When South Africa hosts a global platform like the G20, the temptation is to treat it as a moment — a diplomatic success, a media milestone, a week of global attention. That would be a costly mistake.
The real value of hosting the G20 did not lie in the summit itself, but in what comes after: the legacy we deliberately design, institutionalise, and activate. South Africa has been here before. The 2010 FIFA World Cup demonstrated that global events can be catalytic — not only for infrastructure delivery, but for confidence, reputation, and long-term positioning.
The question now is whether we have the strategic discipline to move from hosting to harvesting the goodwill we created at the G20 Global Leaders’ Summit.
The G20 as a Strategic Inflection Point
The recent G20 Leaders’ Summit placed South Africa at the centre of global conversations on economic reform, development finance, climate transition, and geopolitical cooperation at a time when the global order is under strain.
What was striking was not only South Africa’s formal participation, but the informal feedback from delegates themselves. Visiting leaders, officials, and business representatives consistently commented on the professionalism of the hosting, the quality of engagement, and the country’s ability to convene complex conversations with credibility and warmth.
These observations were not anecdotal. President Cyril Ramaphosa referenced insights from my G20 Visitor Experience Report in his G20 State of the Nation Address, noting the positive impressions formed by international delegates — from logistics and coordination to the openness of dialogue and quality of South African engagement.
That matters. Reputational capital is not built through communiqués alone. It is built through lived experience. But reputational capital is also perishable. If it is not converted into tangible outcomes — investment pipelines, policy confidence, skills development, and long-term partnerships — it dissipates quickly. A successful G20 legacy must therefore be treated as a national economic project, not a diplomatic event.
Lesson One from 2010: Infrastructure Is the Floor, Not the Ceiling
The most visible legacy of the 2010 FIFA World Cup was physical infrastructure — airports, roads, stadiums, transport systems. Yet its most enduring contribution was psychological. Ahead of 2010, there was deep international scepticism about South Africa’s ability to deliver an event of such scale under intense global scrutiny. The successful execution fundamentally altered perceptions.
Less visible, but equally important, was how the World Cup professionalised parts of the state and private sector. Project management disciplines improved. Intergovernmental coordination strengthened. Public-private collaboration became more effective under real pressure.
The G20 Legacy offers a similar opportunity — but this time the “infrastructure” is institutional and economic. If approached with intent, we can strengthen policy coherence, regulatory confidence, and execution credibility in ways that extend well beyond the summit calendar. And the narrative must be aligned to a single strategic question: What should the world believe about South Africa five years from now because of this moment?
Lesson Two: Reputation Must Be Actively Managed
In 2010, South Africa did not simply host a tournament; it curated an experience. International visitors arrived with questions and often left as advocates. Legacy is secured through continuity — by creating platforms that translate global dialogue into domestic capability. In this respect, South Africa has already demonstrated a workable model.
In May 2025, the inaugural Future of Jobs Summit was convened as part of the T20 engagement process, connecting South African business leaders, policymakers, and global thinkers into the broader G20 ecosystem. Rather than debating abstract futures, the summit focused on practical questions: which skills will matter, which industries can scale, and how South Africa can turn its demographic reality into an economic advantage. That summit mattered because it anchored global conversations in local execution.
The second Future of Jobs Summit, taking place in May this year, should be understood not as another conference, but as a G20 legacy platform. It exemplifies the kind of structured follow-through that converts diplomatic presence into economic preparedness.
Lesson Three from 2010: Legacy Requires Shared Ownership
One of the reasons the World Cup legacy endured was that it did not sit solely with government. Business, cities, universities, and civil society all became custodians of the outcome.
The G20 legacy must follow the same logic. Business leaders should be co-authors, not spectators — shaping sector investment cases and translating global interest into bankable opportunities. Universities and think tanks should convert G20 themes into research, innovation, and skills pipelines.
The Deeper Legacy: Belief
Perhaps the most powerful legacy of 2010 was internal. South Africans rediscovered belief — grounded not in optimism, but in execution. That belief is resurfacing. The positive feedback from G20 delegates, reinforced at the highest political level, signals something important: South Africa can still convene, lead, and deliver on the global stage.
The G20 Summit has passed. What remains is the choice to convert affirmation into action. Legacy, after all, is not what you host. It is what you build next.
Dr Nik Eberl is the founder & executive chair: The Future of Jobs Summit™ (Official T20 Side Event). He is author: Nation of Champions: How South Africa won the World Cup of Destination Branding.
*** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or .
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