Talented black Africans key to growing SA economy

TO UNLEASH black talent in the South African economy, the government needs to mirror this ambition with “right thinking” policymakers of the calibre one finds in Singapore or New Zealand, says Nigerian banker Aigboje Imoukhuede, an industry leader in the transformation of capital markets in Africa.

Imoukhuede was the keynote speaker at the launch recently of the second edition of the Little Black Book, which showcases top black executive talent in corporate South Africa. He is an entrepreneur and philanthropist, with a wealth of global experience as chairman of Coronation Capital, where he guides the board and executive members on strategy and policies while ensuring return on investment.

“As an independent observer, and having traversed the business landscape of Africa, I fervently believe the talented black African is in a unique position to be a catalyst for real, effective growth of the South African economy, and to restore South Africa’s status as an economic powerhouse.

“Notwithstanding the recent political challenges to your national economy, South Africa has still enjoyed a remarkable transformation. There are only a handful of African countries whose economies are comparable.”

The greatest challenge, however, was the “scarcity of first rate, quality black talent, people creating the right policies to allow entrepreneurs to reach their full potential”.

Thus it was important to nurture black talent in the public and the private sectors. “The group achievement of black executives or black businesses can be severely constrained by the incompetency of the public sector, and an uninformed stroke of an incompetent public servant’s pen can destroy, literally overnight, the hard work of black business executives,” said Imoukhuede.

That said, meaningful financial independence would never be won in the president’s office or through legislation, but through hard work of entrepreneurs. “Capital is formed through toil and sweat. The struggle to build a financially independent class in any country has never been easy. It is won not by political leaders, student leaders or civil society, but by black professionals and entrepreneurs in boardrooms, capital markets, business schools, and banking halls.

Past circumstances could be an unnecessary hindrance if shareholders stuck to old ways and avoided diversity in their leadership structures, noted Imoukhuede, who added that he hired women “simply because they make the company more competitive”.

“The market recognises valuable talent, even if you are not comfortable with that talent, so it’s important to embrace diversity. Your adversary in the global business context is not a person of any particular colour, but people of all colours and nationalities, who seek to establish financial independence and wealth creation.

Nigeria was a good example of economic transformation, he said, with several of its sectors having been transformed following independence in 1999.

“This was achieved with appropriate policies by right thinking Nigerians in governance, policies that unleashed the full power of entrepreurial talent in Nigeria,” he said.

Turning to the actual status of transformation in South Africa’s economy, Zanele Luvuno, MD of Transcend Talent Management, told the audience there is a strong movement away from BBEE fronting, towards a more active black management and control of companies.

“The process has been hampered by current affairs. State capture has made things difficult. But we are looking at a future where opportunities are given to authentic black owners, and authentically black controlled companies.”

Multinationals and big business were rightfully concerned about choosing their partners, and they wanted people who could add value to their business in legitimate ways.

“It’s important for us as black people to start being equally selective about who we go into partnerships with. We need to do our own due diligence around the companies we choose to be associating with.

‘‘Successful executives and investors with significant experience and track record in business strategy and building businesses are exactly what the next phase of transformation is going to bring,” she said.

Transformation in the JSE, meanwhile, was dismal, she noted. “It’s obvious transformation is not meaningful at this stage, and penalties are not sufficient to drive transformation.

‘‘We need to achieve the missing buy-in from leadership within business to effect change, and companies need to hire more black executives, and take succession planning more seriously, she said.

“Land grabs and brute force are not the way we want to go. Hopefully, we can have more meaningful interaction in order to co-craft solutions that add value.”

‘Land grabs and brute force are not the way we want to go’