South Africa News Archives - Page 21 of 72

How to start a business with almost no money

22Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

How to start a business with almost no money

By Catherine Wijnberg One of the questions I am most frequently asked is: “How can I get funding to start my business?” Today’s Google search will give you 340 million answers to this question. But if it’s just one good answer you need, this one might help. The reality is that most new businesses start with very little money. I started Fetola from my dining room with one laptop and an idea. Similarly, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Apple founder Steve Jobs and South African whizz kids Elon Musk and Mark Shuttleworth all started globally successful businesses from their garages, relying mainly on their skills and hard labour and some help from friends and relatives. Closer to home, Helena van der Westhuizen from Simply Bee, South Africa’s fast-growing, natural skincare company, developed ...

Enhancing Connectivity Can Bolster Economic Diversification in South Africa, Offering Sustainable Growth and Benefits to All Citizens

15Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Enhancing Connectivity Can Bolster Economic Diversification in South Africa, Offering Sustainable Growth and Benefits to All Citizens

Over the past 10 years, South Africa has been dealing with an economic and growing unemployment crisis that has placed the country in a dire situation. There is a growing need for economic development. However, in the past, the mining industry has been the major economic driver of a country that was once the biggest economy on the continent. However, the sector has faced significant challenges over the past two years, forcing President Cyril Ramaphosa to reiterate that we need to move towards a diversified economy. Access to a growing basic need In the wake of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the world is becoming increasingly digitised in order to address some of the main challenges caused by the Pandemic. In South Africa, this has traditionally been a problem. However, the Government's desire ...

South African Small Construction Companies are Bracing for 2023 and Making Preparations to Rebuild and Thrive

15Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

South African Small Construction Companies are Bracing for 2023 and Making Preparations to Rebuild and Thrive

The South African construction industry has been remarkably resilient in the face of the pandemic, managing to rebound as quickly and effectively as possible. Now, as businesses and individuals alike begin to look forward to 2023, it is essential that everyone starts setting themselves up for success in the coming year. For small business owners this can be a particularly challenging task, as they must attempt to make predictions and plan ahead without having any real guarantee of what the future holds. To that end, taking a proactive approach is recommended: planning thoroughly and investing in contingencies will help to ensure that SMEs are ready for whatever lies ahead. Furthermore, expanding their reach beyond local markets and diversifying their activities can also help them weather ...

1Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Don’t be an Ass (mule) this festive

The festive season is a time to be enjoyed, spending quality time with family and showering others in kindness and generosity. However, the South African festive season is also, unfortunately, synonymous with fraud. If history is anything to go by, many South Africans are expected to fall victim to fraud during this period. The Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS), Reana Steyn, advises South Africans that scammers and fraudsters are likely to intensify their activities during the holiday season. “It is important to note that these fraudsters do not discriminate or have any regard for their victim's age, race or profession. Unfortunately, it is often the elderly that are most vulnerable and most likely to be left devastated by these fraudsters,” says Steyn who adds that these fraudsters a...

1Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Main, South Africa News

COP27 lays foundations for long-term investment opportunities in Africa

By Philippa Owen, ESG Lead at GraySwan After several days of focused negotiations in Sharm el-Sheikh, this year’s COP27 closed with a sense of comfort that the needs of emerging and developing markets have not been overlooked. The agreement to create and implement a loss and damage fund to rescue and rebuild physical and social infrastructure comes years after questions were first raised about the non-delivery of promised finance to facilitate the developing world’s transition to a greener economy and the move away from fossil fuels. Yet, it is seen as a first crucial step that places the onus on the countries most responsible for the effects of climate change to contribute to those countries worst affected (and the least responsible). From a local perspective, South Africa’s request f...

1Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Energy, South Africa News

South Africa: The latest developments in Just Energy Transition

Kieran Whyte, Partner and Head of the Energy. Mining & Infrastructure Group, Baker McKenzie, Johannesburg During the World Leaders' Summit at COP 27 in November 2022, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the new Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) for South Africa. It was at COP 26 in November 2021, that it was first announced that the governments of France, Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union had pledged USD 8.5 billion in first round financing to assist South Africa with energy transition projects as part of the Just Energy Transition Partnership (JETP) between the countries. In October 2022, the South African cabinet approved a five-year investment plan for the USD 8.5 billion package. The Just Energy Transition Investment ...

1Dec

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Real-time data tracks considerable growth in Black Friday and Cyber Monday spend

CAPE TOWN - Hot on the heels of yet another interest rate increase adding more yet squeeze on businesses and consumers alike, South Africans showed they still have an appetite for retail spending, with data from leading omnichannel payment solutions provider Ecentric Payment System’s 2022 Black Friday Payment Gateway Dashboard showing whopping increases in both transactions volume and value, when compared to 2021. By 1 pm on Cyber Monday, total transaction value had grown 305,36% compared to the same time the year before. This was not isolated to Cyber Monday, as the transaction value growth on midnight after a full Black Friday was 212,11% up compared to the year before. Total transaction volume by 1 pm on Cyber Monday had grown by 59,36% over the previous year by midday, having grown 1...

27Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Startups

Female Venture Capitalists are pioneering South Africa’s Silicon Valley

By Paula Mokwena, CEO at Fireball Capital The global venture capital (VC) ecosystem is no stranger to the common challenge that female entrepreneurs face – lack of funding. Research by the World Bank shows that for every $1 invested in women, $25 goes to men in the African startup space1. This is the case across all regions and twice the burden for African women attempting to break into the ‘boys’ club’. Small strides have been made toward uplifting women in the broader tech space, and the effort that has been made can be attributed to the influx of female investors and venture capitalists into the market2. The disproportionate level of funding channelled into male-led startups might suggest that these are more lucrative investments3. However, research by BCG has shown that businesses fo...

South African assets may be cheap, but that’s not a good enough reason not to invest offshore

23Nov

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

South African assets may be cheap, but that’s not a good enough reason not to invest offshore

By Mart Marie de Jongh, Certified Financial Planner at GraySwan and Gregoire Theron, Chief Investment Officer The investment world’s fixation on global inflation and whether we are approaching the peak and heading towards a recession, has many investors sitting on cash, waiting for signals of a better market. Despite this, investing in South Africa presents a convincing opportunity. In the South African Bond market, investors can yield more than 4% above South African inflation, one of the highest real yields compared to other developed and emerging markets. This provides South African investors the opportunity to receive an income well above inflation with a lot of risks already priced into the asset class. South African equities and emerging market equities are also trading at very...

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...