Imagineering South Africa - 2030

South Africa has much potential to be a winning nation. While determining how this winning status will be measured is a challenge in itself, the South Africa has much raw potential on multiple levels to be classed as a winning nation.

Let us start by looking at the positives: Firstly we have a great climate, a multitude tourist attractions, excellent airports (thanks SWC 2010), extensive road and rail infrastructure (although in need of maintenance), an expanding electricity distribution and telecommunications networks, an extensive coastline, a rich mineral resource base, strong agriculture, an expanding services industry, a manufacturing industry that is competitive in certain sectors (with others in need of attention and support), a strong banking sector (not universally so) - and so the list goes on.

On the negative side, we sit with an immensely high HIV/AIDS infection rate, and education system that is not providing the number of skilled resources we need to compete internationally, limited water supply and poor water resource management, electricity capacity issues (although these are being attended to) a government that is still coming to grips with the challenges it is facing - and so the list goes on.

For South Africa to becoming a winning nation by 2030, we need to build on our strengths and work on the weaknesses - yes indeed a cliche if ever there was one. However, the overriding challenge to the attainment of future competitiveness is to create a clear, ambitious view of what the winning status in 2030 will/must look like. Once this vision has been created, the people of our nation need to be "sold" on this vision - their buy-in to the vision, will help create an overriding focus on attaining the goal - therefore everybody will/must focus on creating the future - which means building on the foundations that we have already got and creating new foundations, where the past has not delivered - we do not have the time, human resources and funds to transform/re-engineer every single element of our economic development foundations.

The reason the vision/dream is so important is that we, as South Africans, have a demonstrated ability to meet (and exceed) lofty goals - most visibly manifested by our successful staging of world class sporting events such as the Rugby World Cup, Cricket World Cup, the IPL (at short notice when India was unable to host their tournament) and (somewhat in advance, but I have faith) the Soccer World Cup - at the very least the timely completion of the stadia is a major achievement.

Building on these sporting examples (and there are many more on the business, research and development, political, leadership and other fronts, which we tend not to talk about, know about, or celebrate), we are a nation that can achieve and actually have high-performance expectations (ask any South African sporting team that does not win all the time about the pressure they have to perform) - we just need to pull it all together to make our own winning nation future.

One of our key goals should be to create jobs for everyone. To achieve this we need to sell our goods and services into the global market to ensure strong revenue flows into South Africa. If we sell substantively more abroad than we buy in, we will have funds to invest in increasing our productive capacity - sounds simple, but reaching this status will require substantive effort, commitment and sacrifice by all. The Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger), in his days as a bodybuilder became well-known for the phrase: "no pain, no gain" - the trainees went through hell to be able to build a body fit for world titles. We as South Africans should develop a determination to succeed on the global stage - as part of this we must know there will be pain, which will be overshadowed by the fruits of our success. However, we must be aware that one does not become world class overnight - it takes many days, weeks, months, years and decades of concerted and focused effort to achieve the envisioned goal.

So, South Africa, its leadership (political and business alike) need to understand that they need to cast a strong vision that excites everyone (and not only themselves at the expense of those they lead), that allows everyone to become excited and committed to the outcome and then they have to serve those they lead to enable the attainment of the vision. The "followers" need to understand that the training regimes and rules of engagement that are set by their leaders are there to support the attainment of the mutually accepted vision.

Once we buy into this thinking our actions become relentlessly focused on attaining the vision - those that put in the effort will be rewarded, those who do not join the efforts, must realise and accept that they will be sanctioned and if they do not join the drive to success (for all) they will eventually be thrown off the team - something the individuals and team can ill afford as we need all hands on deck to fight off the challenge for world class from China, India, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Ghana, Egypt,to name but a few. If we are not smarter, fitter, hungrier (for success), more committed than the peoples of these competitors, we will lose the fight for survival (which certainly is not a position our nation would like to be in).

Assuming that one buys into the need for improved competitiveness, an intention to be a world class player, we need to define a number of areas that we need to focus on to build our capability base:

• We need to focus on generating foreign currency - our own, isolated economy cannot support our population. Failing to generate foreign currency will eventually mean the death of our proud nation - which, I am sure not a desirable outcome for any member of team South Africa
• We need to ensure skills and capabilities - therefore we need to ensure that we become most dedicated to acquiring knowledge and skill. Without an immense respect for knowledge and a burning to desire to learn, supported by skilled and dedicated teachers, we will not create a platform for success. Without the basic skills and capabilities one cannot become a player/competitor that is sought after - the emphasis should be on enhancing your employability. Once you are employable you can start playing in the employment field and then you can further hone your skills and capabilities - eventually showing them to other employers who will reward you for your demonstrated capabilities. For a sporting analogy, one can look at soccer stars such as Ronaldo, Kaka, Eto'o and the likes - they trained like demons, found a club that would employ them, performed excellently, developed a following, created an interest in their skills and capabilities, found potential employers fighting for their skills and eventually earning a transfer to a more appropriate club - for, amongst others, a better wage. The worker's/player's wage (increasing as it is as long as he is performing to the expected standards) is paid out of the increase in revenue that is generated by his performance, i.e.through increased viewers (at the stadiums and television), increased sale of merchandise, etc. In this situation all parties benefit - the club owner, the player and the supporter, as well as the television networks. Should all parties not receive acceptable benefit, the relationship becomes dysfunctional and soon dissolves - not a desirable outcome for any of the parties.
• We need to become a nation of workers - working hard, diligently and productively will ensure fitness for competition, as well as creating a sense of pride and worth. However, we need to focus on a return on investment, where the entitlement to a reward, without the necessary investment, disappears - remember "no pain, no gain"? Government, business leaders and workers will need to focus on the partnership to achieve the envisioned outcome, rather than merely trying to "exploit" each other. An economy cannot exist where one of the partners is expecting and receiving a greater return than he/she is entitle to (therefore without a commensurate effort). Our focus should be one creating saleable goods and service every minute of every day of the year, harnessing all those that are able to work. If we are to succeed in our quest for global competitiveness we cannot afford to lose any individual's contribution/work effort - our competitors are already charging headlong on this path, so we are already playing catch-up as more than 25% of our population is unemployed.
• We need to become team players - relentlessly focusing on making Team South Africa a winning team - and a team that does not support passengers.
• We need to engage in national conversations about the future - if we engage all our team members we will be more capable of supporting and nurturing our talented team members on our collective journey to our envisioned world class status.

The intention of this piece is to initiate conversations about Team South Africa's journey to being a world champion contender by 2030. Your thoughts and inputs will be appreciated...