I stand in front of you s-see stange
Chava a mother a sister a friend and
aunt a foster mother to stay teen
children Satan because I come from a
family of 13 and this my parents was
very busy but I also stand in front of
you as a long-distance runner having
completed 10 of the 87 kilometer convex
marathon 10 - Ocean California the Paris
marathon and the marathon on the Great
Wall of China I've also done the six
wealth major International Marathon
there are two South African black women
who have completed the sixth hour one of
them is in the room popular macaron but
I am here at racing us a mountain year
as well as summited Mount Kilimanjaro
the highest peak in the continent of all
so please I have to own it and I've also
submitted the highest peak as part of
the seven summits in Europe Russia Mount
Elbrus the lesson that I bought from
Mount Kilimanjaro if you look at the
second photo in the first row I was hit
with altitude sickness and - zero
degrees is the harshest in hard mountain
- time but if you look at that photo my
friends and my favourite embers were
around me and we managed we managed to
summit on the second row that is one L
press the main reason why our Simon
dismounting was to raise funds for my 13
for spec children a technical mountain
thinking eyes at any given time - 24
degrees so I think and also by how you
have been served
for me I think you all agree that when
it comes to courage when it comes to
pushing against boundaries and Chinese's
and also maybe losing a few brain cells
we can agree that I tick the boxes but
when it comes to me being a professional
in the sustainability agenda it is one
of the biggest challenges that obviates
to conquer because my job in the essence
is about convincing business and people
such as yourselves to talk a different
language when it comes to transitioning
into the green economy
ladies and gentlemen we know that the
planet can survive on its own it
actually doesn't need us it does what it
does me to do on a daily basis whether
we are here or not but oh my how we have
stepped in and created the planet that
now needs to be repaired how we have
overstepped our mark and created the
planet today that can't provide what it
needs to do purely by us not being
conscious of our decisions on a daily
basis the stokehole
Brazilian Centre is an international
organization that talks about conducting
research to look at how we are affecting
the planet and other the stresses that
we are causing on to the environment and
they've described nine planetary
boundaries talking about the timing
change the ocean but also we look at
nitrogen cycle freshwater length
biodiversity loss atmosphere and also
chemical pollution and once these
boundaries were able to take care of
themselves without us being here we have
already overstepped our mark on three
important ones
Jemmy change who would have thought and
this beautiful continent Africa
at the top and in fact at the bottom of
this continent in the south and also on
the border of our coastline that would
actually be experiencing plus one of the
PAS provinces in kwazulu-natal recently
we've seen how people have died any
infrastructure destroyed because of
cymet change one of our neighboring
countries Zimbabwe Malawi and Mozambique
tropical cyclone I dine in her wake left
1,300 people dead and some of their
lives today have changed forever when
you look at the nitrogen cycle the kind
of food that we eat and feed our
children today comes from a soil that's
actually been affected and impacted with
chemicals that have created toxins how
many people do you know today that are
sick and we can't even explain some of
those sicknesses in fact if there's 200
of us around this room
statistics are such that over 60 people
here will die of cancer
that's nitrogen sector that has been
impacted when you look at the rate of
digested biodiversity loss planet on its
own was able to have over 2 million
species do you know that if we state
today in 2019 200 to 2 million of
species extinct just like that because
of us in fact when you look at mammals
94% of Mama's made of ants and animals
the majority of the animals are
domesticated for own use so we may think
planet change and see issues around the
timeit's are far ahead this picture is
very famous many of you might have seen
it this is sitting in the Great Pacific
shear prime date and toxins and bump of
it is plastic this is the size of half
of South Africa in terms of geography
and this is
in Capetown our permanent our beautiful
sitting in front of mine to this picture
the other thing so what amazing our
challenges our issues have got nothing
to do with timing change this is right
here in our backyard and yes the seafood
that we love when you go to Cape Town is
exposed to this and I can tell you there
is no fish that has been producing this
plastic it's us
here's the thing we have seen in our
country especially in our continent the
issues of societal ills and societal
upheavals and unwittingly we may be
taking decisions particularly in our
financial issues and contributing to
where we are as a society today so I am
addressing you as people with the power
and the capacity to change how things
can actually be done differently as far
as I may change in the future is
concerned I'm talking to you as people
who have a choice and can really
determine how differently our world is
going to look like so if you think
jumping mountains and long-distance
running is a big job this is the biggest
job of mine and the biggest challenge
that are yet to conquer in my
organization we have put the issues of
responsible investment at the heart of
our agenda as a business but the biggest
issue is making you become aware that
you have a choice in fact in South
Africa today we have pension find
regulations that allows you to make a
decision to invest in a responsible
manner how many of you by the way by
show of hands who have pension funds
pension investment how many okay don't
be shy nobody
how many of you by show of hand know
where the money that you are investing
in your pension is going where it is
being invested how many of you know why
am I not surprised very few people know
and ladies and gentlemen here the issues
you could be investing in your future
making decisions today thinking that
y'all are going to be profitable and
taken care of and yet you could be
eroding from the very same future that
you are investing in so in our
organization you're conducting research
to look at what is the possibility what
is it that you can do as an individual
to change where our investments are
going this graph the top line simply
talks to an investment asset that
incorporates environmental social and
governance issues this is where you
become away and a game changer and any
influencer in terms of where your money
is going the second graph really is also
about investing in the normal classes in
the normal ages in the in the Mahnomen
index so you still pay your clothes it
still shows that you are at the end of
the day going to profit but at what cost
here's the thing you could make your
money in the manner that you want
long-term you not be able to actually
educate our children or actually even go
on holiday to enjoy your menu and even
if you think you're going to run away
from South Africa partly because of the
social issues and you go to Europe guess
what climate change is everywhere so you
have to come there for meaning you have
to fix where we are and we have to do
that together so yes when we find
ourselves today no you want to know now
what do you want to be you can use your
money and your decisions to change the
landscape instead of investing in fossil
fuel instead of investing in creating
damage to the
you can make a choice that you can have
clean water clean air and actually deal
away with the issues of the chemicals
that are causing all the challenges that
we have as a society in mountain timing
anything can happen so this was one of
the days on the mountain with a
summertime scene going up to 4,000
meters and and the mountain is very
important that to stay on the line and
you follow your kind so there I was on
this particular day because I am super
fit I mean you can tell just in terms of
my energy that I have I don't never
probably moving around true story and
then I listened one of my shoes which
was giving a problem and I stayed behind
to actually tying my shoe and there was
no problem because they're falling you
can you sit she's going to catch up with
a crow very quickly as I was tying my
shoe and I stood up actually thought I
had gone blind the weather and the
conditions changed immediately here's a
thing in mountain climbing the first
thing that they teach you don't panic
the second thing is just focus on what
the instruction wants but in the midst
of thinking you don't know where you are
you lost on the mountain
the issue is death on mountain Israel
and I put a falling into a crevasse and
never be found so when it comes to
issues of the decisions that we make
around our investments they may happen
that things are changing so fast and we
never be able to reverse the situation
it's up to you how you going to think
differently today three critical success
factors on mountain climbing number one
the concert time on the mountain way you
have to put yourself first as an
individual when nobody can pull you or
push you in fact Mountain timing by the
way is not a spectator sport nobody
standing say hey one time keep going
it's about you faced understanding what
is your commitment what is the promise
that you making
you and those that you are timing worse
number two it's about when you're about
to summit there's a very narrow path and
it's on the edge that's where you begin
to understand that you have no option
you can't decide that okay no no no I
was talking I want to go back or you
want to step on the side at that point
you just have to follow the instruction
when it comes to transitioning into the
green economy ladies and gentlemen we're
at the point where we have no choice but
to follow the instruction and do what is
right the last thing one mountain
climbing it's about when you get to the
summit some of my time but the federal
chambers are here as well somebody prove
it's a collective how you get to the top
together because I gave how we're going
to forget the future in changing and
transitioning it's going to take a
collective and all of us understanding
that you can change the landscape and
the agenda I said about mind taking kids
this is when they were still young and a
whole lot of them no confidence because
they did not have the resources that are
required for their education so through
and many supports and my friends and my
partner's we were able to support these
kids and this is who they are today
young adults graduates they now have
jobs they taking care of themselves and
those around them and how did they get
here it's because somebody decided to
give them a chance and here they are
stirring so my issue with you is wanting
to give our planet a chance actually
what is it that you are prepared to do
differently to make sure that you are
congruent with where the planet is but
the bigger question for me to you is
what is it that you are prepared to
change not just for yourself but for
something that is bigger than you and
once you understand that when are you
going to start when
[Applause]