Key topics
- Brand SA’s Davos dinner evolves from informal to commercialized.
- Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech lacked the inspiration of 2018’s ‘Ramaphoria.’
- Demis Hassabis’ AI vision outshines South Africa’s industrialization focus.
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By Alec Hogg
For more years than I can remember, Brand South Africa has hosted a Davos dinner for the official delegation led by the President. The event is positioned as an opportunity to entertain prospective investors. Along with the informality was the request that Team SA members be encouraged to bring suitable guests.
WEF founder Klaus Schwab always tended to pop in, which given the competition here, is unusual. But Schwab isnāt shy about publicly describing SA as the most beautiful country in the world and, apparently, often spends his holidays in the country.
These Brand SA dinners grew over the years, but until last night, remained modest affairs. Picture a long table with around 50 people crammed around it. As is natural for South Africans abroad, banter, camaraderie, laughter, and red wine were staples. And a microphone handed around with an informality that seems to belong in a different era.
These occasions were mostly highlights of my Davos week.
A few during the unlamented Zuma era were excruciating. Like when then finance minister Malusi Gigaba ignored the head of a major London-based financial institution whoād expressed an interest in investing in SA. Reason: he reserved a seat between them for a ‘special guest’ who turned out to be a young woman heād met at the event.
Others, however, were memorable. Highlighted by 2018 when freshly elected but not yet inaugurated Cyril Ramaphosa took the mic and went ‘off piste’. It was CR at his absolute best. Upbeat, idealistic, excited ā a skilled ‘peddler of hope’. My trusty iPhone captured it. The recording went viral. It probably played a part in birthing Ramaphoria.
Last night was very different. Perhaps due to budget cuts and misguided ambition, a highlight has become commercialized. Names of corporate sponsors were emblazoned on banners behind the podium. Their CEOs, most of whom are Davos Virgins, settled into a table with CR.
There were around 200 guests with allocated seating at round tables in a large hall. Plus the agonizing speeches that are standard for such avoidable events ā too long and often cringe-worthy in the inability to read the room. Davos Man (and woman) prize quality over quantity. Less truly is more.
Photographer: Greg Beadle
As in the past, Cyril had his turn at the mic, but sadly for those who were there seven years ago, was not the inspiration of 2018. His auto-cue driven address during a poorly attended WEF Plenary session earlier in the day was ordinary. Last night, despite being among a packed room of friends, he stuck mostly to a prepared script. Not his strongest suit.
When freed from the constraints of othersā words, Ramaphosa is a gifted orator. Otherwise, not so much. If this is a taste of whatās in store for those forced to attend some 130 events on the G20 calendar, itās going to be a very long year.
Photographer: Greg Beadle
**Steve Jobs never made it to Davos. But the man who probably comes closest to the peerless founder of Apple is here. A tech genius who was in the Jobs-uniform of black t-shirt, jacket, and jeans. And shared complex issues in a way anyone can follow.
Demis Hassabis is to Artificial Intelligence what Jobs was to the connectivity age. A tech nerd hero, the co-founder of Google Deep Mind won last yearās Nobel Prize for chemistry. His genius led to his being given overall responsibility for all of Googleās AI initiatives. Among them, the recently launched Gemini 2.0 which offers the first viable alternative to ChatGPT, whose wide adoption is responsible for over half a billion people worldwide now tapping into AI on a regular basis.
Not for the first time, Iām indebted to our partners at the Financial Times for this unique experience. Iāll share more details in due course but suffice to say, he blew my mind. And reminded us that, like the Internet, while the early stages of AI (which is where we are) may have been overhyped, the longer-term impact is being massively underestimated.
Immediate conclusion: despite their outperformance, we wonāt be touching the AI-focused stocks in the BizNews portfolios. Also, weāll be adding Alphabet as a priority. With people like Demis making the calls on the biggest thing to hit the world since the Internet, not being on their team is akin to investment stupidity.
Related to this is a nagging feeling that South African leadership is among the many who need to seriously buck up their understanding of the world that is coming. While our guys are talking industrialization and minerals beneficiation, tomorrowās winners are placing their bets on an AI-driven tomorrow.
Among those Iāve been exposed to here is the worldās first AI University, founded in Abu Dhabi back in 2019. It is dedicated to advancing AI through education, research, and application, with courses in machine learning, natural language processing, and what it calls computer vision.
**My soft spot for our northern neighbour deepened through a brief engagement with a fellow table 14 guest at the Brand SA shindig. The chat was long enough though for me to realize Kirsty Coventry, Zimās 41-year-old politically independent minister of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation is the kind of national asset her country needs in spades right now.
On Zim, she was pragmatic. What I heard was while there are problems, the reputational damage is so intense that the country canāt catch a break. There are good things happening, but nothing gets recognized. Thereās truth in that. When legacy media gets a bee in its bonnet, it tends to ignore any alternative message.
For her part, Kirsty may be headed for bigger things. She is the only woman among seven candidates for the presidency of the International Olympic Committee. As Africaās most decorated medalist (2 golds; 4 silvers; one bronze) the former swimmer tells me she is in it to win it. From what I saw last night, the IOC members could do a lot worse.
Read also:
- Alec Hoggās Davos Moments: Decoding the WEF, Klaus Schwab myths and āGod-Incidencesā
- š Davos decadence: Finding wisdom in Mannās āMagic Mountainā ā Adrian Wooldridge
- Javier Milei defends capitalism at Davos, but faces challenge of turning rhetoric into results ā Juan Pablo Spinetto
