Business

The full list of South Africans going to Davos in 2020

Staff Writer

 ·21 Jan 2020

The annual meeting at the World Economic Forum in Davos will kick off today (21 January 2020).

The forum brings together 3,000 participants from around the world, and aims to give concrete meaning to “stakeholder capitalism”, assist governments and international institutions in tracking progress towards the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals, and facilitate discussions on technology and trade governance.

“People are revolting against the economic ‘elites’ they believe have betrayed them, and our efforts to keep global warming limited to 1.5°C are falling dangerously short,” said Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman at the World Economic Forum.

“With the world at such critical crossroads, this year we must develop a ‘Davos Manifesto 2020’ to re-imagine the purpose and scorecards for companies and governments. It is what the World Economic Forum was founded for 50 years ago, and it is what we want to contribute to for the next 50 years.”

The Programme for the Annual Meeting will prioritise six key areas:

• Ecology: How to mobilise business to respond to the risks of climate change and ensure that measures to protect biodiversity reach forest floors and ocean beds.
• Economy: How to remove the long-term debt burden and keep the economy working at a pace that allows higher inclusion.
• Technology: How to create a global consensus on deployment of Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies and avoid a ‘technology war’.
• Society: How to reskill and upskill a billion people in the next decade.
• Geopolitics: How the ‘spirit of Davos’ can create bridges to resolve conflicts in global hotspots. Informal meetings to set kickstart conciliation.
• Industry: How to help business create the models necessary to drive enterprise in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. How to navigate an enterprise in a world exposed to political tensions and driven by exponential technological change as well as increasing expectations from all stakeholders.

Among the thousands of delegates that attend the forum each year, you will find government officials and world leaders, high-profile business leaders, and even the odd celebrity.

The conference also offers a platform for activists and other speakers, who are invited to have their say in front of the global elite.

The WEF draws a lot of controversy with the forum, with reports having pegged the total cost of attending the meeting anywhere between $20,000 to over $50,000 per delegate, with the price of a ticket to the meeting around $27,000 alone.

Those invited to the conference do not have to pay the ticket fee (which includes government officials and other high-profile leaders), but most businesses have to pay their own way.

South Africa at Davos

For the 2020 trip to Davos, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa opted to not attend the forum, leaving finance minister Tito Mboweni to lead the South African delegation in his stead.

According to a leaked list of attendees, published by news group Quartz, there are 50 South Africans who will be attending the meetings this week, down from 56 who attended last year.

In 2020, there are fewer representatives from state owned companies in South Africa, and fewer ministers in attendance.

The WEF has publicised the list of attendees in various forms over the years – either in full, in part, or not at all – and in 2020 chose not to release the full names, citing European privacy laws.

However the full list was leaked anonymously to Quartz, matching the less detailed list provided to journalists.

Here is the full list of local attendees:

Government

State groups

Finance leaders

Business leaders

Media and other

Read: 3 South African ministers attending Davos