PROFILE: HOMECOMING REVOLUTION

Angel Jones brings SA’s professional emigrant talent back home

in the late ’90s, a young South African made her way to the South African Embassy in Trafalgar Square, London, the site of many anti-apartheid demonstrations. Angel Jones joined a cheering crowd to hear Nelson Mandela speak, and one particular message stuck in her mind. ‘I love each and every one of you,’ he said. ‘I would like to put each and every one of you into my pocket and return with you to South Africa.’

Still filled with Madiba euphoria, Angel went back to work (at ad agency Abel) and wrote these words on a post-it: ‘Homecoming Revolution’.

After graduating from UCT, Angel had headed for London to get international work and life experience. ‘I always knew it was temporary, that I would come back to South Africa. It was always home to me. I came back every Christmas.’

She knew that she was coming home. What she didn’t know was that it would become her life’s work to bring others home too.

After seven years in the UK, Angel heeded Madiba’s call. ‘As with most people, it was friends and family that brought me back. But there was so much else. I couldn’t believe how big and blue the sky was, even in the city. I loved the way people looked you in the eyes and greeted you. I hear the term “ex-South African”, and think, there’s no such thing. You’re still a South African wherever you are.’

Angel and her business partner Nina Morris set up their own agency, Morrisjones. In 2003, Morrisjones launched the Homecoming Revolution brand, sharing real, inspiring stories from South Africans who had returned home, and encouraging others to think about coming back to be part of the change that was happening.

‘We told people’s stories warts and all. We don’t pretend everything is perfect here, but there’s a lot that’s good,’ says Angel. ‘My own experience made me realise that the grass isn’t necessarily greener abroad. When you’ve seen a bit of the world, you realise that every country has its pros and cons.

‘Our message was, “Don’t wait until it gets better, come home and make it better”. The stats were telling us that for every person returning home, 11 new jobs were provided. There was a ripple effect in the formal and informal sector. So we said, “Come and build. Create jobs. You have a role to play.”’

A shoutout from Thabo Mbeki in his 2004 State of the Nation Address, endorsing its importance in reversing the brain drain, brought even more attention, and the stories started to go viral.

Midlife crisis

Homecoming Revolution was chugging along successfully as an NPO, and the advertising business was doing well, but then something changed. ‘I had a very convenient, perfectly timed midlife crisis at 40,’ says Angel with a laugh. ‘I had a year of seeing a therapist, a life coach and a mentor. I had this belief that advertising was where I made the money, and Homecoming Revolution was where I made the meaning. The therapist helped me understand that my worth wasn’t tied up in advertising, the life coach opened my eyes to my sense of purpose and my mentor helped me work out how I could commercialise Homecoming Revolution into a proper moneymaking company.’

She sold the ad business and went full time into Homecoming Revolution, which became an executive search-and-headhunting operation recruiting top South African, West African and East African talent with international experience for corporate SA, Nigeria and Kenya. ‘It’s about identifying top skills abroad so we can localise the C-suite (the top corporate positions: CEO, COO, CFO, etc) at home.’

Homecoming Revolution has a database of around 35 000 globally experienced African talent in FMCG, Retail and Fintech and other sought-after fields, gleaned through international events and via social media, word of mouth, and personal referrals.

Angel explains that the approach is true to the original vision of Homecoming Revolution. ‘We talk about the pros and cons of returning first, and then about the job. If people are haggling too much about the salary, they’re not yet ready to return. It’s not just about the job; for many, it’s also about a sense of purpose. So you might be in finance, but you're working on the funding for building bridges that will make a difference in a community.’

People talk about the different elements of the realities of life ‘back home’, from relocation logistics to school options, but ultimately, says Angel, it’s a heart decision, not a head thing.

What brain drain?

Bringing people back to South Africa seems like a rather hard sell right now. The common wisdom is that there’s a spike in people leaving, rather than returning.

‘Yes, there is talk about people emigrating, and there are alarmist headlines like, “We’re losing our black talent”, but the numbers are impossible to measure,’ says Angel. ‘Home Affairs no longer requires you to fill in a form when you emigrate, so the figures are often based on things like enquiries at removal firms, rather than actual emigrations.’

Emigration is very much driven by public sentiment and what’s in the news cycle. ‘Whenever the lights go off, people panic,’ says Angel. ‘When there are farm murders in the news, there’s a spike in enquiries about emigration. Nenegate was a real low point. There’s no question we are going through one of our down cycles, but having said that, Ramaphoria is real, we are seeing that in our work.’

Recent research by Homecoming Revolution indicates that of the respondents living abroad, 34% said they want to return and 22% are undecided. And people don’t go for good. Black South Africans stay, on average, 2–5 years, and White, up to 7–10 years before they come back.

‘People often go to get international experience and take up career opportunities, and then come back. The late 20s and early 30s are a trigger time, coinciding with marriage or having a child. You realise all your wages are going into childcare and the kids are inside because of the cold weather. The idea of an extended network is very appealing.’

That’s the big drawcard, of course – family and friends. Angel quotes one of her homecomers: ‘You can make new friends in Canada but you can’t make old friends.’ There’s a sense of belonging and shared history. And then of course there’s the great weather and lifestyle; the T-shirt in winter, the braais in the backyard.

The research showed up one crucial area where other countries are streets ahead. Respondents rated various elements important in their work life, and felt strongly that things like a sense of autonomy, a sense of purpose, flexitime, a clear career path, opportunities for education and training were met better abroad than in South Africa. ‘It’s a big wake-up call for employers here – if they want to attract those skills and people, they will need to meet these needs,’ she says.

An improved economy and a rigorous approach to governance would make it easier to attract homecomers, says Angel. ‘It’s too much of an ask to get skills to come back here when the economy is performing badly and corruption is rife. But I’m optimistic. It’s not easy, but if anybody can do it, Cyril Ramaphosa can.’

Still a believer

So does she ever question the homecoming message? ‘I am perhaps a little battered, but the only time I had serious doubts was during the xenophobic attacks in 2007. I sat outside in the dark and wept. The other stuff – the roads, the electricity – well, I’ve traveled enough in the rest of Africa to not be too distressed by that. And on some level, challenges are opportunities. The electricity situation means jobs for engineers.’

Angel has two schoolgoing children and she wouldn’t want to bring them up anywhere else. ‘They go to top schools and we live in a beautiful suburb. I watch them playing water polo and I think there’s something quite wholesome about the life here. At the same time, they are very aware about South Africa and its history. They know what the Gini coefficient is, and how very blessed they are, and that they have a responsibility. They are learning Zulu for matric and identify strongly as South Africans. I think it’s healthy for young people to be curious, to go overseas for a gap year, for their education, or for work. I hope my children will too.

‘Touch wood, I’ve never been a victim of crime. I do feel safe. I try to make a connection wherever I go. You can’t give everyone money, but you can give them a smile.’

Angel has no time for the haters who leave and do nothing but criticise. ‘Mostly it’s people who have gone and are miserable. They justify their decision by feeding off and circulating the bad news.’

She recently got a furious email from a Saffer in Australia, asking her how she could try and attract people back to this dangerous place. ‘Then 10 minutes later I saw I’d been tagged in a post by a woman who’d come back after seeing an interview I did on kykNET years ago, saying it was the best decision she’s ever made.’

The research figures speak for themselves: 85 to 90% of people who return say they are happy with their decision. As Angel says, ‘We are here for those people who feel they can do something to contribute here, who are thinking “Well, maybe…”. We are not for everyone. Certainly not the racists and the moaners and the pessimists. South Africa doesn’t need them.’

Into the future

Angel’s dream is still to play a role in reversing the brain drain. ‘We would love to try and get doctors, nurses and teachers to come back here where their skills are so desperately needed. It’s not easy to get them back if they are paid well and working in state-of-the-art facilities overseas. But we would like to try, if we can get funding to help us.’

So, as midlife crises go, Angel’s has been a success, both in terms of her refocused company and in her life. ‘It is great to own my own firm. We can be nimble and flexible and kind to staff. I am less of a workaholic. I work “agile” at different times; I’m not always office-bound. I fetch my children from school or go and watch sport. I know they need me to be there for them at this age.

‘I married the absolute love of my life and we both love trance music, so we go dancing together, and I do Nia four or five times a week. I can picture the music going through every cell in my body, it’s very trippy! I am a positive person. I get out of bed every day and try to think of the good things rather than the bad. I trust in the humanity of South Africans, we can make it work.’

‘I hear the term “ex-South African”, and think, there’s no such thing. You’re still a South African wherever you are.’