Page 10 - IRMSA Risk Report 2021

THABILE NYABA
PRESIDENT: THE INSTITUTE
OF RISK MANAGEMENT SOUTH
AFRICA

THE BEST WAY TO PREDICT THE FUTURE IS TO

CREATE IT
There is no doubt that 2020 will go down as a year to be remembered. While the Covid-19 pandemic has had an enormous impact,
the year brought many challenges, from the forest fires in Australia at the beginning of the year to the volcano eruption in the
Philippines, followed by a long list of hurricanes and widespread social unrest in the US. All of these have highlighted the reality of
persistent and disruptive volatility. There is no reason to think that volatility will decrease - in fact, it is only likely to increase.

James Lane Allen said, “Adversity does not build character, it reveals it”. The adversity we are operating under is continuing to reveal
the importance of risk management and business resilience. It has changed the way we are, the way we work, the way we think
and the way we act. It has accelerated innovation and digitalisation, and created an imperative for companies to transform their
operations. It’s no longer the big fish eating the small – it’s the fast fish eating the slow fish (World Economic Forum). It’s now about
agility and how quickly we respond to changes, and the making of better-informed, faster decisions to survive in a rapidly changing
environment.
South Africa faces a myriad of challenges such as low economic growth, poverty and unemployment to mention a few. Lessons
learnt from the response to Covid-19 are a great opportunity to build solutions and assist our organisations and the country to
move effectively into the future. My vision is to see a transformed South Africa that promotes growth, creates jobs, and empowers
its citizens with resources to support social change. This transformation can be brought about through Public Private Partnerships.

We have witnessed the government and industries collaborating in response to the crisis. The same principles could be applied in
solving these challenges we face as a nation.
Together we can create a South Africa that we can all be proud of, that is just, equitable and well governed in order to promote
economic and social prosperity for all.

There is an absolute necessity for risk-based decision-making in achieving our strategies, especially when confronting volatile
scenarios and global risk impacts. This is what informed our theme for 2021. Organisations are operating in complex, ever changing
and uncertain times and they need to prepare for the unexpected. Risk management provides clarity, assists in decision-making
and is about maximising the risk/return relationship and to take risks knowingly and not unwittingly. Performing organisations will
be those that better understand and anticipate what can go wrong with more certainty and can respond with agility. We need to
assist our organisations to create a positive future. As Abraham Lincoln says, “The best way to predict your future is to create it.”

No individual or organisation can predict specific risks. However, organisations can and need to prepare for an uncertain and
volatile future that includes climate change, technological disruption, geopolitical risk, threats to the global supply chain, and issues
related to cyber-crime, data protection and privacy. The other risk to look out for is mental health risk, which will increase as long as
the effects of the pandemic persist. Better risk management may not spot the next big disruptive event, but it can accelerate and
shape a more effective organisational response to whatever lies ahead.
We need to be innovators who challenge the status quo as we play our critical role, thereby creating resilient and sustainable
10 organisations for the future.