I've now been out of South Africa for almost three weeks and of course people keep asking me about my experience and if I was sad to say goodbye to the country. I generally reply with the same answer, "I had an amazing year in South Africa, where I learned a lot, met some great people and saw some unbelievable places, but I am relieved to be moving on."
I recently read two articles which I think do a good job of illustrating why I feel this way:
"The hollow state"
http://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21684146-two-decades-after-south-africas-transition-non-racial-democracy-its
"South Africa still awaits its golden age"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-35106236
I've said it before, but I think South Africa is at a tipping point right now and it's not heading in a good direction. I think it'll get worse before it gets better but I hope the next generation of leaders will rise up and right the ship. It's a wonderful country of contradictions and surprises; I'm rooting for them to make it happen through it all.
Monday, 28 December 2015
Tuesday, 8 December 2015
Closing up Shop
I leave town tomorrow and I'm just about ready to go. One amazing thing about living in a furnished apartment is how easy it is to shut the door and head out without trying to sell or store everything. I've slowly been purging clothes (donated to a local hospice [http://www.hospicewits.co.za/] who will come to pick up your donation; so convenient) and canceling memberships and whatnot, but one major item I do...or did own...was my car.
Selling my car, and hopefully not losing a bunch of money on it, was the biggest source of worry for me as I prepared to move. I tried to sell my car privately within my network and on autotrader.co.za, but when that didn't work I called around to dealerships to get quotes. Luckily, I also had a friend tell me about webuycars.co.za. This was the quickest, easiest process and I was able to keep my car right until my departure.
If you're looking to sell your car, you just go to the website, enter in the car specs, add a picture and ask for a quote. Almost immediately I was sent a quoted range and asked if I was happy with this, if I would set up an appointment. This quote was higher by far than any of the dealerships so I sent up an appointment for the day before I left so I could still use the car as long as I needed it.
The Webuycars rep showed up this morning, took a look around the car, checked out the paperwork, we took a test drive around the block and then he gave me an offer, staying within the range I had been quoted. We then took about five minutes where he entered in all my information in his tablet, sent me a sales agreement electronically and called his office to do an EFT to my bank account. We then waited another five minutes for the payment to show up in my account and voila - he left with the vehicle registration docs and the car. It could not have been easier.
Now the only thing left will be for me to transfer money from my bank account here into my Canadian account...I will have pay a Forex fee and I'll lose money on the conversion from Rand to Dollars but hopefully I'll still have a nice chunk of savings left when all is said and done.
Okay, now back to packing...
Selling my car, and hopefully not losing a bunch of money on it, was the biggest source of worry for me as I prepared to move. I tried to sell my car privately within my network and on autotrader.co.za, but when that didn't work I called around to dealerships to get quotes. Luckily, I also had a friend tell me about webuycars.co.za. This was the quickest, easiest process and I was able to keep my car right until my departure.
If you're looking to sell your car, you just go to the website, enter in the car specs, add a picture and ask for a quote. Almost immediately I was sent a quoted range and asked if I was happy with this, if I would set up an appointment. This quote was higher by far than any of the dealerships so I sent up an appointment for the day before I left so I could still use the car as long as I needed it.
The Webuycars rep showed up this morning, took a look around the car, checked out the paperwork, we took a test drive around the block and then he gave me an offer, staying within the range I had been quoted. We then took about five minutes where he entered in all my information in his tablet, sent me a sales agreement electronically and called his office to do an EFT to my bank account. We then waited another five minutes for the payment to show up in my account and voila - he left with the vehicle registration docs and the car. It could not have been easier.
Now the only thing left will be for me to transfer money from my bank account here into my Canadian account...I will have pay a Forex fee and I'll lose money on the conversion from Rand to Dollars but hopefully I'll still have a nice chunk of savings left when all is said and done.
Okay, now back to packing...
Friday, 4 December 2015
As I prepare to leave...
It's my last weekend in Johannesburg and I am feeling conflicted.
Of course, I will miss this city, the people I have met and unique culture I have been able to be a part of, but I am also feeling extremely excited to take the next step in my life; moving to London!
I went for dinner with a group of people this week who have just moved to Johannesburg and I was speaking with them about the exciting travel spots they want to go and the places they should see while they are here. I also took a quick scan back through my blog posts from the past year and it all made me nostalgic for the once in a lifetime experiences I have been fortunate enough to have while here. The office also said goodbye to me today at our all-staff meeting and capped it off with high-tea and drinks after work. It is finally hitting me that my year is actually coming to a close and I'm leaving. It feels a little sad.
While at the same time, not only am I very much looking forward to seeing my loved ones when I visit Canada for the holidays and for what is to come in London, but I know that this is really the right time for me to leave.
This week one of my closest friends here was robbed at gunpoint with his young family and accordingly to South African stats, crime rates have increased in Johannesburg this year over last. South Africa right now seems to be at a tipping point. The youth in the country are standing up and asking for more from their leaders, but so far they have only been met with band-aid solutions and misguided regulations. Unemployment is high, productivity and growth are low, but South Africa continues to make it difficult for foreign investors and infrastructure to enter in and build up the economy. People are getting desperate. As it stands, the ANC, won't be voted out of power, and the loyalty they receive is understandable, but my hope is that with enough pressure from young voters (if they get out and vote) who aren't as devoted to the ANC, the ruling party will start to adapt. But these are high hopes and right now its feeling more and more that things are starting to boil over. We'll see how the tides shift, but for now, I'm just grateful for the year I've had and relieved that I have a ticket to outta here in a few days.
Of course, I will miss this city, the people I have met and unique culture I have been able to be a part of, but I am also feeling extremely excited to take the next step in my life; moving to London!
I went for dinner with a group of people this week who have just moved to Johannesburg and I was speaking with them about the exciting travel spots they want to go and the places they should see while they are here. I also took a quick scan back through my blog posts from the past year and it all made me nostalgic for the once in a lifetime experiences I have been fortunate enough to have while here. The office also said goodbye to me today at our all-staff meeting and capped it off with high-tea and drinks after work. It is finally hitting me that my year is actually coming to a close and I'm leaving. It feels a little sad.
While at the same time, not only am I very much looking forward to seeing my loved ones when I visit Canada for the holidays and for what is to come in London, but I know that this is really the right time for me to leave.
This week one of my closest friends here was robbed at gunpoint with his young family and accordingly to South African stats, crime rates have increased in Johannesburg this year over last. South Africa right now seems to be at a tipping point. The youth in the country are standing up and asking for more from their leaders, but so far they have only been met with band-aid solutions and misguided regulations. Unemployment is high, productivity and growth are low, but South Africa continues to make it difficult for foreign investors and infrastructure to enter in and build up the economy. People are getting desperate. As it stands, the ANC, won't be voted out of power, and the loyalty they receive is understandable, but my hope is that with enough pressure from young voters (if they get out and vote) who aren't as devoted to the ANC, the ruling party will start to adapt. But these are high hopes and right now its feeling more and more that things are starting to boil over. We'll see how the tides shift, but for now, I'm just grateful for the year I've had and relieved that I have a ticket to outta here in a few days.
Working in SA
In building off a previous post about the talent drain in South Africa, and looking back on my year, I wanted to write about my personal experience working in the South African market.
When I first moved here, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I knew coming in that part of my responsibility would be to bring best practices to this young office, but the team had kicked off over a year before my arrival, so I figured some basic systems would be in place.
Pretty quickly I came to realize, it wasn't just best practices that were needed, this department was lacking any form of structure and organization. While at the same time, the growth targets were aggressive, so new initiatives were being proposed left, right and centre.
Almost as soon as I started, things began being added to my job description; campus portfolios, external program management, cleaning up legacy issues...in short, I was drowning.
But what I found most troubling in all of this, is that my local colleague's workload was being significantly decreased, not to the point that we were equals, but to the point where she had few major responsibilities.
I started seeing the inefficiencies of our local team as a whole. There is a noticeable difference in performance levels between here and our Toronto staff, which is concerning when Johannesburg has 1.5 million people more than Toronto and should have an eligible workforce from which to fill these roles. Yet, with the talent drain, it's just not the case.
Certainly, there are a few fantastic staff, who would be top performers in any market, but as a whole the group is under-performing and there is this lack of willingness to go above and beyond their job description (which as you can see, in a developing market especially, is often necessary).
This is of grave concern for any growing business in South Africa, because in order to maintain sustainable growth, there needs to be a base of South African employees who want to grow their career with the firm, but at the same time, an international standard of business needs to be met.
We're walking a fine and often frustrating line...
When I first moved here, I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. I knew coming in that part of my responsibility would be to bring best practices to this young office, but the team had kicked off over a year before my arrival, so I figured some basic systems would be in place.
Pretty quickly I came to realize, it wasn't just best practices that were needed, this department was lacking any form of structure and organization. While at the same time, the growth targets were aggressive, so new initiatives were being proposed left, right and centre.
Almost as soon as I started, things began being added to my job description; campus portfolios, external program management, cleaning up legacy issues...in short, I was drowning.
But what I found most troubling in all of this, is that my local colleague's workload was being significantly decreased, not to the point that we were equals, but to the point where she had few major responsibilities.
I started seeing the inefficiencies of our local team as a whole. There is a noticeable difference in performance levels between here and our Toronto staff, which is concerning when Johannesburg has 1.5 million people more than Toronto and should have an eligible workforce from which to fill these roles. Yet, with the talent drain, it's just not the case.
Certainly, there are a few fantastic staff, who would be top performers in any market, but as a whole the group is under-performing and there is this lack of willingness to go above and beyond their job description (which as you can see, in a developing market especially, is often necessary).
This is of grave concern for any growing business in South Africa, because in order to maintain sustainable growth, there needs to be a base of South African employees who want to grow their career with the firm, but at the same time, an international standard of business needs to be met.
We're walking a fine and often frustrating line...
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