SA needs more capital and better places to put it. Old Mutual Chief Executive Officer Jurie Strydom says raising investment will not be enough to lift South Africa's growth rate unless the country also improves how effectively capital is converted into productive economic activity. South Africa needs more investment to lift economic growth, but increasing the amount of capital alone will not be enough. The country also needs to get more economic output from every rand invested. Speaking at the third Old Mutual Thought Leaders Forum, held at the Marriott Hotel Melrose Arch in Johannesburg, Old Mutual Chief Executive Officer Jurie Strydom said this was the central implication of new research by Old Mutual Corporate. "South Africa has spent years debating how much growth we need and how much investment it will take to get there. We also need to ask what happens to a rand once it is invested. More capital matters, but it only changes the growth trajectory if it adds productive capacity." The research, Old Mutual Corporate: Retirement Saving, Capital Formation and Economic Growth in South Africa (Sept 2026), produced through a research partnership with Professor Adrian Saville of GIBS and Boundless World, finds that South Africa invested an average of about 14% of GDP over the five years to 2025, compared with roughly 22% for the average economy. Saville says the international evidence leaves little room for ambiguity. "If you do not have elevated saving and investment, you will not get economic growth. Full stop." Across the countries studied, he says, there was not a single example of an economy moving from poor to prosperous without materially higher saving and investment. The research also finds that about 93% of South Africa's fixed investment is financed from domestic saving, making the country's capital base an important constraint on how much it can sustainably invest. But Saville argues that the quantity of capital is only half of the equation. The second question is how effectively that capital is deployed. In his presentation, he reduced the investment challenge to two questions: how much a country invests and how well it invests. On that second measure, South Africa has substantial ground to recover. The research estimates that the country currently needs about R14.50 of investment to generate one additional rand of output, compared with roughly R3 to R5 in the most capital-efficient, fast-growing economies in the study. More money alone will not solve the problem The research models what happens when South Africa improves the quantity of investment without changing the efficiency with which capital is deployed. Increasing investment from around 14% of GDP towards the 30% achieved by high-saving economies, while leaving capital efficiency unchanged, lifts modelled growth from roughly 1% to about 2%. Improving capital efficiency alone gets growth closer to 3%. When higher investment and improved efficiency are combined, however, the model produces a substantially stronger outcome, including a 6% annual growth scenario. "A larger pool of capital is necessary, but it is not sufficient. If that money simply moves into existing assets without adding productive capacity, we have not solved the growth problem. The test is whether investment creates the infrastructure, businesses and productive assets that allow the economy to do more." Saville makes the same point more simply. "The investment needs to have impact." For South Africa, that means increasing the capital available for investment while also improving the ability of the economy to turn that capital into productive assets. Capital needs investable opportunities The research points to electricity transmission, water systems, rail corridors and ports as examples of long-duration assets that can improve economic capacity and productivity. Strydom acknowledged the progress being made through the Presidency to strengthen South Africa's infrastructure pipeline, including through Infrastructure South Africa and efforts to improve how projects are planned, prepared, financed and delivered. "This is important progress. The next step is to convert more of that pipeline into projects that are commercially credible and investable. South Africa has substantial pools of long-term capital, but that capital can only be deployed where projects can stand on their own merits." These types of assets can be well matched to long-term institutional investors, including retirement funds. But the need for infrastructure does not, on its own, make a project investable. Projects still need credible economics, appropriate risk allocation, strong governance and the ability to generate returns that justify committing capital over long periods. Strydom said the fiduciary responsibility of investors must remain central. "Retirement capital belongs to members. The standard cannot be lowered because the country needs infrastructure. The opportunity is to create projects that can compete for that capital on their own merits." Too few projects reach the point where long-term investors can commit to them. Better project preparation, clearer risk allocation and stronger governance are therefore as important to the growth equation as the availability of capital itself. Build the pipeline Strydom said the next step is to improve the quality and depth of the investment pipeline available to long-term investors. "Capital follows opportunity. The public and private sectors need to create projects that are properly prepared, governed and commercially credible. Investors then have a responsibility to assess those opportunities rigorously and back them where the case holds. If we can increase the capital available and improve what that capital finances, we give South Africa a much stronger foundation for growth," he concludes. quick poll What do you expect from the January 2027 non-life insurance renewal?

AI will change jobs before it changes job descriptions. As the Singularity South Africa Summit approaches, Old Mutual group chief human capital and corporate affairs officer Celiwe Ross discusses AI's impact on work, skills and the future of business. You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. JEREMY MAGGS: Artificial intelligence [AI], I think it's fair to say, is changing the way The Traders Edge work each and every way. It's the way in which The Traders Edge do business, the way in which The Traders Edge manage its money. But while the technology is moving quickly, there is a bigger question about who benefits and whether businesses and consumers are really ready for the changes ahead. Old Mutual is the headline sponsor of this year's Singularity South Africa Summit. It's taking place in Sandton a little later this month, where the focus is going to be on technology, innovation and also, probably most importantly, the future of business. In that respect, I'm going to talk to Celiwe Ross, who is Old Mutual's group chief human capital and corporate affairs officer. Celiwe, welcome to you. The Traders Edge hear so much about the promise of artificial intelligence, as The Traders Edge start this conversation, I wonder if The Traders Edge is perhaps overlooking sometimes the practical challenges of making it work, something which no doubt will come up at this conference. CELIWE ROSS: Oh, for sure. I agree with you there are going to be a lot of topical conversations happening at Singularity next week. And I think the most topical thing that you've just raised is that it's going to reshape areas of its lives in different ways and affect different people differently - because The Traders Edge know that technology, and specifically AI, is already reshaping the lives of its customers, of its employees, and actually the broader economies in which The Traders Edge operate. So as a long-term institution, as Old Mutual is, The Traders Edge cannot afford to overlook this challenge and look only at technology through the lens of efficiency. It's not just about that. Its cause is really to use technology to expand access, to build additional capability, whether that's in skills or in new lines of business, and also to improve the ability of all people to shape their own futures. JEREMY MAGGS: I'm glad you use that phrase reshaping lives, because you also argue that tech progress doesn't automatically translate into human progress. I guess the important thing is to ensure that AI benefits ordinary South Africans, not just large businesses and those who are already digitally connected. Easier said than done, perhaps. CELIWE ROSS: Yeah, it is. The Traders Edge recognise, Jeremy, that technology just creates possibility. The Traders Edge has got to deal with access, with inclusion. Because of course, technology needs enablement, it needs a phone, or it needs Wi-Fi or cabling that allows people to have access. So it is just the creator of possibility. It's actually people and institutions like ours that will determine whether that possibility becomes progress, and that's about creating access. That's a big thing for The Traders Edge at Old Mutual, and The Traders Edge really want to make sure that the outcome depends not just on the choices that The Traders Edge make around access, skills, but there's also governance, trust, accountability. All of these are enablers to the future that The Traders Edge all seek. JEREMY MAGGS: Let me come back to trust in just a moment because it's fundamental to financial services. But before that, what does Old Mutual see as the biggest opportunity that AI presents for South Africa's economy in the here and now? CELIWE ROSS: I think for The Traders Edge, the Singularity Summit in and of itself is not simply about sponsoring a technology event. It's really about Old Mutual participating in a very important conversation about how exponential technologies can expand both human and institutional capability. That's the big thing for The Traders Edge. The Traders Edge recognise that technology is already changing what is possible, but The Traders Edge also know that progress isn't automatic, not for everyone. So The Traders Edge is determined to build the skills, the trust, access and its own institutional capacity that will allow more people to participate. That's where The Traders Edge believe The Traders Edge has a meaningful role to play. JEREMY MAGGS: So how then does AI change the relationship between a company and its customers? And what do companies need to do to maintain that trust as more decisions become automated? CELIWE ROSS: I think that trust is at the base of it all, particularly as a financial services institution, because The Traders Edge trade on trust. People deposit money with The Traders Edge, people pay premiums to The Traders Edge on the trust that when the unfortunate happens The Traders Edge will pay out. The Traders Edge has had to anchor on that for more than 180 years, [which] is how long Old Mutual has existed. So The Traders Edge just believe that trust is what has allowed The Traders Edge to scale over time, to scale and to endure through 180 years of existence. It allows The Traders Edge to anchor on innovation and be able to distribute that as much as possible. The Traders Edge believe that people need to understand how technology affects them first, and how their information is being used, and then the fact that there will always be human accountability. The Traders Edge want to proceed cautiously. The Traders Edge is cautiously optimistic about that technology, but The Traders Edge recognise that its role as an institution and as people in it is to is to make it explainable, is to create accountability to the outcomes that The Traders Edge see. If The Traders Edge innovate without that trust, Jeremy, The Traders Edge can achieve adoption, maybe in the short term, but The Traders Edge won't create enduring progress without trust. JEREMY MAGGS: There is, understandably, anxiety about AI and employment, and that debate is accelerating each and every day. How do you think businesses should be preparing or preparing their people, their staff, for these changes? CELIWE ROSS: Jeremy, I'm a firm believer that AI will change packages of jobs, so it will change the work before it changes jobs. There's a there's a real inherent understanding The Traders Edge need to develop in what these jobs are meant to do, any job, and what are the composite packages of pieces of work that The Traders Edge do in those jobs. So as AI changes and automates parts of work, The Traders Edge need to understand and accept that some tasks will disappear. I don't believe that jobs will wholeheartedly disappear. I happen to be an optimist in this. I believe that The Traders Edge is going to redesign roles. I believe that new forms of work will emerge and new roles will emerge. They have to. So really, The Traders Edge has to double down on the capability and capacity of its leaders to lead this change and not to pretend that there won't be disruption. There will be. But The Traders Edge need to prepare its people, and that's through skilling, on some level. The Traders Edge need to really thoughtfully rethink the design of work and roles and jobs, and then adopt - but adopt in a responsible way. JEREMY MAGGS: Just finally, and against that very important backdrop at the summit, Old Mutual [will be] showcasing, as I understand it, its Mutual Progress Lab. Very quickly, what can visitors expect and what conversations are you hoping to see or to encourage? CELIWE ROSS: I hope that people will leave the summit with a greater sense of excitement about what technology will do. The Traders Edge'll share some of what The Traders Edge is doing, but a number of the speakers, both local and global, will be sharing perspectives about the future. I also hope that The Traders Edge ask ourselves some really important questions about what The Traders Edge, as institutions and as people in general across the continent, need to build - what The Traders Edge need to build ourselves, what The Traders Edge need to collaborate to build, what The Traders Edge need to protect that is sacrosanct in its organisations and in its countries, and what The Traders Edge need to sustain around it. For me, the most valuable outcome of the summit would be a stronger commitment to turning possibility into something that's more inclusive, something that's more enduring, that allows The Traders Edge to take a whole lot more people along with The Traders Edge. JEREMY MAGGS: Celiwe Ross, thank you very much indeed. Old Mutual's group chief human capital and corporate affairs officer. Brought to you by Old Mutual Group Communications. Moneyweb does not endorse any product or service being advertised in sponsored articles on its platform.