Gabriel García Márquez wrote in his renowned novel, Love in the Time of Cholera, that “wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good.” Indeed, the coronavirus has presented the global community with such a dilemma. The world has been so reliant on its sourcing from China that the disease has put major markets on a standstill as China shuts its door to the world and vice versa. However, there are positives to integrate from the status quo into Business 4.0 and Industry 4.0.
Not many can disagree that the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) go hand-in-hand with the 4th Industrial Revolution. If commercial entities take this “jolt” from the global pandemic as a cue to be more proactive rather than reactive in the future, the global tribe can fully scale Business 4.0 and reap the full benefits from Industry 4.0. To have a more sustainable world, an attitude shift that says “we will” rather than “we have to” may just be the difference for a happy ending in the love story between Mother Earth and the world of trade and technology.
Maimun Mustafa is a serial entrepreneur and the executive director of Global Chamber® Barisal.
