Editor's Thoughts.

I’m feeling philosophical. Sitting in NMG’s HR Reset breakfast yesterday, I was reminded how connected we all are. This idea that no man (or woman) is an island, but rather we’re interwoven into our families, communities and this benefits and investments ecosystem.

And when it comes to linking what we do with what our customers experience, HR is the MVP. I looked around the room and appreciated just how important this function is - benefits only create value when people understand them and can use them properly. Read about what HR is dealing with when it comes to employee benefits in my write up under Top Picks and Turnberry’s piece on gap cover.

Looking around the world, with fires burning across parts of Europe and oil markets reacting to fresh geopolitical shocks, inflation is once again back in focus. Izak Odendaal (Old Mutual) reminds that even when the cause is a supply shock, the impact lands very quickly for South Africans: at the petrol pump and in household budgets. That makes next week’s petrol price news especially important, with consumers already under pressure and every bit of relief will be welcomed. (Sorry if you drive a diesel!)

Closer to home, the PSG Think Big webinar with Busisiwe Mavuso (CEO of Business Leadership SA) underscored that the run-up to South Africa’s municipal elections in November is really about the quality of local government and whether our cities can support investment, jobs and basic services.

And in today’s episode of Industry Insights, Kasief Isaacs (Creation Capital) shares how private credit is providing a valuable funding for the backbone of SA’s economy – small and medium sized businesses who can’t access traditional funding through banks.

Back to my armchair philosophics (yes, being Ed means I get to make up my own words), HR as stewards do tie it all together, but it’s bigger than that … and I can’t say it better than Jane Goodall, "You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make."

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