To bank or not to bank A banking ad on television by one of SA’s leading banks proudly states that in 2010, it provided R50-billion in loans to thousands of South Africans. It goes further and claim that “…R50-billion in loans is more than just a number: it’s a way to change lives”. And the…
From the pen – Small Is The New Big The analysts agree that, in order to realise our country’s desired employment figures and economic growth, the small and medium enterprise sector is a critical cog. It’s within this sector, where small start-ups exist, that job creation is a very real priority. But it is also…
From the pen Public Sector Challenges Just over a month ago, Auditor-General (A-G) Terence Nombembe announced that of the 237 municipalities and 49 municipal entities audited for 2009/10 financial year, only seven municipalities and ten municipal entities received ‘clean’ audit reports. Albeit an improvement from the 2008/2009 financial year, the A-G once again stressed that…
From the pen – Leadership Earlier this year when the McDonald’s Corporation announced the appointment of Cyril Ramaphosa as Developmental Licensee (DL), responsible for the operation of McDonald’s restaurants in South Africa, Chris Gilmour, an analyst at Absa Asset Management questioned whether a change in operator would really make any difference. He shared that McDonalds…
From the pen Investments In this issue we deal with the question of investments. How it can potentially grow our economy and how to define and plan for it, and we also identify the hotspot for future investments: Africa. Sentiments about our continent, over the past few decades, have transitioned from the loathsome explorer age…
The Economy Over the past few months, all across the world, we’ve seen the beginning of instability in almost every aspect of our political, social and economic life. Students in Yemen engaged in anti-government protests (read our special interest article on page 12), the tragic earthquake crisis in Japan, and North Africa embroiled in civil…
From scorekeeper to visionary Everyone agrees, today’s deal-makers are once again focused on growth. And while growth strategies for both business and economies must surely take on a new look, given our recent economic realities, what we are left to ask is – by what will that new look be informed? What are the conversations,…
Visionary Leadership At a recent AU meeting, French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, warned that the world needs to take a different look at leadership today. “In today’s world, one can no longer govern the same way as in the world of yesterday. Either this change is inflicted upon you, in which case you leave the door…
Shifting Mindsets on our continent I was stunned to find leading foreign affairs and social commentators entangled in a twitter war of views on the ‘real’ impetus for the recent Tunisian coup. Now while these debates started before President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was ousted and found refuge in Saudi Arabia, the question being…
FROM THE PEN The Sustainability Issue What an incredibly busy year we’ve had as a country and as SAICA. A successful hosting of the world cup, strikes and protests, a fairly well performing Rand, a bit of an economic upturn, reshuffling in our National Assembly cabinet, SAICA’s 30 year celebration, a strong focus on strategy…