Board Impulse Thoughts (BIT) – A little BIT for everybody

60th Board Impulse Thoughts with Xolelwa Zulu Magwenyane??and her views and assessments of the upcoming and last 12 months

1. Which were your biggest learnings over the past 12 months?

The job market is changing nature and becoming very fluid: The ‘great resignations’ concept continued to be observed even in 2022, following trends in 2020 and 2021 spurred by the onset of Covid-19. The number priority has remained workplace flexibility, that has led to reported increased productivity in the workforce.

The role of leadership and their attitudes has taken centre stage as it has been cited as the top reason employees resigned from organisation, even without an offer of a job.

The impact of geopolitics in business operations: The war between Russia/Ukraine drove the prices of staple crops, commodities, and metals to almost unsustainable levels in the developing world. At some point a litre (L) of petrol in South Africa was north of R25 due to the unfavourable demand/supply dynamics owing to the onset of the attacks on Ukraine. The developed countries have had to decide to leave and exit the Russian market. A study of Fortune 500 (280+) companies, conducted by McKinsey, revealed that 70% of these companies with operations in Russia opted to leave or scale back on operations. The lesson here was that leadership and management choices are impact and affected by elements that span beyond the immediate reach of the organisation, such as customers, investors, and employees.

Deployment of digital services in healthcare services: Public health systems around the globe have been put under immense stress testing over the last 2.5 years. This has been more severe and felt the hardest in developing economies. From infrastructure to availability of vaccines, the health care providers and policy makers ought to use the experience and learning to lay a foundation for future pandemics/endemics. For example, in South Africa, pharmaceutical, and, vaccine manufacturing is being invested in, and this local manufacturing capacity should improve the burden of disease on the government and should make an impact on supply chain challenges in the health sectors. Virtual health services could assist in alleviating access to health care, for repeated care, basic care, and investments in innovation on these, should continue.

2. What is your view on Inclusion and pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals?

Inclusion and pursuit of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s): The past two and a half years (2019-2022) have shown the many socio-economic divides that are driven by inequality in South Africa. Inclusive interventions such as a more integrated and inclusive economy across sectors is vital for economic recovery. The question that should be on the business leaders is: What does a more inclusive economy look like? There are pockets of movement in this respect in institutions across business, government, and society acting, however, there’s more work to be done. Inclusivity along the lines of gender, healthy working environments, mental health considerations and fair and equal pay across the board.

3. What are your observations on executives over the last 12 months, did they change their habits and attitudes?

Yes. The year presented leadership and executives with a lot of uncertainty. From legislation around Covid-19 and enforcing that, to safeguarding human rights and employees who chose to not vaccinate. This called for ethical leadership that also looks to provide safe working environments.

There was a heightened need for deeper collaborations as the complex nature of challenges that executives were presented with could not be a ‘one-man-solution’. Globalisation patterns shifted, and the world as we know it became smaller, with networks expanding beyond physical borders.

A great deal of foresight has been a requirement, to be enable organisations to balance the management of the current crisis, but also the ability to spot the opportunities that arise from the same. For example, investing and thinking about the world in the next decade and developing solutions for future problems. Strategically, organisations have been rethinking opportunities, despite current volatility.

4. What do you expect from 2023?

Resilience and more innovation: Resilience is the ability recover from difficulties and disruption. Organisations that have this capability thrive and can innovate more in anticipation of crisis and other difficult times in the future. Innovation

The rise in Hydrogen and Net-Zero Initiatives: The need to scale-up on positive and accelerated responses to climate change has now become more critical, also low-emission solutions are key. The consideration to the ESG will take centre and should be considered mainstream business operations as opposed to support services. ?The energy/water/food nexus in South Africa is a challenge that businesses must solve against balancing net-zero approaches which in themselves present economic growth opportunities, both on the local and global front. Circular economy in South Africa, should begin to take shape as the context allows for these approaches to contribute to the informal and small businesses sector.

4IR/5IR/5G Communication Technologies: Digital Technologies and immersive reality technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning have been pervasive and proven to be useful in navigating a virtual reality and one that is moving towards automation. Connectivity challenges should be resolved with the requisite speed for a more inclusive society, to drive growth in the developing economies context. The ethical considerations around the deployment of these tools should present opportunities between business to build digital trust for consumers.

Xolelwa Zulu Magwenyane hold a PhD in Chemistry from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (2016) and she is currently reading for a Master of Science in Technology and Innovation Management, MSc (MTIM) – conducting research on the deployment of policy instruments in the development of the bio economy sector in South Africa. Xolelwa currently serve as an Independent Director for CenGen (Pty) Ltd, and the Scientific Advisory Board. In 2019, she was appointed as the Deputy Chair of the Locally Engaged Staff Association (LESA) at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office of the British Government.

Currently, she is the Head of Funding Strategies for the Black Women in Science (SA) and an alumnus of the South African Brightest Young Minds Initiative. She has been previously appointed to serve on the KwaZulu-Natal Innovation Advisory Committee of the Moses Kotane Institute (an agency of the Department for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs. She works as a Manager for Strategic, Research, Development, and Innovation in a Science Council in South Africa and she is also the Managing Director of her own company, Hlumelo Research and Advisory Pty (Ltd).