THE FINANCE GHOST: Invest in the future, sell the past
Forget the open-air museum that is Europe. South Africa should be looking at countries such as Brazil for ideas
Recently on X David Galbraith (a venture capitalist based in Europe) posted about the “giant ticking time bomb at the heart of Europe’s economic model” and how that economy is based on two things: industrial production and selling the past. I thought the reference to selling the past was quite brilliant. Anyone who’s been lucky enough to travel to European cities will know exactly what that means.
It’s almost as though the need to preserve the cultural heritage and tourism in these countries has stunted their ability to innovate. There isn’t much that is new and exciting in Europe, certainly not when compared with the US or Dubai. People want to lose themselves on cobbled streets while looking at incredibly old buildings. Probably the most innovative thing to come out of Europe in the past year was the Olympic Games opening ceremony, and that wasn’t exactly met with global applause. ..
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