Business Archives - Page 12 of 29

7Jul

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

Why Businesses Need a Professional Website Developer

Every business needs a website; it’s no longer possible to thrive in the marketplace without one because most people connect with each other online, including businesses. However, building a website can seem like a daunting task to business owners who have never built an online presence. To get a website quickly, some businesses turn to DIY platforms that make it easy and cheap to build a website. While saving time and money is great, there are several disadvantages when businesses build their own websites. For instance, they lack the customization required to make their site fully embody their brand. If you’re a business owner who needs a web presence, here’s are several reasons you should hire a professional website developer instead of taking a DIY approach to building your website. ...

29Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Tech

How to find the story in a business’s data and then action it

By Rene McGregor, Head of Consulting at Insight Consulting Data literacy is a journey and is key to an organisation’s data strategy While it is widely accepted that data is the lifeblood of our increasingly digital world, not all organisations are able to collect, manage, analyse, interpret and then apply insights from data. If data were currency, then only some people in some organisations truly know how to earn it and spend it. It’s broadly understood that a data literate person can read, understand, communicate, argue and apply insights from data. Often, it is believed that a once-off literacy intervention or solution will suddenly “upskill” a workforce, allowing the C-suite to move on to another project. This could not be further from the truth. Data literacy is a journey whose goa...

24Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

How businesses can build towards sustainable social impact

By Kate Shead, HR Executive Telviva When asked how businesses build towards successful social impact the answer is easy - sustainability. How to build sustainable social impact is a somewhat more complicated question. My advice would be to let organisational culture be your guide. Businesses talk about culture often, but I think for many it remains a mystery. That’s because culture is not only what an organisation explicitly states, but also how it implicitly behaves. Yes, it is influenced by the stated business objectives, organisational structure and systems, job functions and policies and procedures. But not only by these things - which is where it gets really interesting: The implicit elements of culture. This is the social community that develops, the shared experiences, the p...

21Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Business, Events

World Chambers Congress

The 13th World Chambers Congress takes place in Geneva this week (21-23 June) under the theme of ‘Achieving peace and prosperity through multilateralism in commerce’. Attracting 1,500 participants from over 100 countries, the Congress is the biggest, most diverse economic forum for chamber and business executives to exchange experience and examine the issues affecting people, their livelihoods and our planet. The ICC’s World Chambers Federation and the Geneva Chamber of Commerce & Industry have confirmed the participation of Michel Barnier, former EU chief negotiator for Brexit. Other prominent speakers include Maximo Torero Cullen, Chief Economist of the Food and Agriculture Organization, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, Executive Director of the International Trade Centre, Kelly Clements, De...

20Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

AFAWA’s Ambassadors: Shaping the conversation around the financing gap that women face in Africa

Written by AFAWA’s Ambassadors From finance to business, to music and non-profit work, together, our combined experience spans a dazzling array of sectors. But there is a common thread that weaves together all our professional lives: a passion for empowering women in Africa to realise their potential. We know what women can do when given the opportunity. But we also know that all too often, women are held back. One way that African women are stifled is by the lack of financing for their businesses. There is, in other words, a glaring disparity between the funding that women have access to and the funding they need to sustain and grow their business operations. In total, that disparity – the so-called “finance gap” – is $42 billion. That’s why we have joined forces to advocate for the “...

Education needs to ignite entrepreneurship

10Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Science

Education needs to ignite entrepreneurship

By PROFESSOR AHMED SHAIKH, MD REGENT BUSINESS SCHOOL GLOBALLY the perennial battle to alleviate poverty is an enduring one and in this respect South Africa is no exception. According to Statistics SA almost half of the adult population in our country is living below the upper-bound poverty line. While the battle against poverty has been a difficult one, the recent Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the situation, especially in terms of poverty rates, the economy, health, education and employment prospects. In addition to the pandemic, the country is also in its worst economic recession in 100 years. South Africa’s unemployment rate rose to 32.6 percent in the first quarter of 2021 from 32.5 percent in the previous period (Trading Economics -2021). Stats SA also confirms the official unemp...

10Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Tech

Digital Convergence: The Secret to transformational success

The critical factors that shape the success or failure of digital transformation aren’t secrets, they’re people says Dr Karen Luyt, Snr Specialist: Digital Transformation at BCX. Digital transformation fails. In fact, it fails slightly too often for comfort. McKinsey says 70% of transformations fail. BCG says only 30% of companies get it right. KPMG puts the percentage of failure at 73%. Considering how beneficial digital transformation can be to the business and its bottom line, it’s time to turn the percentage on its head. To take the 70% of failures and turn them into a 70% success rate, and the way to do this is through people. Leadership is perhaps one of the most important success factors in any digital transformation strategy. Decision-makers and leaders need to know exactly why t...

Beyond Traditional Savings: Unconventional Investments for a Diversified Portfolio

9Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

Beyond Traditional Savings: Unconventional Investments for a Diversified Portfolio

Humans are living longer than ever, making retirement planning more and more important, not to mention more and more complicated. It’s never too early or late to start planning for retirement, but it is important to plan actively. This begins with identifying your retirement income goals, considering your likely expenses, setting up some sort of savings programme, and managing your assets and risk. In doing so, most people with the means will make contributions to a compulsory (retirement) savings product, either a pension or provident fund if you’re an employee of a company, or a retirement annuity fund if you’re self-employed or your employer has no retirement arrangements. Compulsory products have a number of advantages. You deduct up to 27.5% of your retirement savings contributions ...

5Jun

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

African News, Business, South Africa News

How private investors can access offshore equity and commodity markets safely

Structured products enable diversification into offshore markets while controlling risk. Any investor worth their salt understands the importance of diversification, particularly in a contemporary economic environment characterised by such volatility and uncertainty. Spreading investments across industries, asset classes and geographies is a key component of risk reduction in an investment portfolio, as should one investment fare poorly, the others should ideally offset this, resulting in consistent return. This is fundamental to achieving long-term financial security. Bearing in mind that JSE-listed stocks represent merely 1% of the total listed equity market capitalisation in the world, investing offshore can help you gain exposure to investment opportunities and markets that may not b...

More resources, more problems: Understanding the African mining landscape

23May

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

More resources, more problems: Understanding the African mining landscape

By Arjen de Bruin, Managing Director at OIM Consulting The African continent is richly endowed in natural resources, with platinum, silver, gold, copper and cobalt some of our best-known commodities. We’re also abundant in green commodities, such as uranium, phosphate and vanadium. As a result, the mining sector is a key contributor to the continent’s economies, responsible for a significant portion of Africa’s exports, fiscal revenues, and, of course, employment. Yet in almost equal proportion, we’re a continent rich in problems – which, in turn, impacts the same sector we so heavily rely on – mining. Macro-economic challenges In South Africa, load shedding has dealt the sector a sharp blow, with hours of downtime and wasted capacity, while ongoing transport challenges see mines stru...