Jack Sim, a Singaporean entrepreneur who also founded the World Toilet Organization in 2001 to raise awareness for improved sanitation, recently published the following post on his public Facebook profile. I am resharing it here on my blog because I find it particularly interesting and true in many parts. The world as we know it right now will certainly change within the next twenty years, and what interests me the most isn’t the technological change, but instead how this will change our consumer behaviour and societies in general.
Jack keeps on updating this list and it’s certainly not complete, but for now, it’s a great start and so let’s see how this will hold true in the coming years. Hightlighting in bold and links added by me.
My Predictions for the next 20 Years:
1. The 4 billions new customers at the Base of Pyramid BOP will be the next Big Marketplace. Singapore will have to play a major role or lose out to China, Korea and Indonesia. Taobao type of villages will spread worldwide.
2. Due to tech and AI, we need to train learners to be better human and not better robots. School of Gumption type of education teaching Curiosity Courage Compassion Collaboration Commitment and Calmness will become mainstream in the OECD countries.
3. Ecosystem Cross Sectors Approach will replace Apex leaders heirarchical organization structures. Markets efficiency will accelerate till the poor have direct access to our formal marketplace without loan sharks, greedy middlemen and get bad prices from big corporations. The value addedness of farmers will be enhanced not by fair trade but buy direct trade, value chain integration through Cooperatives models.
4. Winners vs Losers model will lose appeal as Millennials want a fairer world. The world will adopt Feminine Philosophy of facilitation as opposed to Masculine Philosophy of Conquest.
5. Status of a Billionaire will switch to recognition of how many lives improved instead of how many dollars accumulated.
6. Human beings will become more humane and caring as robots take over work to a vast extent. Trust will be easier with transparency from Blockchain and other tech.
7. Consumption Economy will switch to Sharing Economy. Don’t Buy when you don’t need. Don’t waste will be a recognition of virtues.
8. Gig economy of staff on-demand model will become mainstream.
9. Taxation and redistribution of wealth returns to purpose of Government to deliver equity and improving quality of life.
10. Environmental depletion will continue until serious climate calamity is imminent and then the political will and reaction will be drastic.
11. No companies can attract any investments if they do not focus on Environment, Social and Governance.
(source)