Latest news with #EdelmanTrustBarometer
IOL News
2 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Reimagining global trust: when truth isn't enough
As the digital age accelerates, the need to rebuild trust in data, governance and institutions grows more urgent. Image: AI Lab Trust is no longer just a social virtue. It is the operating system of modern society. Whether navigating a job search, accessing a social grant or questioning an election result, citizens rely on public data to make life-altering decisions. Yet across the globe, this trust is eroding. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 80% of people distrust information they encounter online. By 2030, 90% of humanity will be digitally connected but half will lack confidence in the systems that connect them. Trust has become both a currency and a casualty of the digital age. South Africa is no exception. In 2022, fake notices claiming that social grants would be suspended or reduced went viral on Facebook and TikTok, sparking widespread panic among vulnerable households. Despite SASSA's swift clarification, the misinformation revealed a deeper problem: when public data is unclear or inaccessible, trust quickly unravels. This erosion of trust is more than reputational. It is a barrier to investment, a risk to democratic stability and a threat to inclusive development. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that mistrust in public institutions and data has cost the country R10 billion in annual investment and reduced GDP growth by 0.5%. Statistics South Africa is internationally recognised as the continent's leading statistical agency. Whilst in the 2022 Census and its most recent account of the nation it had a very high undercount, it transparently provided an account of where and how it got the high undercount and accordingly adjusted for this global record in undercount of population where estimates of undercount are undertaken. However, the recent out-of-the-blue public discourse of unemployment, including attendant reactions by influential figures, has highlighted a persistent challenge: not limited to the credibility of the data itself but unfounded allegations on methodological flaws, in how it is explained and understood across society. This misplaced critique by some in business and in politics is damaging for absolutely no sound science and represents deliberate smirching that will make the grey listing South Africa has had look like a kindergarten picnic. It undermines a credible and deserved opportunity to leverage statistical excellence as a means of bolstering public confidence and deepening civic participation. The situation is compounded by a long history of policy fatigue. Since 1994, more than seventy national development strategies have been launched but fewer than 15% offer publicly accessible closeout reports, according to a 2024 policy implementation review by the African Journal of Public Administration. These reports may exist in government archives or departmental repositories but their inaccessibility feeds perceptions of opacity and weakens accountability. In any healthy democracy, information must not only be available but also understandable. South Africa does not lack good institutions. It lacks systems that convert institutional excellence into public confidence. As the digital age accelerates, the need to rebuild trust in data, governance and institutions grows more urgent. But doing so requires more than digital tools. It demands public intelligibility. That is where artificial intelligence, if ethically governed, offers a real opportunity. Emerging technologies can help turn information into interpretation and interpretation into interaction. Yet they must be deployed not just for automation but for inclusion. For instance, mobile-first dashboards could simplify national statistics into plain-language summaries, charts and visual explainers. With over 80% mobile phone penetration in South Africa, scalable access is feasible. digital platform drove a 20% rise in public engagement. In rural areas, where 43% of people remain offline, community-based 'data ambassadors' could offer low-bandwidth formats in schools, clinics and cooperatives, drawing on models proven in Rwanda and Kenya. Other opportunities include AI-powered scorecards that track delivery, performance and budget discrepancies across departments. Rwanda's use of public performance scorecards improved district delivery by 25%, while Kenya's Presidential Delivery Tracker provides a live view of government performance. In South Africa, Auditor General and DPME systems could be enhanced in similar ways, turning technical reports into simplified, citizen facing updates. However, technology alone will not rebuild trust. That is why a national data literacy effort is needed to close the gap between statistical production and public understanding. According to the Human Sciences Research Council, only 35% of South Africans can interpret basic statistical information. This knowledge gap allows misinformation to flourish and reduces the public utility of even the most rigorous data. Bridging this divide would involve three key interventions: First, simplified digital dashboards, aligned with multilingual and mobile access, must be designed to meet people where they are. Second, civil society and public institutions can partner to train 'community data ambassadors' who explain government information in offline and under connected spaces. Third, youth engagement tools, such as AI-powered chatbots, could be embedded in schools and civic education programmes, making national data interactive, understandable and engaging. Research shows that data-literate citizens are 30% less likely to spread misinformation and far more likely to engage constructively in civic life. Boosting national data literacy from 35% to 50% by 2030 is both feasible and transformative. It would also counteract the growing threat of AI-generated disinformation, deepfakes and digitally enabled manipulation. Economically, the stakes are high. McKinsey estimates that trust-enhancing reforms could add $3 trillion to global GDP. In South Africa, restoring public confidence in government data and performance could unlock billions in investment, improve budgeting transparency and reduce the social costs of disinformation. Metrics matter. Dashboards, citizen feedback tools and real-time transparency indices, continuously updated, could help track government performance, institutional reliability and civic confidence. These are not distant ideas. Rwanda's governance benchmarks and the AUCPCC scorecard have already demonstrated that trust itself can be measured. Sceptics may argue that South Africa lacks the infrastructure, political alignment or financial capacity to pursue such a path. But this view underestimates what already exists. The country has five undersea fibre-optic cables, a growing digital talent base and internationally respected institutions such as Stats SA and the CSIR. It has strong privacy legislation in the form of POPIA. And it has civic platforms like Vulekamali already proving the appetite for accessible data. Trust does not require perfection. It requires participation. As the G20 confronts rising digital inequality and public scepticism worldwide, South Africa can lead not just in technological capability but in democratic design. The future will not belong to the most connected. It will belong to the most trusted. Nomvula Zeldah Mabuza is a Risk Governance and Compliance Specialist with extensive experience in strategic risk and industrial operations. She holds a Diploma in Business Management (Accounting) from Brunel University, UK, and is an MBA candidate at Henley Business School, South Africa. Nomvula Zeldah Mabuza is a Risk Governance and Compliance Specialist with extensive experience in strategic risk and industrial operations. She holds a Diploma in Business Management (Accounting) from Brunel University, UK, and is an MBA candidate at Henley Business School, South Africa. Image: Supplied
IOL News
2 days ago
- Business
- IOL News
Reimagining global trust: when truth isn't enough
As the digital age accelerates, the need to rebuild trust in data, governance and institutions grows more urgent. Image: AI Lab Trust is no longer just a social virtue. It is the operating system of modern society. Whether navigating a job search, accessing a social grant or questioning an election result, citizens rely on public data to make life-altering decisions. Yet across the globe, this trust is eroding. The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer found that 80% of people distrust information they encounter online. By 2030, 90% of humanity will be digitally connected but half will lack confidence in the systems that connect them. Trust has become both a currency and a casualty of the digital age. South Africa is no exception. In 2022, fake notices claiming that social grants would be suspended or reduced went viral on Facebook and TikTok, sparking widespread panic among vulnerable households. Despite SASSA's swift clarification, the misinformation revealed a deeper problem: when public data is unclear or inaccessible, trust quickly unravels. This erosion of trust is more than reputational. It is a barrier to investment, a risk to democratic stability and a threat to inclusive development. The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that mistrust in public institutions and data has cost the country R10 billion in annual investment and reduced GDP growth by 0.5%. Statistics South Africa is internationally recognised as the continent's leading statistical agency. Whilst in the 2022 Census and its most recent account of the nation it had a very high undercount, it transparently provided an account of where and how it got the high undercount and accordingly adjusted for this global record in undercount of population where estimates of undercount are undertaken. However, the recent out-of-the-blue public discourse of unemployment, including attendant reactions by influential figures, has highlighted a persistent challenge: not limited to the credibility of the data itself but unfounded allegations on methodological flaws, in how it is explained and understood across society. This misplaced critique by some in business and in politics is damaging for absolutely no sound science and represents deliberate smirching that will make the grey listing South Africa has had look like a kindergarten picnic. It undermines a credible and deserved opportunity to leverage statistical excellence as a means of bolstering public confidence and deepening civic participation. The situation is compounded by a long history of policy fatigue. Since 1994, more than seventy national development strategies have been launched but fewer than 15% offer publicly accessible closeout reports, according to a 2024 policy implementation review by the African Journal of Public Administration. These reports may exist in government archives or departmental repositories but their inaccessibility feeds perceptions of opacity and weakens accountability. In any healthy democracy, information must not only be available but also understandable. South Africa does not lack good institutions. It lacks systems that convert institutional excellence into public confidence. As the digital age accelerates, the need to rebuild trust in data, governance and institutions grows more urgent. But doing so requires more than digital tools. It demands public intelligibility. That is where artificial intelligence, if ethically governed, offers a real opportunity. Emerging technologies can help turn information into interpretation and interpretation into interaction. Yet they must be deployed not just for automation but for inclusion. For instance, mobile-first dashboards could simplify national statistics into plain-language summaries, charts and visual explainers. With over 80% mobile phone penetration in South Africa, scalable access is feasible. digital platform drove a 20% rise in public engagement. In rural areas, where 43% of people remain offline, community-based 'data ambassadors' could offer low-bandwidth formats in schools, clinics and cooperatives, drawing on models proven in Rwanda and Kenya. Other opportunities include AI-powered scorecards that track delivery, performance and budget discrepancies across departments. Rwanda's use of public performance scorecards improved district delivery by 25%, while Kenya's Presidential Delivery Tracker provides a live view of government performance. In South Africa, Auditor General and DPME systems could be enhanced in similar ways, turning technical reports into simplified, citizen facing updates. However, technology alone will not rebuild trust. That is why a national data literacy effort is needed to close the gap between statistical production and public understanding. According to the Human Sciences Research Council, only 35% of South Africans can interpret basic statistical information. This knowledge gap allows misinformation to flourish and reduces the public utility of even the most rigorous data. Bridging this divide would involve three key interventions: First, simplified digital dashboards, aligned with multilingual and mobile access, must be designed to meet people where they are. Second, civil society and public institutions can partner to train 'community data ambassadors' who explain government information in offline and under connected spaces. Third, youth engagement tools, such as AI-powered chatbots, could be embedded in schools and civic education programmes, making national data interactive, understandable and engaging. Research shows that data-literate citizens are 30% less likely to spread misinformation and far more likely to engage constructively in civic life. Boosting national data literacy from 35% to 50% by 2030 is both feasible and transformative. It would also counteract the growing threat of AI-generated disinformation, deepfakes and digitally enabled manipulation. Economically, the stakes are high. McKinsey estimates that trust-enhancing reforms could add $3 trillion to global GDP. In South Africa, restoring public confidence in government data and performance could unlock billions in investment, improve budgeting transparency and reduce the social costs of disinformation. Metrics matter. Dashboards, citizen feedback tools and real-time transparency indices, continuously updated, could help track government performance, institutional reliability and civic confidence. These are not distant ideas. Rwanda's governance benchmarks and the AUCPCC scorecard have already demonstrated that trust itself can be measured. Sceptics may argue that South Africa lacks the infrastructure, political alignment or financial capacity to pursue such a path. But this view underestimates what already exists. The country has five undersea fibre-optic cables, a growing digital talent base and internationally respected institutions such as Stats SA and the CSIR. It has strong privacy legislation in the form of POPIA. And it has civic platforms like Vulekamali already proving the appetite for accessible data. Trust does not require perfection. It requires participation. As the G20 confronts rising digital inequality and public scepticism worldwide, South Africa can lead not just in technological capability but in democratic design. The future will not belong to the most connected. It will belong to the most trusted. Nomvula Zeldah Mabuza is a Risk Governance and Compliance Specialist with extensive experience in strategic risk and industrial operations. She holds a Diploma in Business Management (Accounting) from Brunel University, UK, and is an MBA candidate at Henley Business School, South Africa. Nomvula Zeldah Mabuza is a Risk Governance and Compliance Specialist with extensive experience in strategic risk and industrial operations. She holds a Diploma in Business Management (Accounting) from Brunel University, UK, and is an MBA candidate at Henley Business School, South Africa. Image: Supplied
Time Business News
2 days ago
- Business
- Time Business News
7 Underrated Marketing Opinions That Actually Work in 2025
A majority of enterprises pursue glossy fads in advertising. However, the really good ideas can, at times, not be the ones that you observe becoming viral. These are the underlying marketing views that are known and not necessarily discussed by professionals. When you are determined to achieve success, you should cease doing as the majority does and instead apply down-to-earth strategies. In this blog, I will share overlooked yet practical marketing tips and strategies. Whether you are a solo entrepreneur or part of a small team, these ideas can help you build a strong presence and grow smartly. Most brands believe they need to be everywhere Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, and so on. Diversification among many different things would result in poor content. My marketing advice is that you identify where your audience can be found most and pitch there. Sprout Social found that 68% of marketers reported that their ability to focus their channels resulted in increased engagement and conversions. It is among such marketing tips that sound too easy, yet it works when done well. The prerequisite to a successful marketing strategy is a solid understanding of the platform, coupled with humor. Rather than chasing all the trends, invest time in trying to understand what type of posts your audience is mostly engaging with. Then compound that. A lot of producers attempt to go viral. However, trust is not always associated with virality. Stop aiming to attract more people, but rather consider how you can make your audience solve small problems. Just provide them with straightforward answers. Enable them to be able to know what it is that you do and how you can assist. Individuals do not purchase products from companies they do not trust. The Edelman Trust Barometer shows that 81% of consumers must trust the brand to purchase it. This entails being truthful in what you say, demonstrating your work, and not overselling. This is not a step that will bear results overnight. Loyalty is built in the long run, however. And more than going viral, loyal customers pay better. Content marketing is not new. But it remains one of the most effective tools when used with clarity and purpose. That means you don't just create content to post. You create it to solve problems, answer questions, or teach something useful. Focus more on the depth of your content than frequency. You don't need to post every day. Instead, post something valuable every week. A blog, short guide, or how-to post gives your audience a reason to trust your knowledge. For example, a business offering event supplies might create an engaging guide on branding with custom printed popcorn boxes, helping small vendors and event planners stand out at their next function. Some marketers say email is outdated. But data proves otherwise. In fact, email generates $36 for every $1 spent, making it one of the highest ROI marketing tricks available. The key is to avoid being spammy. Give value to your emails. That can be tips, exclusive deals, or updates. Keep subject lines short and your tone simple. If you build your email list with care, it becomes a direct connection with your audience. Social media can limit your reach. But email goes straight to their inbox, and they own the decision to open it. Go to the human side of your business even when you have a business. Share your experience. Take your team to see it. Make people understand what they are dealing with. This is among the most underestimated marketing opinions, which does not go unnoticed. Also, people trust individual recommendations, even when they are not known, as opposed to brands. Make this to benefit you via personal connections. Post pictures behind the scenes. Bring your values into the spotlight. Speak as a person, not as an organization. It also does not imply that you convert your brand to a personal blog. It simply implies being down-to-earth and genuine. The minor details show that your brand is accessible. Information is valuable. However, at some point, overthinking may work against you. Thoughtful marketing involves treasured wisdom along with the sixth sense. When it feels right and you have some minor indications towards success, then it is worth a test. As an example, you may realize that your posts with images attract more clicks in comparison with videos, so you can test it once again. Nevertheless, this is not the reason one should give up all videos. Suggestions on marketing are better when put under both testing with logic and context. The information assists in making decisions. However, you cannot just measure your audience in numbers. Consider their comments, responses, and feedback. Listening does not mean looking at the charts only. One of the simplest marketing strategy advice I can give: repeat what works. If a message, offer, or post works once, don't stop using it. Repeat it in different formats. Many marketers avoid this because they fear being boring. A short video A blog post A quote card An email A podcast Repurpose your content instead of always trying to come up with new ideas. This saves time and strengthens your brand message. There is no need to be into every flaunting fashion to be successful in marketing. There are lessons that the simplest, clear, and recurring actions are sometimes the best ones. The present marketing view is underrated. Nevertheless, they are feasible and tested. A proper marketing strategy will be combined with creativity and patience. Knowing your audiences, testing what worked, and maintaining consistency are great things to remember. Be focused on being helpful, demonstrating value, and utilizing such tools as email, content, and personal branding. Apply these marketing tips and strategies thoughtfully. Stay focused on your message, avoid unnecessary noise, and build something that lasts. In the end, smart marketing is not about being everywhere. It's about being effective where it matters. TIME BUSINESS NEWS
Business Insider
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Why a mission-based approach to leadership can pay off
Brian Peckrill, head of the McGowan Charitable Fund, says ethical leadership is essential. He told BI that organizations that invest in their people do better in the long term. This article is part of " Culture of Innovation," a series on how businesses can prompt better ideas. As artificial intelligence promises to accelerate the speed at which many businesses can move, it could leave less time for focusing on ethics and values. Yet forgoing those discussions is a risk companies shouldn't take, said Brian Peckrill, executive director of the William G. McGowan Charitable Fund, a family foundation focused on what it describes as compassionate philanthropy and ethical leadership — the idea that there's more to consider than just the bottom line. William McGowan was the founder of MCI Communications, a telecom company whose legal fights with AT&T preceded Ma Bell's 1984 breakup on antitrust grounds. Peckrill told Business Insider that while many CEOs support the McGowan Fund's call for maintaining a focus on ethical leadership, pressures to maintain profitability can be intense. Even though it can be a difficult balance, he said, leaders can get into trouble when they don't pull it off. "The truth is, if you're cutting corners, it's going to catch up to you at some point. And that's what we hear," he said. Pecrkill spoke with Business Insider about how those running organizations should think about the values they maintain as leaders. The following has been edited for length and clarity. Business Insider: What shapes your thinking around ethical leadership? Brian Peckrill: What Bill McGowan, our benefactor, saw is that when a business lacked ethics and they were fully focused on profits, what suffered was people. Ten years after Bill died, MCI and WorldCom got wiped out by a massive accounting scandal. Those who worked for MCI became millionaires because of their success at MCI, and if they didn't cash out prior to the bankruptcy, they lost everything. So, it was very clear to our board that ethical leadership transforms lives — that this is not just a matter of what's good for society. It's good for people. We need to create leaders who, when making decisions, look to their values. They are transparent. They're accountable to the people that they work for. They're accountable to their clients. They are they have integrity. They're thinking about how their words and their actions align, and they're empathetic to the ways that people struggle. If you look at a metric like the Edelman Trust Barometer, there's been a slide in workers' trust in their employers. It's shocking to see how it's fallen off. I've been thinking about this a lot in regard to the not-for-profit sector, which the data is a little bit stronger on. What I keep coming back to is that to be a trusted entity, ethical leadership matters because it means that your actions and your words align, and that you can get trust by being empathetic and credible. With AI threatening jobs, is rebuilding trust now a bigger challenge for for-profit CEOs? I wouldn't say that I think it's harder now. Society is constantly going through cycles of innovation. The way that our business leadership and education have progressed has put more and more of an emphasis on profit maximization. You look at MBA programs, and when they were founded, they were deeply philosophical. They were about building a whole-minded individual who can think broadly about business, and over time, they became more focused on the mathematical economics of making profits. Once you've maxed out efficiencies, the only place to go is either breaking the law or harming people. We need to return to that holistic way of thinking. Part of that is asking not can we, but should we? What's the effect on people? When you look at the most trusted businesses — those that are using ethical leadership as a frame — their horizon of profits is greater. Those businesses that think about their people, think about how they can invest in their people, and are not just focused on short-term profits through efficiencies, do better in the long term. What lessons can for-profit CEOs learn from nonprofit leaders about building trust? A major element to this is that when I say independence in the not-for-profit sector, this means leading with your values. It's setting up a charter between your stakeholders in your organization that you're going to deliver on a certain mission and that you're going to invest your money in this type of approach. I don't think it's very different for the for-profit sector. When people align themselves with an organization, they're expecting the organization to live up to their values. It's when organizations lack integrity and they fail to live up to the values that they put on their website and that they posture through media, that people lose trust in organizations. And I think that the for-profit sector could learn some lessons from not-for-profits in this regard.
South China Morning Post
24-06-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
China offers an alternative to Western ‘technofeudalism'
At the turn of the century, global innovation followed a Western script. Silicon Valley dominated the world in innovation. Europe exported standards and governance. Asia, in contrast, was cast as the manufacturer, assembler and consumer. But the global innovation order is shifting. According to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer, change is under way not only in technical capability but also in public sentiment. In China, 72 per cent of people trust artificial intelligence (AI), compared to 32 per cent in the United States and 28 per cent in the United Kingdom. Similar patterns hold across India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand as developing Asian markets consistently outperform Western and developed peers on public trust in innovation. This matters as without trust, even the most advanced technologies stall. Where trust is high, adoption accelerates, institutional alignment strengthens and public-private collaboration deepens. This serves as a powerful catalyst, especially for a country like China, whose innovation strategy is tightly interwoven with national development goals and the self-sufficiency mission . These dynamics play out against a broader philosophical divergence in how innovation is governed. Broadly speaking, two models dominate the innovation landscape. The first is the 'permissionless' model, which gave Silicon Valley its mojo. It champions speed, risk-taking and deregulation, based on the belief that innovation should be free to develop without prior approval. Although this laissez-faire approach has produced some of the most valuable technology companies globally, recent years have also seen such companies face accusations of acting against the public's best interests, sparking debates on their influence and societal role.
