The lack of youth leadership in SA politics, government and business is often lamented. Critics point to the advanced age of leaders, to outdated approaches, and to a system they call “calcified”.
We can debate how this unquestioning support for older leaders has contributed to SA’s current problems, but there’s no denying that reliance on the qualification of age alone will destroy us. Our growth is being choked by load-shedding, crime, infrastructure decline, corruption and even dangerous decisions on foreign policy, and we need new, fresh, energetic and innovative leaders to unblock the way.
It should come as no surprise that an increasing number of young people of all races are leaving SA to seek a better life overseas. Last month Wits politics professor William Gumede said the skills exodus is now reaching crisis point. He highlighted that one of the main sets of professionals leaving the country is highly qualified young people. His warning should be heeded.
And that’s not just sentiment talking. A recent survey by Payroll, OfferZen and Aims found that nearly 80% of surveyed business leaders consider skills emigration a critical risk factor facing their companies. Tech-focused businesses are especially affected. This is a tragedy, because the heavily tech-focused potential of business process sourcing (BPS) and global business sourcing offers SA a clear opportunity for growth.
More importantly, this is growth in which young people can play a huge part and provides an accelerated entry point for their careers, with excellent training and advancement. But how do we retain young talent in the context of a failing state? How do we ensure that we develop a new generation of young, skilled and passionate professionals who want to contribute to SA and not leave for better futures elsewhere?
Before we get to quality education for nourished learners, a stable grid and ethical governance, the first priority of leaders is to create a sense of community; not just within a business or government department, but across our country. Young people need to feel safe, valued and hopeful, and that their daily work is making a positive contribution towards building a brighter future for themselves and those around them.
This requires an ethical, purposeful approach to business leadership that asks: “What is our impact on a shared value scale, and how do we contribute to the environment, society and economy at large?” We all share this country and collectively succeed or fail with it. Our workplaces simply have to focus on how to increase “shared value”, whether we’re in the private or public sectors.
This sense of shared community or wider good citizenship was traditionally advocated by the state via the theme of ubuntu. But the world and our young people in it know that states fail, states err, and our collective better futures must be built and sustained more responsibly than before.
A shining light
One sector that offers a clear path for hope and growth in SA right now is global business sourcing. The latest figures from Business Process Enabling SA (BPESA) clearly show the potential: in the final quarter of 2022, 6,058 jobs were created in this sector and an impressive 89% of these new career opportunities were youth jobs. Global business sourcing continues to grow in utilities and energy, retail and e-commerce, insurance and telecom. The report also found that KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape show the greatest potential, attracting a 48% and 39% increase respectively.
The source markets for this growth were largely in the UK, the US and Australia. There are glimmers of this growth being a small reversal of the current drain we are experiencing — businesses in countries that traditionally attract SA emigrants are outsourcing services back to SA. What it shows is our services are valued in the international market, and SA businesses should see this as an excellent opportunity.
We obviously can’t retain what we don’t have, and BPESA has highlighted the investment in training and skills under way. More than 20,000 business sourcing workers received training and skills development in the last quarter of 2022, and in many cases workers took part in multiple learning development and skills upliftment initiatives.
The SA government and businesses can do more, every day, through less formal training and mentoring experiences that enhance leadership abilities to enable a class of young leaders who are innovative, strategic, brave and confident. IQbusiness has taken a deliberate approach to growing our younger leaders, which we define as being younger than 35. This month we are marking the first anniversary of YCo, a dynamic committee of future leaders who serve as an extension of the business’ executive committee.
We don’t have to overcomplicate things, but as leaders we do have to consider what we can do to make sure that we’re supporting opportunities for younger people. We must promote a culture of transformation and governance so that diversity, equity and inclusivity can be embraced as a tool to promote organisational strategy and competitiveness in Africa and beyond.
The youth-driven growth in business process sourcing proves that the sector can give SA an easy win, something we can be proud of and build on. Business and government should be doing all we can to make sure our country remains a home for its talented young people.
• Craker is XCo CEO and Singh YCo is CEO at technology and management consultancy IQbusiness.
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