For Africa to assume it rightfull place, all leaders must rise up

A question is posed in the MBA module I was studying this morning, “How much do leaders contribute to the success of their enterprises?” It got me thinking that leadership is required and found in all fields from politicians, businesses, charities, universities and down to a family unit where a father, mother or a first born child must show leadership to transform lives. This July we celebrate 100 years after the birth of one of the most consequential leaders of our generation, Tata Nelson Mandela. In his own words Nelson Mandela says something profound about leadership, “There are times when a leader must move out ahead of the flock, and go off in a new direction, confident that he is leading his people the right way.” I am a Zimbabwean who has been in South African since 2007 and I can confidently say that despite current problems of inclusivity in South Africa, by large Nelson Mandela’s vision has been a success.

Nelson Mandela did his part and cannot be blamed for current problems in the same way as we can’t blame America’s founding fathers for the election of Donald Trump. Leadership is required in South Africa from politicians to improve the quality of education for all South Africans especially in the townships and rural areas. Leadership is required in the industry to stick to the spirit of employment equity as there will be no stability until the majority of the black population feels they are included. The question that all human beings ask before they act is, “What is in it for me?” If people believe they are part of the solution they won’t burn malls. In Zimbabwe there was a community project called, The Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) where residents in rural areas would benefit from wildlife in their area. Community members would protect wildlife in their areas and it was a success.

 

On Sunday 1 July 2018, whilst going through my LinkedIn newsfeed, I came across a post by Bill Gates titled, My favourite commencement speeches of 2018. There was a snippet of a video containing a commencement address given by the Emmy Award–winning actor Sterling K. Brown at Stanford University. I ended up looking up the whole speech on you tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW_iM38_BbA. I was not disappointed after watching the whole 29 minutes of the video. My few takeaways from the speech: all of us must not be afraid to shine as when we shine the world can only benefit from it; we are all not self-made but are part of our community; no one religious group has a monopoly on wisdom.

 Leadership is very key in human development and I am reminded of the leadership provided by Allied leadership in World war 2 in order to stop the Nazi and one can think of leaders such as Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, Franklin D Roosevelt and also not forgetting the then South Africa’s then Prime Minister Jan Smuts. From time to time, I have had to reflect as a black African that if Adolf Hitler had prevailed all Jewish people, black people etc. would have been wiped out.  The world has become a better place due to the leadership we have seen from the fall of the Berlin Wall, FW De Klerk leading the National Party in political reforms in South Africa. I know as pan Africanists we do not want to acknowledge the leadership provided by FW De Klerk in this regard. De Klerk could have chosen the route of confrontation like what Benjamin Netanyahu has done for Israel.

 

I am a corporate man having worked 21 years in the private sector and 20 years in the financial sector. I firmly believe that the growth and economic transformation in Africa will come from private sector participation. My example of leadership in the business sector is Whitey Basson who led Shoprite Group from 8 stores into Africa’s biggest retail chain. Most of us will only read about Mr Basson in the press when they mention his salary and bonuses and of course that is not the full story. Shoprite now employs 148 000 people across Africa and its annual turnover is almost twice the annual budget of the government of Zimbabwe. Other notable leaders are Strive Masiyiwa who founded Econet Wireless, Aliko Dangote etc. Leadership is required at every level. My most notable leader in my life was my late mother and I have written about her in my blog. My other leaders include my O’Level mathematics teacher Mr Muzite and many more people that I have written about in my article http://kanyokad.blogspot.com/2017/09/what-i-have-learnt-in-my-21-years-of.html. I also want to mention my current employer, the company was started 20 years ago and now it employs more than 3 000 employs across two continents.

 

I am passionate about Africa’s development. Whenever I got home to Zimbabwe and meet small scale farmers, I am always reminding them that they are business people in their own rights they must constantly be in production throughout the year and not only wait for the rain season.