original blog is found at http://ow.ly/ebXi

• When you love the work you do and the people you do it with, you matter.
• When you are so gracious and generous and aware that you think of other people before yourself, you matter.
• When you leave the world a better place than you found it, you matter.
• When you continue to raise the bar on what you do and how you do it, you matter.
• When you teach and forgive and teach more before you rush to judge and demean, you matter.
• When you touch the people in your life through your actions (and your words), you matter.
• When kids grow up wanting to be you, you matter.
• When you see the world as it is, but insist on making it more like it could be, you matter.
• When you inspire a Nobel prize winner or a slum dweller, you matter.
• When the room brightens when you walk in, you matter.
• And when the legacy you leave behind lasts for hours, days or a lifetime, you matter.

the session on the urban challenges of Africa remains embedded in my mind. we had seven amazing contributors who had agreed to participate. they all arrived early so that we could run thru the session and talk a bit about what was going to happen. the time to start came and passed with only about four participants in the room. it was staggeringly disappointing...but then, a few more trickled in and then more and more. in the end, we had about thirty all told. a good solid group with whom we had a really robust discussion. we found out that a session had been added on the Future of South Africa....and as the saying goes...the future of Africa goes as the Future of South Africa.

There are two things that have lodged themselves in my mind that make the urban situation of Africa quite different that than every city of the Northern Hemisphere, and perhaps of every other continent. An African does not see the city as their home. it is the place that they stay, but their home is their village. When this was stated, every black African around the circle of chairs nodded their head. A white South Africans at a breakfast session the following day stated 'and this is the problem' when i brought this up as an issue.

i believe that this duality could be the saving grace of the continent IF it could get pervasive broadband to every village. The question is, how can it be possible for a villager to have access to government services even in their own remote homes. Would it be possible, as was suggested in the workshop session, that that the continent could become known as the LEAPFROG continent. It has already done so with the use of the mobile phone. Could it do so with other technologies to enable the the continent to skip the paradigm of centralized industrialization? I hope so.

It could also be that i have a deep empathy with this idea of living a life in which you have one foot in one place that you exist every day, but have a deep affinity with another place. The Zulu believe that you need to do three things to become a man; plant a tree in your village; have a story to tell and to do so, and to kill a man. I am not keen on the third, but each have deeper meanings about commitment to the community; about giving back a gift that provides over time.

so.... where is home?

Graham Mackay. [Chief Executive SABMiller http://www.sabmiller.com/index.asp?pageid=356]
I have heard that there needs to be a focus on the creation of a benign investment environment across Africa and and deep need for infrastructure. We feel our investments are safe here and that it is a good place to invest. good double digit returns. he feels very hopeful in looking ahead.

Maria Ramos. [Group Chief Executive, Transnet Limited, South Africa ]
there are a number of things to take away:
1. leadership and values. this is the courage to implement the decisions and policies which have either already been made or are about to be made.
2. the crisis will not end with one event. there will be many opportunities that will arise.
3. regional stock exchange needs to be established.
4. climate change will pose a great challenge and provide opportunities. the opportunities are greater than the constraints.
5. implementation is a big issue. if we are capable of building stadiums so why not put this implementation capability to work in the reconstruction of civil society. the only things which stops us is the imagination. we do not need another plan or review. we need to get going on projects. if we get one wrong, so be it; we get nine right.

Klaus Schwab - summarized as YES WE CAN, BUT WE DON'T. why not?

Ramos - the problem is accountability.

Graca Machel [http://www.theelders.org/elders/machel.aspx]
a plea to bring more women and young people into the forum and its activities. her main take away's..... to take advantage of this crisis to make sure that 'nothing about us without us' will be considered and to ensure that the voice of women is part of the G20. the second thing is that the leadership of the nations need to improve.

Graça Machel (born Graça Simbine on 17 October 1945 in Incadine, Gaza Province, Mozambique) is the third wife of former South African president Nelson Mandela and the former widow of the late Mozambican president Samora Machel. She is the only person in the world to have been married to the presidents of two different nations. She is an international advocate for women's and children's rights.

Soud Ba'alawy [Executive Chairman, Dubai Group, UAE http://www.dubaigroup.com/aboutus/managementprofiles_en_gb.aspx]
spoke to the potential of pooling liquidity in order to finance the future. if the pooling does not happen there will simply not
protectionism both without and within the region is dangerous. regional trade needs to increase. a financial architecture needs to be created with will help to allow this trade to occur. the GCC and CHINA are the only two places for funding today. the African countries need to reach out. there is need to be a difference between hot money FDI and development FDI. the one message is - in life the biggest risk is to not take a risk. the region needs to stop making plans and get going on the action. 95% of success comes from action, not planning. there needs to be a leadership shift to allow entrepreneurship to flourish and be celebrated. the gov't cannot continue to be the only source of ideas and inspiration.

Zuma [Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa] [http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1893561,00.html]
African leadership should be able to deal with the issues. African should have more opportunity than it does. fighting crime will be one of his priorities to help not only business but the country as a whole. there was more....

OK. i have been here before. when i walked into the lobby the memory of the last room came back. the only good thing about this hotel is the pool which has a veranda around it which is large and comfortable to sit and work with robust wifi. The service is miserable. it is an older hotel with the potential to be something special - it must have been once before. but the luster has gone the same way with the care for the meaning of hospitality.

there is a Westin across the street. that is the place to go if at the convention centre. otherwise one of the dozens of small hotels would be a better bet. The Cullinan is off my list.

https://www.southernsun.com:443/SSH/VHB/25383cf8de46a010VgnVCM100000650114acRCRD/43/47

Klaus opened the conference. 17th WEF on Africa. it started in Geneva in 1990. he stated a desire to part of the solution to the crises that are facing the world, and especially that which is facing Africa.

Jacob Zuma then spoke next. he welcomed every head of state by name and the rest of us. a slightly rambling start. he focused on the need for a reform of the global financial institutions. the crises provides an opportunity to correct the brain drain to reconstruct the continent. many African emigrants have realized that the grass is not greener on the other side. he noted that many global / international organizations need to change their configurations to reflect the new global order which is no longer centred in the north and west. he noted further that nations are looking more and more at their interests. it was a so-so speech.