It’s been a year since I put my money where my mouth is and left a safe, comfortable government job in London, and signed up for the rollercoaster ride that is what3words, leading their new SA office in Johannesburg.
When you’re trying to make a meaningful difference in the real world, when the real world is a place as uneven, as polarised, as real as South Africa, then there are bound to be highs and lows. At times I’ve had no choice but to hold on as tight as I can.
I can safely say I’ve no regrets about the move. It’s been a delight to return to the warm, familiar folds of life in Mzansi. This is a place where I always feel like the best version of myself. Being back here, leading point for a team with a vision and purpose I’m both compelled and convinced by, has been a privilege.
So, after a year of considering my home through this new lens, what have I learnt?
Addressing in South Africa is a mess
Poor addressing means parents are late to see their children, birthday presents miss their party, Ubers miss their pickups, couriers can’t find your front gate, and supply chains struggle to deliver efficiency as they scale.
I don’t think I appreciated the scale and depth of the problem, however, until I saw it through the eyes of residents of the village of Relela in Limpopo province. Poor addressing means emergency medical assistance fails to reach pregnant mothers in time, putting the lives of both mum and baby at risk. Poor addressing literally threatens lives in South Africa.
And it’s not just informal townships or rural areas where addressing breaks down. Africa’s richest square mile is Sandton in Johannesburg, where I’ve now spent many a sunrise accompanying commercial couriers on their rounds, each tearing their hair out at the sheer ineptitude of consecutive property numbers so random, you’d assume they were assigned by a bingo caller.
South Africans implicitly understand the problem of addressing
We’ve spent the past year talking to South Africans across all walks of life, trying to understand the landscape from their perspective.
South Africans get it. They live with the effects of poor addressing every day.
Ask any one of the millions of people who can’t open a bank account, register on the electoral roll, or receive basic goods and services to their door. The legacy of apartheid spatial planning means that vast swathes of South Africa simply lack proper addresses.
South Africans know it, and live it.
This is just the beginning for what3words in South Africa
It’s been such a delight doing business in my home country again. Four years of professional life in the UK left me exhausted - the tendency to tiptoe around difficult topics, particularly in diplomacy, meant I often had to be a lot more reserved than comes naturally.
No such trouble here. South Africans really do take life by the horns, and business etiquette is no exception. As such, the what3words team knows where we’re headed in Mzansi. I’m very proud of our current crop of partners, and I can’t wait to announce more over the coming months.
iStore now delivers Apple products direct to your door with a 3 word address. Picup and RTT offer precision delivery to the last 3m x 3m. Gateway Health Institute is helping women in remote areas access emergency medical care. Tourists visiting the wilds of the Eastern Cape use 3 word addresses to find Samara’s gorgeous wildlife reserve.
3 word addresses are breaking down barriers to inclusion, enhancing efficiencies, and in some cases literally saving lives.
12 months on, I know my place. It’s here at home, helping others find their place, three words at a time.
