• 24May

  Takeaways

  Category: Ken Davis  Posted by: Kenneth Davis at 2:26 pm   No Comments

  Using the 19-hour flight from Johannesburg to reflect on the trip, I reflected on the things I learned on the trip (from my perspective and opinion, of course):

  • Patience.  South Africans, and Africans in general, have much more patience than Americans.  While we can’t wait for the microwave to get done, Africans will walk miles just to check their mail.
  • Complexity.  Problems, especially very important world problems like HIV and poverty, are complex and inter-dependent with other issues.  I used to think that you could keep asking “why” to get to the root cause of a problem.  Now, I’m realizing that trying to solve certain problems this way can drive you into a crazy “chicken and egg” paradox.  Underestimating the complexity of problems is a trap door for a business manager — especially, and international business manager.
  • Importance of Education.  I understand even more so now how important it is to invest in education.  If you have a country where a large share of your citizens can’t read, write, use computers, or do simple math, your country won’t be a big player in the global economy — OR, you will have a wide gap between the very poor and very rich, without a vibrant middle class.
  • Democratizing Capital.  I belive strongly that for an emerging economy to become a world player, another requirement is that capital be democratized to citizens.  In South Africa, for example, only 400 companies are listed on its stock exchange, and, of those, only 78 are small to mid-cap.  And, a very concentrated number of banks and insurance companies hoard the economy’s savings in the form of insurance policies.  Yes, the people need to be educated on equities, but until capital is broken up and available to South Africa’s new, talented entrepreneurs, the economy’s growth will continue to be dependent on legacy industries such as mining and agriculture.
  • I’m going back.  South Africa was very inspiring to me personally, and I really want to go back and experience more of the wildlife, culture, and business.  For me, this was a survey trip.  Once you go to Africa and see majestic animals, a sea of stars in the black night sky, the orange-tinged sunset over multiple horizons, the graciousness of the people, and the determination of the next generation, you’ll be hooked too!

  Salani Kahle!

• 21May

  Ferrari Safari

  Category: Ken Davis  Posted by: Kenneth Davis at 5:59 pm   No Comments

  The activity we were all looking forward to had come – the safari!  We did about 12 hours of safari the last couple of days, and it was amazing.

  I was on an open truck-like vehicle riding on a guided tour through the natural habitat of the world’s most majestic animals – in both day and night trips.  I saw plenty of elephant, zebra, giraffe, hippo, jackal, buffalo, crocodile, impala, baby lion cubs, rhinoceros, kudu, mongoose, warthog, monkeys, baboons, wildebeest, owls, eagles, and much more…

  So, what’s a Ferrari Safari?  Well, we divided up into three safari groups – with each guide keeping tabs on the other trucks, just in case there were special sightings, such as leopards, wild dogs, and black rhinoceros.  A Ferrari Safari is where you’re in a group, hear of a special sighting, and high-tail it over there to get in on the action.  We had a couple of these fun runs during the trip.  You can imagine how your body feels, given the high speeds and the undeveloped dirt roads.  Unfortunately, by the time we got there, the animals we tried to find were gone.  It just shows that your timing needs to be impeccable to catch the more rare animals, such as the black rhino and the leopard.

  If you are on the fence whether to go on a safari – I mean, a real one that goes into the natural, wild habitat – go!  Be very, very safe and get a great guide, but go!

  After going on a safari, I have to say I have a new pet peeve.  While I love the song The Lion Sleeps Tonight, the lyrics are wrong.  I’ve got news for The Tokens – LIONS DON’T LIVE IN THE JUNGLE!  They live in the African bush country.

  Here’s the elephant I met while on the evening safari (he was about 10 yards away from me – glad he didn’t mind our watching him eat):

  

• 21May

  Building a Golf Course

  Category: Ken Davis  Posted by: Kenneth Davis at 5:47 pm   No Comments

  On Monday night, I met an entrepreneur, Thys (pronounced tace), who owns a bed and breakfast lodge a few hours outside Kruger Park in South Africa’s Mpumalanga province.  We had run out of lodging space for everyone at Old Joe’s Kaia, so I got driven up the mountain next door to his place called Drakenzicht.

  Thys related his experience of one of the biggest challenges to doing business in South Africa – labor.  He’s building a nine-course golf course on this large property where his lodge is at. He has about three greens in and is hoping to finish the other six in this next year.

  You’ve probably heard that South Africa has a large unskilled labor force, so you’d think this wouldn’t be an issue.  In his case, it’s easy to get people willing to work, but it’s hard to get the labor to work at the pace and with the quality you need them to.  If you pay them too little, they won’t finish the job.  If you pay them a bonus to finish, they’ll take the money and run (taking their knowledge with them).  Catch 22. 

  Thys came up with an innovative solution.  We all know South Africans like to drink – in fact, there’s an alcoholism problem in the country.  So, Thys said he’d give them a case of beer if they finished the greens on time.  Boy did they work!  So the lesson is this – it’s all about matching the labor incentives to the culture of where you are.  You heard that you get what you incent… that’s very true wherever you are, but it’s even more relevant in South Africa.

  Here’s a couple pictures to give you an idea of how beautiful this place was.  If you are planning a drive to Kruger Park and need a place to stay outside, check out Old Joe’s Kaia (like great food and decorative, cozy lodging) and Drakenzicht (mountainous views & fishing).

  

  

• 21May

  The Spekboom

  Category: Ken Davis  Posted by: Kenneth Davis at 5:27 pm   3 Comments

  During our visit to the University of Cape Town, I spoke to our presenter, asking her about the cool innovation ideas taking place here, keeping with my Marketing stereotype.  (Also, as in my prior posts and podcasts, I’m on a quest – to see what South Africa is doing to innovate.)

  She mentioned the spekboom.

  “Huh?”, I said.

  Yes!  The spekboom is a plant in the Eastern Cape province, home of Cape Town, that organically soaks up carbon and transfers it into nutrients.  It’s so powerful that some early studies believe that about 100,000 hectares of it can soak up the entire carbon footprint of their planned coal-to-liquid plant.  (See this link.)  Sasol, a South African alternative energy company, is all over it. 

  Maybe this is just the innovative idea that South Africa can use to change the world!

  So, what does this little, amazing plant look like?

  Here’s our hero: 

• 17May

  After Church

  Category: Ken Davis  Posted by: Kenneth Davis at 12:34 pm   1 Comment

  

  “To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others”  -Nelson Mandela

  These thought-provoking words echo the character of the man who said them, and are the theme of the Apartheid Musem in South Africa.

  To give you an idea of what it was like to walk through the museum, I’ll write a short story here that touched me the most.

  During the 1980s when both Apartheid policy and the protests against it were reaching a critical point, the Army was called in to quell the protests.  During this time, many protesters used gatherings in church buildings to express their disappointment with Apartheid.  The government caught on – and started to wait outside for the people who attended these meetings.  Once the people left, they had to run, because the Army was waiting outside to beat, arrest, and throw tear gas into the crowd.  Indiscriminantly… at both leaders and attendees alike.

  Another story.  If you were caught as a political prisoner in South Africa, you were escorted to the police building in Johannesburg (or other police building).  In this building, they would take you to the top floor and torture you.  Then, they would give you a choice.  You could continue being tortured or be forced out the window where you would fall to your death – and, this would be recorded as a suicide.

  The museum doesn’t leave you with this.  At the end, there is the triumph of a peaceful transfer of power to a new government and the end of Apartheid in the early 1990s.

  It’s very inspiring to know that those people that had to run away from the Army after church were the same people who eventually reconciled the country peacefully through negotations between two great men – Mandela and De Klirk.   They lived up to the ideal of not just negotating Mandela’s freedom, but enhancing freedom of the whole country.

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