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Manuel: Africa has a lot going for it

Johannesburg - Africa has a lot going for it, possessing 60% of the world’s undeveloped arable land, 95% of its platinum and 40% of its gold reserves, former Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel said at the second annual i3 Summit.

The summit is an investment conference hosted jointly by Sanlam Investments and Glacier by Sanlam.

Manuel was one of several speakers.

Johan van der Merwe, CEO of Sanlam Investments, said the summit is an independent platform that provides an opportunity to share international best practice, particularly with regards to client centricity.

Geo-strategic expert Dr Parag Khanna, reminded delegates that the old US-dominated world order has made place for the new geo-political marketplace from which no continent is excluded.

Khanna called connectivity - transport, energy, water, utilities, telecoms - the asset class of the 21st century and showed how countries that have invested heavily in infrastructure are benefiting.

He warned that intra-urban inequality is the threat of the future, but very few countries have strategies in place to address it.

Dr Frans Cronje, CEO of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), looked at the most pertinent issues that are currently holding back South African economic growth.

These include there now being more recipients of welfare grants than taxpayers in South Africa, rising youth unemployment, falling education levels and dwindling confidence in Government.

Maya Fisher-French looked back over the past 18 months and how much the landscape has shifted for the local financial industry.

Other than Twin Peaks and the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) changing the way companies and advisers do business, retirement reform is also on its way. She said advisers also need to take into account the recent proposals by the Davis Committee and changes to the way insurance policies are sold.

A panel discussion which included Jannie Durand, CEO of Remgro, Paul Dunne, CEO at Northam Platinum, and Stephen Koseff, CEO of Investec - all at the helm of companies that have seen formidable multi-decade growth - shared tips on how to deal with change in multiple forms.

These changes include rapid local and African expansion, black empowerment, volatile markets, labour unrest and the mechanisation and digitisation of services.

The panel concluded that in the end, all economic, legislative and social evolution impacts investors. Those changes determine whether investors’ portfolios grow as much as they expect over the long term – or not.

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