Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso has noted that many of the challenges faced by the South African economy are shared by other nations.

“One of the striking features of the B20 summit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last week, which I attended as part of the business delegation, was that South Africa’s problems are certainly not exclusive. Many other countries are battling with the same sort of deep-seated problems that we are grappling with,” she said in her newsletter on October 28.

Mavuso noted that the evidence of these shared challenges was reflected in the B20 priority areas, namely: trade and investment; jobs and education; digital transformation; energy and climate transition; finance and infrastructure; integrity and compliance; sustainable food systems and agriculture; and women, diversity and inclusive business.

The B20, or the Global Business Forum for the G20, brings together business representatives from the G20 countries, from selected invited countries and international organisations to discuss economic and business issues.

Workstreams on priority areas at this year’s summit focused on developing policies and explored ways to work together to address the challenges. The resulting recommendations feed into the G20, which will meet on November 18 and 19 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and into next year’s B20, which will be hosted in South Africa.

Brazil concluded the B20 Summit on October 25, marking the end of the country’s B20 presidency. South Africa will now take over the presidency of the B20, synchronising with the country’s presidency of the G20 for 2025.

Mavuso said that, as a result, it would be extremely important for South Africa to showcase itself to the world as it hosts both the B20 and G20 summits.

“President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged that we use the opportunity to shine a light on local business opportunities with a view to increasing foreign direct investment, but also to present an African perspective, particularly with the African Union having been formally admitted as a member of the G20,” she said.

Mavuso noted that this gives South Africa a chance to shape the debate.

“As part of the process, South Africa has an opportunity to introduce additional custom priority themes while hosting next year’s B20 and G20 gatherings,” she pointed out.

She also noted that the scenario gives South Africa an opportunity to strengthen its relationships with other member countries.

Heading the South African delegation in Sao Paulo was Business Unity South Africa president Mxolisi Mgojo.

“He is an eloquent speaker and he emphasised how the cooperation and support extended to the South African delegation had been remarkable. It was something that impressed me as well, particularly the Brazilian delegation in supporting us in the transition to the B20 presidency, using their experiences to guide us.

“The US delegation was also particularly helpful and is keen to similarly work with us in preparing for their B20 presidency the following year,” Mavuso said.

She said that, during the presidential ceremony, Mgojo presented South Africa’s key principles that will guide its B20 and G20 presidency, noting that the starting point would be to build on the important work initiated by predecessors, ensuring continuity. He then outlined ways to build on those foundations.

Mgojo said South Africa’s primary strategy would be to pivot from the planning stages to action and implementation.

“B20 Brazil played an incredible role in defining key actions. South Africa’s focus will be on executing and delivering tangible outcomes from the established policies to ensure meaningful impact,” he explained.

Mgojo also identified three areas in which South Africa aims to build on the policy foundations laid by Brazil B20.

The first was to continue to drive gender inclusivity, pledging that all South Africa’s structures, including the task teams on the various workshops, would have 50% women representation at next year’s B20 South Africa summit.

The second was to push for stronger collaboration between business and governments, to work together to achieve global social and economic development goals.

He emphasised the huge benefits that South Africa had experienced in such collaboration, initially in reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic and then continuing through the business-government workstreams and other areas to address the country’s national crises, including reforming its energy and transport sectors.

“We are already feeling the benefits of initial improvements, though there is still a long way to go,” Mavuso commented.

Mgojo further noted that business-government collaboration was critical to effectively address social challenges, particularly because policies were designed to be better aligned with real-world challenges.

The third area of focus that he laid out entailed improved collaboration between nations, with the goal to build bridges between developed and developing nations while recognising the need for a more effective international order to address geopolitical conflicts.

Mavuso said that, in the same panel discussion, there was much interest in finding out how the business sector and government can work together to address social challenges. Mgojo emphasised how important it was for political leaders to understand that both parties were working towards the same goals.

He claimed that the way South Africa had handled the Covid-19 crisis was “successful” citing this as an example of how government recognised the important role business could play and that “there was no time for arguments or agendas”.

Mgojo said extensive resources and initiatives driven by the private sector assisted government in addressing the challenge together.

“Both parties were saying, let’s forget everything that divides us and meet this challenge together,” he said.

Mavuso said she also encountered many questions about South Africa’s business-government collaboration, noting that it is a reminder of how important it has been, and will continue to be, as the country executes the numerous reforms that are needed to undo the problems preventing the economy from operating at its full potential.  

“It was also a proud moment, where South Africa was being used as an example of how effective such collaboration could be in addressing social and economic challenges,” she said.