Business Archives - Page 16 of 29

1Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Events, Ghana News

African e-commerce users are expected to exceed 500 million over the next three years

The new event facilitates strategic African trade opportunities With the number of African e-commerce users expected to exceed half a billion over the next three years, there is an increasingly urgent need for sophisticated logistics systems to strengthen and support the continent’s expanding transport infrastructure. The pandemic served as a catalyst for the advancement of the global e-commerce market and has given rise to a number of trends that impact the logistics industry. Not only are consumers demanding quicker delivery times, but the costs of servicing the last mile are increasing, which has retailers and logistics operators working hard to improve and develop their distribution models so that they can cut inefficiencies and keep stock nearer to consumers. [1] It is with the pri...

1Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Benin News, Business, Egypt News, Libya News, Main

The growing US dollar weighs down on African economies

By Pitamber Kaushik As the Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, continues to hike its lending rates aggressively in order to rein in persistent inflation, the stress exerted by the bulking US Dollar continues to send ripples throughout the world. Being the predominant medium of international exchange, serving as the world’s principal reserve currency, and being the official or de facto primary currency in some 16 countries, the American dollar wields sizable influence on the global economy. Most African countries are still reeling from the effects of the pandemic and some are going through its aftershocks. High inflation pervades the continent. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, is experiencing severe inflationary pressure given its overwhelming reliance on imports fo...

An update on free trade in Africa – the Guided Trade Initiative, regional value chains and measures for sustainable trade

17Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business

An update on free trade in Africa – the Guided Trade Initiative, regional value chains and measures for sustainable trade

By Virusha Subban, Partner Specialising in Customs and Trade and Head of Tax, Baker McKenzie, Johannesburg The AfCFTA Guided Trade Initiative (GTI) is the latest development designed to boost trade in the Africa's continent-wide free trade zone. The GTI was launched in October 2022 with the aim of testing meaningful, continuous trade under AfCFTA and to assist in the development of regional value chains that will allow for more climate-friendly, sustainable trade across the continent. The GTI will test AfCFTA's policies, legal framework and operational and institutional environments. There are eight countries participating in the GTI that have all met the minimum requirements in terms of AfCTA's tariff book and rules of origin - Cameroon, Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Rwanda, Tanzania ...

Background checks are worth their weight in gold in the mining sector

15Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

Background checks are worth their weight in gold in the mining sector

South Africa possesses ore reserves amounting to a value of more than US$2.5 trillion, with 16 commodities ranked in the top ten internationally. In such an important and high-value sector of the economy, it’s easy to see why the mining industry is a frequent target for malfeasance of all kinds – from deceptive suppliers to tender fraud. And in such a heavily regulated industry, onboarding fraudulent suppliers or tender applicants can mean the end of a company. “Vetting all suppliers and third parties is crucial. This includes the obvious checks such as BEE status and account verification, but also harder-to-come-by information such as checking whether there are any sanctions against a company,” says Sameer Kumandan, Managing Director of SearchWorks, an innovative data aggregation platfor...

Exhibitions are a key facilitator of trade in Africa and are crucial to the continent’s economic recovery

13Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Events

Exhibitions are a key facilitator of trade in Africa and are crucial to the continent’s economic recovery

As a continent, Africa presents significant investment and trade opportunities for global businesses. The borderless markets created by the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) are valued at around $3.4 trillion in GDP, providing a unique and valuable platform for businesses to access an integrated market of over 1.3 billion people and in turn boost and broaden economic activity. This was a key message at the Embassy Markets Spotlight Briefing held by leading global event company DMG events at the Gallagher Convention Centre in Johannesburg this week. Attended by a 50-strong audience of ambassadors, trade attaches and trade promotion agencies, the breakfast meeting focused on facilitating inbound trade and investment from across the world to the African market through events and e...

10 Top Lessons From Leading Entrepreneurs

9Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

10 Top Lessons From Leading Entrepreneurs

Being an entrepreneur is no easy feat, but with a clear plan, passion and hard work – a lot is possible. As we enter Entrepreneurship Month, we speak to entrepreneurs from different fields and industries about their success and ask them their key tips on achieving greatness! From Ignite Fitness’ CEO, Schalk Hugo and internationally acclaimed Interior Designer Tammy Holmes to the Founding Owner of Just Breethe, Marc Barnfather as well as the innovative Founder of Sloom, Rudo Kemp – you are sure to walk away feeling inspired! Schalk Hugo is the Founder and CEO of Ignite Fitness and his main entrepreneurial mantra is “to get more time on the clock than others. Schalk says “hereby meaning that typically I'll start at 3am and finish at 8/9pm daily 5 days a week. All that this means is; ...

Investing in software development skills is a strategic imperative for all sectors

24Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Science, South Africa News, Tech

Investing in software development skills is a strategic imperative for all sectors

Rather than being concentrated in certain industries, coding is crucial across the economy By Jessica Hawkey, Managing Director of redAcademy The highest unemployment rate in the world, where almost three in five youth are unemployed, and a crippling skills shortage - especially in the technology industry - exist side by side in South Africa creating a unique vacuum that needs to be filled. Businesses are often hamstrung by an inability to innovate because they don’t have the skills, while young people are not finding their way into the technology industry in large enough numbers to close the skills gap and make an impact on unemployment levels. Software development, which is key to driving innovation, is not the preserve of the IT industry. Software development is crucial in all indust...

Pre-employment background checks – essential in verifying job candidates are who they claim to be

20Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

Pre-employment background checks – essential in verifying job candidates are who they claim to be

Background checks reduce a company’s risk for reputational damage and criminal activities such as fraud and theft. They can also verify information on an applicant's resume and assist HR professionals in determining whether an individual is the right fit for the job description says Sameer Kumandan, Managing Director of SearchWorks, South Africa’s largest and most innovative data aggregation platform. Finding and managing talent for an organisation is a responsibility that is both time and resource intensive. So it makes sense to do your due diligence before bringing a new hire into the fold. First order of business? Making sure the candidate is exactly who they claim to be. This involves verifying all of the information contained on their CV - checking everything from education to work e...

12Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

How useful is Google Trends for Digital Marketing?

Jacques Du Bruyn, Managing Director, Flume In South Africa, 94% of online information searches are made via Google, meaning that the data gleaned by the platform is an incredibly accurate measure of what South Africans are searching for – as well as when and possibly why. That information can be accessed via Google Trends, and used as a powerful tool for digital marketing. Targeting and Testing The challenge at the start of any campaign is deciding who it is targeted at. Marketers can put in a few geographic locations, target specific devices and add some demographic and psychographic targets like age groups and interests. That’s quite broad – which is where Google Trends really comes into its own. It allows digital marketers the opportunity to look at information around specific sear...

7Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, Events, South Africa News

10 trends impacting the business event (MICE) industry

The scrapping of South Africa’s final lockdown restrictions has opened the door wide for the meetings, incentives, conference and event (MICE) sector to get back to business, and South Africa is following global trends with both outbound and inbound business events seeing a strong rebound as companies look to network, share knowledge and incentivise their staff once again. Despite being severely impacted by the pandemic, the global MICE industry is expected to enjoy significant growth for the period 2021—2028. According to research done by Research Dive, the global market is expected to hit $1,619 billion by 2028, rising at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.9% from 2021 to 2028. Leading this growth is the increase of virtual MICE meetings with Asia-Pacific leading the markets. J...