Credibility is a tangible intangible, an asset of social, political and business economy opening and shutting doors with equal swift. It is a subtle defined currency that bygone champions like Nelson Mandela were simply endowed.
A probable litmus test of this was sitting on the same table, discussing building a (rainbow) nation with those who previously discriminated and oppressed black people in South Africa. Although regarded as a compromise by some, alternate views would suggest that it was the beginning of a new form of leadership in Africa, founded on credibility.
Credibility has two key components: trustworthiness and expertise, which both have objective and subjective components. Trustworthiness is based more on subjective factors, but can include objective measurements such as established reliability. Expertise can be similarly subjectively perceived, but also includes relatively objective characteristics such as credentials, certification or information quality. Secondary components of credibility include dynamism and charisma.
Diplomacy, hand in glove with credibility, is the promotion of relationships centred on the strengths of entities wanting to engage in mutually profitable activities. This is a game of tact where perceptions matter and likewise credibility. Note, for anything to be credible, it must be seen in action, and judged based on what it demonstrates.
Enter the CEO and Credibility.
CEO credibility is made up of two factors: knowing what one is talking about, and being able to be trusted to do it. The credibility of a person and the power they wield over others are key currency in these fast-paced days of the internet of things, and the fourth industrial revolution. Power is sweet, credibility tasteful and their mastery exponential. Because of this, many people seek to acquire more followers, more partners, and more friends, in a bid to increase influence and profit, more so for the CEO. This does not come without challenges as management dynamics take centre stage which, if improperly managed can lead to investor flight.
There is need for Credibility Diplomacy for the CEO and for the Politician for the sake of the local business and the local economy, to forge and sustain relations that increase influence, activity and profitability.
Enter Debt Diplomacy.
It has now become common knowledge in international trade and investment that African economies are said to be in Debt Diplomacy traps set and sustained by China. Whether this is true or not, it is openly discussed and analysed, and there must be solutions to avoid such traps.
Debt-trap diplomacy is a term used as criticism of the foreign policy of the Chinese government which claims that China intentionally extends excessive credit to another debtor country with the alleged intention of extracting economic or political concessions from the debtor country when it becomes unable to honour its debt obligations (often asset-based lending, with assets that include infrastructure). The conditions of the loans are often not made public and the loaned money is typically used to pay contractors from the creditor country. Research on the issue is disputed with some universities ascribing the accusation of China to the workings of the Trump Administration in the US.
Africa’s challenge.
Many African economies have fallen prey to external scavengers, hyenas and vultures of economic resources, only because these African countries placed themselves at vulnerable positions on the international market. China’s government, banks and companies lent some $143 billion to Africa in the 2000-2017 timeframe, much of it for large-scale infrastructure projects according to data from Johns Hopkins University. By some estimates, Chinese lending now dwarfs World Bank loans in Africa.
Whilst on one hand Africa does need investment, in a like manner it does not need the poisoned chalice of debt. In order to balance the equation, there is need for sober and sound leadership to stir the economic ship from red to blue oceans. This can be done by credible leadership in politics, and also in business. Africa is a solution unto its challenges, and the economic messaging of Africa must revolve around establishing working models and innovative solutions through our home-grown expert opinions.
To cancel Debt in Africa is to create productivity, and that stems from the ability of a leader to steer economic entities in a manner that creates value and generates income, sustaining operations and livelihoods.
Take for instance, the Prominence-Interpretation Theory, suggests that people determine a website’s credibility by judging prominent attributes of the site that grab their attention. This theory has two key components: prominence and interpretation. Prominence refers to those salient elements of the site that stand out and that the users are likely to notice. Interpretation refers to how people judge those elements. For example, a colourful animated banner ad will be very easily noticed (prominent) and people may judge the site credibility based on it.
At this juncture, it would be amiss not to ask, what is the prominence interpretation of Africa, and its leadership in industry and governance? It is a perpetual begging bowl or a treasure trove of solutions, Cabanga?
