3.5 weeks in : South Africa

I have wanted to go to Africa for a while now, and finally got my chance this summer! As part of the IMD program, the Discovery Expedition, our class traveled to South Africa. The class, minus 3 members, left on the 22nd of June. 3 members of our class, Stephen's, Stephane's, and Alistair's wives were all scheduled to delivery their babies this week (talk about unplanned coordination!).

The picture is of the Soweto shanty town.

As a quick overview, because I will not be able to write about everything, we visited WITS business school, an AIDS hospice, an investment bank, various local businesses, Soweto, vineyards, local charity organisations, a museum commemorating the 1976 children protests and were visited by various figures of government and players in the transition, a film producer, current business students... The IMD MBA diary describes all events in great detail, if you would like to read more.

In South Africa we were hosted by WITS business and studied the post-Apartheid situation in the country. We visited both Johannesburg and Cape Town and were able to have amazing guest speakers explain their role in the economy, from the leader of the then current worker's strike to a discussion of the Truth and Reconciliation Board we
had view points from many sides of the current economic situation.
Some of the key issues facing the country include a massive skills shortage and poverty. During Apartheid non-whites had a limited and challenging educational situation, which has resulted in the majority of the population, more than 70% with very few skills. The current challenge, in addition to overcoming racism, is to help educate this portion of the population. This combined with the fact nearly 1 in 5 South Africans are HIV positive presents enormous challenges.
South Africa is an absolutely stunningly beautiful place. The contrast however, between rich and poor is striking. In one section of town you may see beautiful buildings, decadent houses, vast amounts of wealth... while in Soweto, or the "Ring of Fire" that surrounds Cape Town, you will see shanty towns that seem to stretch on forever in the distance, reflecting the enormous poverty in the country. This has the unfortunate outcome of rampant crime (it is common for most residents to be robbed at gunpoint at least once a year if not more), and lack of hope, as is the case in many emerging economies.
We were fortunate to meet and speak with Musi Manyamalala, a 21 year old film student who produced a real life documentary on train surfing, a past time of many disadvantaged youth in South Africa. In his film he learns to train surf to be able to film the teenagers who perform this stunt. To train surf is to ride on the roofs of the train cars carefully dancing around the high voltage wires, or hanging beneath the cars. If you have a chance to view this short piece, it is incredibly powerful, but I must warn you, incredibly sad.
We also had the opportunity to visit a children's AIDS hospice, where approximately 70% of the children were infected with the virus.
There is hope and tremendous opportunity in the country however. Many programs are being put in place to help educate the public, both in classical subjects (reading, writing, math, etc) as well as in Health education, to help minimize the spread of AIDS. South Africa has entered into agreements with major drug companies so ARVs (anti-retroviral) drugs are available at discount prices, and is working to make these drugs affordable to all. Companies are putting in place health treatment programs, as well as minority promotion programs. As the cost of labor and living is less than most western countries, South Africa holds great opportunities for investment.
Overall the trip was amazing and informative. It was a huge contrast to life in Switzerland, and shared some of the challenges I had seen while living in Bulgaria.

The trip was a great ending to the intensive 6 months at IMD, and a way to get to know all of our classmates better, outside the pressure environment.
At the end of the trip, myself and 6 other classmates had decided to take a road trip to Namibia in Land Rovers. So my next entry will describe our trip...