Nobody can dispute that South Africa has a growth problem.

Over the past decade, GDP has expanded at a yearly average of only 0.7%, falling well short of what is needed to tackle the country’s extreme jobless crisis, which fuels poverty and inequality.

Government has set a target of raising growth to about 3%, but governance weaknesses, infrastructure bottlenecks, and skills shortages continue to constrain the growth outlook, as does the country’s fiscal position.

It is widely accepted that there is currently little scope to increase government spending to stimulate growth, with waste, inefficiency and corruption further undermining the effectiveness of public spending.

Policy changes have been introduced to begin facilitating higher levels of private- sector participation in areas of the economy hitherto dominated by State monopolies.

These reforms remain at an early stage, but there is growing private activity in electricity generation and there is nascent activity under way to inject private capital, skills and ingenuity into the country’s ports, railways and transmission grid.

Ensuring that the country benefits from these reforms will require forward-looking policy, good and adaptable market design, strong governance, evidence-based policy making, delivery accountability, as well as foresight and innovation.

Business has a role in delivering on all these elements, but is especially well placed to provide leadership in the area of foresight and innovation.

This editorial feature offers a platform for such business thought leadership across a diverse range of topics but with a singular objective: higher growth.

The link between such thought leadership and growth is well established.

By offering a specific take on a problem and how to solve it, perspectives are broadened, ideas can be debated and refined, and seeds are sown for future investments that will stimulate growth and employment.

Thought leadership can, thus, facilitate a revolution of ideas that could, in turn, drive the kind of structural transformation that South Africa so desperately needs to address its socioeconomic deficits.