokers (long before state capture raised its ugly head). These oligarchs had close ties to political power in South Africa, and through sophisticated schemes have enjoyed a level of success that appears breath-taking. For example, Raymond Ackerman of Pick n Pay took 45 years to build his chain of stores; and a local oligarch, who shall remain nameless, surpassed his family’s wealth in much less than 10 years. Yes, we do need these poster boys (and girls) to show the success of the new democracy - after all we did choose capitalism over socialism in 1991. So, what happens to the Gogo living in the township… indeed what does happen? Nothing really, this compliance mentality has ensured that corporate fat cats are insulated, bonuses are preserved, and we have successfully ticked the box around empowerment compliance. What we lack in South Africa is the ‘heart’ to do the right thing, by focusing on doing things right. So how should corporate South Africa address this? Here are some suggestions of what great companies (whom I had the privilege of working with or working at) have done globally: ● Embrace your social license to operate - acknowledge what happened in the past was unjust and embrace this as an opportunity to embrace all aspects of empowerment into your business. Put this at the core of your business and your strategic intent. ● Don’t delegate this role to someone in HR - treat this as the most important commitment your business has not only to your shareholders but to your country… show some pride and heart. Do not outsource to some well-paid consultant to handle on your behalf as non-core business. ● Embrace diversity - see color in your as a strength to reposition your company. Unilever did this in the early 1980s by appointing their first black brand manager to lead the Rama brand which was an outstanding success. I consulted to a group in Stellenbosch in the 1990s and asked how 10 white men possibly know what is the best meal/recipe for Mrs. Dlamini and her family? They were clueless… sadly little has changed. ● Gender may be overlooked in an empowerment discussion, but we know that in most households women are the buying decision makers. It is often said that women make better leaders than men, good examples came to the fore during the COVID pandemic where female world leaders were a lot more pragmatic and compassionate on how they navigated through the crisis. ● Work with communities you operate in. This is often lost in the boardroom. Even those of us who have grown up in townships, now adopt the neo-colonialist view of the world. Develop practical ways in which communities are engaged, think of the symbiotic relationship… similar to what the National Party did between 1960 - 1990. ● Do not be on the other side of a corrupt transaction. We are often quick to blame corrupt politicians or government employees, but it takes two parties to pull off a corrupt deal. Be brave to walk away from that… sure you will lose the illicit business, but you will also not allow this scourge to continue to contaminate society. This can be fostered with a strong set of corporate values which become ‘the way you work’ - or corporate culture. Our former leaders like Tambo, Sisulu, Mandela, and many more of that generation - were brave men, taking on the might of the oppressive system and to triumph us freedom. Let our generation not just give it all away because we have no heart, no courage, no conviction or no ‘soul’ to care and make a difference. As future leaders, do not be distracted by shiny things (parked in your driveway or worn on a wrist) be the sign of your progress but how many people you have helped achieve their goals. This will help all of us build in the new South Africa the previous generation could only dream of. Whilst most of us wallow in self-pity with the current set of issues, remember some 50 000 years ago the Africans walked out of Africa to populate this world, past leaders endured much worse hardships, so we can prevail!
We often hear about the glamour of making 25x on an investment and there are many to choose from. The most popular are Space-X, Airbnb, Uber who have all graduated to become unicorns (valued at more that $1billion). But as the unicorns rise, in the ashes are many a failed startup that either failed to launch or was acquired by a multinational and failed within that organisational culture.
Silicon Valley and innovation hubs around the world has got many people wanting to become founders of the next unicorn. If you are in corporate life, have a family, with the responsibility of a mortgage and other such commitments, the challenge of quitting a great job maybe daunting. What if I fail?
For those involved in a merger or acquisition, particularly the absorption kind where full integration of the companies is required, it is an extraordinary and destabilising life event requiring considerable personal adjustment.