The FIFA world cup in South Africa has provided unprecedented exposure to the country and highlighted many issues which make South Africa, and other proud African nations for that matter, unique. As a case in point, in an interesting article written by an American journalist, the African concept of “Ubuntu” was explored. The journalist looked to South African struggle icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu for an explanation. “One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu” said Tutu, “which is the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness. You can’t be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality — Ubuntu — you are known for your generosity.”
We all identify with the concept of human interconnectedness but there is a place in business and with specific relevance to BI – probably driven by competition to have smarter solutions that the others – where we simply lose touch with this concept in a one-eyed pursuit of beating the competitor. Perhaps Ubuntu holds lessons where we can all solve BI challenges more easily if we all identified with each other at a more human level and further acknowledged that we are all doing the same things for our partners and customers. Doesn’t it make sense to share our learning’s and assist others to solve problems and challenges long since posed and resolved. Perhaps with these lessons from Africa we may even get to realise the immense value we could all receive should we help each other with a generous spirit. Go Ghana……