South African expats eager to come back: study

South African expats believe their skills and knowledge would be useful and valuable to the country with many eager on exploring ways to return, according to a new report.

South Africa’s talent migration abroad has created a valuable knowledge network and an untapped asset base that can further the competitiveness of the country, reports The SABLE Accelerator, a global group of South African expats advancing commercial innovation and exchange with their home country.

SABLE (South African Business Link to Experts) is based in Silicon Valley.

Rhodes University conducted a comprehensive online survey of its alumni in May 2013 with the help of GlobalFluency, an international marketing firm, and The SABLE Accelerator.

It found that 72% of Old Rhodian expats living in more than 20 overseas countries believe their skills and knowledge would be useful and valuable to South Africa, and 48% say they would be interested in learning more about incentives to relocate back to South Africa.

The study included 957 participants from 22 countries, with some 40% (387) residing abroad.

Countries where Old Rhodian survey respondents are living include South Africa, USA, Canada, England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Greece, Switzerland, New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong/China, Bermuda, India, Kenya, Zambia, Botswana, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Key findings from the survey on international Rhodes University graduates showed that:

While 90% of Old Rhodians living abroad are satisfied with their lifestyle or professional position overseas, 32% would consider returning to, or retiring in, South Africa and 28% are undecided;

40% of Old Rhodians living abroad consider themselves ambassadors and champions of the new South Africa and 33% visit South Africa more than once a year;

The majority of these Global South Africans still identify with their home country – 36% say they have strong emotional and cultural attachment and 51% retain affinity and connections;

36% of Old Rhodians based abroad view transformation in South Africa positively, compared to 24% who view it negatively; 34% are neutral;

Friends and family remain the primary way for 81% of offshore Old Rhodians to stay connected to news and developments in South Africa; other important sources include Internet web sites (68%), international media (47%), and social media groups (41%).

“There is a massive pool of predisposed South African expatriate talent waiting to be tapped globally,” said Donovan Neale-May, managing partner of The SABLE Accelerator (South African Business Link to Experts), and chairman of the Rhodes University Trust USA.

“These stand-outs in many fields of endeavor are willing and eager to give back to the country. They just need to be invited, engaged, and recognized through a formal process of interaction.”
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With BBBBEEEEE not being "adjusted" for these there is no way the whites would consider.

I say BS.
 
biometrics said:
If I moved to a new country I'd be spending time on web sites related to that country. Not come back to a SA web site. Why would you?
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Friends? The community? The sense of humour?

That's like asking why people eat pizza. That's Italian and completely unpatriotic. It should be biltong, boerewors and Castle Lager for life, yo.
 
Lycanthrope said:
Friends? The community? The sense of humour?

That's like asking why people eat pizza. That's Italian and completely unpatriotic. It should be biltong, boerewors and Castle Lager for life, yo.
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Then stay.
 
Lycanthrope said:
Friends? The community? The sense of humour?

That's like asking why people eat pizza. That's Italian and completely unpatriotic. It should be biltong, boerewors and Castle Lager for life, yo.
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Eish, those Europeans making Ly all gangsta hey ....... :p
 
Lycanthrope said:
Friends? The community? The sense of humour?

That's like asking why people eat pizza. That's Italian and completely unpatriotic. It should be biltong, boerewors and Castle Lager for life, yo.
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Location: Sweden

Nice country? My visits their was fantastic, apart from the language barrier.
 
LithIX said:
All the expats I know over here feel the same. Of the 20 odd families I've met, none will return. And while I know its a relatively small amount , I reckon its safe to assume we are not the only ones feeling this way.

So yeah, I call this article bull***** myself.
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F*** I thought the reason why people emigrated is to get away from other South Africans.
 
biometrics said:
Then stay.
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Already gone. Unless you meant MyBB, in which case, I haven't left.

Mephisto_Helix said:
Eish, those Europeans making Ly all gangsta hey ....... :p
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haha... Shaddap.

Seriously said:
Location: Sweden

Nice country? My visits their was fantastic, apart from the language barrier.
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It's a nice country with incredibly natural beauty. My main issue is with litter and graffiti and a general mentality of "whatever." But the people are mostly very friendly, the internet is fantastic, the public transport system works like a charm and government institutions actually function well.

As for the language barrier... I can't say I've noticed that. Nearly everyone speaks English (it's taken as a subject from their equivalent of primary school) and Swedish is easy to pick up the basics of.

I miss the South African wildlife but considering that the most venomous creature here is the common European adder whose bite, apparently, "kills none but stings a lot", I think I'll cope :p

25654.755.503.jpg
 
Yet again, the article only proves how highly misleading headlines and statistics can be. Shameful.
 
biometrics said:
Yet here you are reading and posting on a SA forum.
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Nothing wrong with that. This forum is truly worldclass and often pops up when google for random issues. Do you surf only SA sites and nothing else?
 
South African expats believe their skills and knowledge would be useful and valuable to the country with many eager on exploring ways to return, according to a new report.
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Not if that skills & knowledge comes with a white skin unfortunately.
 
With the right incentive most people will go just about anywhere.

Even Iraq.
 
Ninja'd said:
F*** I thought the reason why people emigrated is to get away from other South Africans.
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Pffft, We don't live in a cave somewhere in the outback, you know :-P In Brisbane alone there's about 20k SA expats, and not all of us need to cut of all association with our country of birth. That's just ridiculous.

Anyway, I guess I should have predicted the unfounded hostility... Sad really.

./goes back into lurk mode :-P
 
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