South Africa needed positive leadership and a change in narrative to tackle its problems and create inclusive sustainable growth for all, said Discovery Group CE Adrian Gore during the opening of the Discovery Leadership Summit, in Johannesburg.

The summit brought together many world leaders and thinkers to share and discuss leadership strategies and insights into global financial, economic and management issues.

Gore indicated that, globally, there had been improvements in the areas of health, poverty alleviation and basic education over the past 100 years, but the perception remained that things were getting worse.

South Africans are particularly susceptible to this, with citizens “confidently wrong” that things are getting worse in the country, despite this not being the case.

While the country faces many problems, such as a high unemployment rate and the issue of land expropriation, these should not engender a perception that the country is declining. While Gore acknowledged the seriousness and scale of the problems faced, he cautioned against failing into the trap of believing them to be intractable.

Citizens perceived the country’s economy as risky; however, this sentiment did not reflect fundamentals, he stated, adding that the South African economy was actually robust.

What was required, however, was for the economy to grow at a faster pace than it had over the past decade.

He suggested that people were likely confusing the low level of growth with the risk level.

Therefore, he encouraged changing the narrative of the country by celebrating progress; believing that problems, while dangerous and real, were soluble; and seeing the potential in the economy and investing in the country, as inclusive economic grow was necessary to alleviate poverty.

This belief in South Africa’s future was reflected in Discovery’s plans to invest R13-billion in the country over the next five years, he said.

Gore also promoted the need for leaders with positive, but not naïve, optimism.

This sentiment of positivity, and the belief that there was room for the economy to grow if it was adopted was reiterated by African Rainbow Minerals chairperson Patrice Motsepe and former Investec CEO Stephen Koseff.

Koseff emphasised that it was important to remember that South Africa was a mixture of a developed and developing economy.

Therefore, the country’s growth had to be inclusive, added Motsepe.

While he believes the future of the country is positive, there is the challenge of poor, marginalised, excluded and employed South Africans. There was a need to ensure that this fact-based optimism was instilled in them as well, and that they were included in this growth, as a lot had not changed for them since democracy, he said.

Also presenting at the summit was British economist Lord Jim O’ Neil, who indicated that the global economic cycle, which had been picking up last year, had started to slow.

He emphasised the importance of both China and India in the global economy.