Govts must create policy for businesses to invest to improve living standards, says Jarana

9th April 2019

By: African News Agency

  

Font size: - +

Governments must create a policy and legal framework for businesses to invest to improve the living standards of society, create jobs and grow economies, said Vuyani Jarana, South African Airways (SAA) chief executive.

“There has to be a constant realignment between government policy, business investment drivers and society expectations such as social equity, access to affordable services and improving of better living standards," Jarana said in a statement. "Unless we watch this constant realignment particularly, we are bound to see leakages in the system and a lack of alignment.”

Jarana delivered a keynote address on Friday at a special awards ceremony hosted by the University of Stellenbosch Business School (USB) where the top performing students were awarded for their successes during their academic career. Jarana is an MBA alumnus and Alumnus of the Year 2017 of USB.

He said: “As leaders we are trustees of the future generations. We have been given stewardship of the organisations, whether it is government, business or civil society, to see the effective functioning of these institutions and systems for future generations to benefit.”

He added that with such trusteeship comes a responsibility of the highest level of accountability and ethics, “so that future generations find these institutions in a better shape than when we found it ourselves in order to build a better continent at large”.

“Africa requires significant investment in a number of areas in order to improve the human development index, infrastructure, and education if Africa is to improve itself from the current economic challenges. Business schools therefore play a crucial role in preparing leaders with insights and knowledge to navigate the complex issues and to be better trustees at the work in hand. Educational institutions need to find models that address the opportunities that are deeply embedded in a very complex structure of African economies,” he further added.

Jarana said there has been a lot of progress made by African governments to align the African continent. “However, more policy instruments such as the Single African Air Transport Market (SAATM) that the Africa Union (AU) is putting together, must be driven pragmatically by businesses taking advantage of the opportunities coming out of these policy decisions.

“We expect the academic community to provide a leading role in understanding how we could move from policy to execution.”

He further said that the Fourth Industrial Revolution presents opportunities for Africa to focus on development, in terms of comparison with the path already taken by the developed world. “Key areas of opportunities lie in improving education through access to resources, bridging the gap between the rich and poor, urban and rural, and access to capital and ensuring greater financial inclusion across segments of society.

“Unless the continent embraces the Fourth Industrial Revolution, it will be left behind. Its development will continue to lag behind the developed world and remain a spectator in global trade with a direct effect on youth employment, human development as well as overall economic activities,” Jarana said.

Edited by African News Agency

Comments

The functionality you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION