South Africa News Archives - Page 25 of 72

7Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

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...

Breaking the boys’ club: If investing in women yields good returns, then why are we still fighting for their inclusion?

5Oct

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Breaking the boys’ club: If investing in women yields good returns, then why are we still fighting for their inclusion?

The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs According to research by Statistics South Africa, nearly half (47%) of South African women are unemployedi. This comes as would-be female employees have a tougher time finding work than men, thanks to the inequalities they face, including unequal pay and fewer leadership positions among others, while at the same time struggling to maintain a matriarchal role in society and family. It is for reasons like these that African women often turn to self-employment by starting their own businesses. According to the World Economic Forum, women make up 58% of Africa's self-employed population and contribute around 13% of the continent's Gross domestic product GDP, with Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, having the world’s highest rate of women involve...

29Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

The State of ICSID Arbitration in Africa

By Kylie Slambert, Associate and Ethan Chetty, Candidate Attorney, Dispute Resolution, overseen by Darryl Bernstein, Partner and Head of the Dispute Resolution Practice, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg The International Centre for the Settlement for Investment Disputes (ICSID) has, since 1966, been recognized widely as the leading institution for alternative dispute resolution in disputes between states and individual investors. The theoretical utility of such conventions is relatively straightforward: in the same manner that international commercial arbitration, in combination with the New York Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards, fueled the rapid expansion of global commerce by offering parties to international commercial contracts a mechanism to expedit...

26Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Business, South Africa News

The Power of Quantified Creativity

By Ciaran McKivergan, CEO and founding partner at 8909 We live in a data-driven world, with more information – and therefore more insights – available than at any point in human history. So why aren’t we using that data to create better… everything? Nothing is more powerful in advertising than an epic idea – but the opportunity is wasted if it’s executed badly, and Quantified Creativity is the best way of bringing the two together to execute with excellence. When I was studying Psychology and Media Studies, I learned that in academic writing, you can only claim or state something if it is backed by research. When I started advertising, I assumed that all strategies were being developed in the same way – but that turned out to be a false assumption. That insight led to the development o...

26Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Medicine, South Africa News

Vaccinations: Beyond Covid-19 Hesitancy

What are the ethical, legal and human rights considerations in preparing for future pandemics and human disasters in Africa? Pandemics constitute major public health concerns that affect the entire population, causing widespread human suffering, often requiring population-scale behavioural change, and bringing in myriad new ethical, legal, and medical practice paradigms. The past two years have been a wake-up call for nations around the world to ensure that health systems are resilient and pandemic-prepared. Africa’s primary healthcare systems must be strengthened, and part of the solution lies in robust vaccination strategies, experts say[i]. As with many other disease outbreaks, COVID-19, saw the disadvantaged in our society bearing the brunt of the effects of the pandemic, highlighti...

Sustaining Heritage Begins With Supporting Local Businesses

22Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

Sustaining Heritage Begins With Supporting Local Businesses

By Catherine Wijnberg, Chief Executive Officer of Fetola Heritage Day is an important date in the South African calendar. It is an opportunity to celebrate the cultural wealth of our people; a day on which we honour the vibrant diversity that forms our Rainbow Nation. Yet, amid a backdrop of rolling blackouts, economic contraction, and record-setting inflation, it’s not surprising that many South Africans do not feel like celebrating. Heritage Day is the ideal opportunity to galvanise support for the success of our people – and more importantly, their businesses. This begins with inspiring a return to ‘buy local’. Historically, South Africans have always shown a preference for locally produced goods and services. This sentiment towards ‘Local is Lekker’ comes as South African consumers...

A Payment Solution for Africa That Bypasses Complexity

22Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

Fintech, South Africa News

A Payment Solution for Africa That Bypasses Complexity

Understandably, merchants are finding it increasingly difficult to keep abreast of all the latest payment products and solutions that are available. “It is complex and costly for merchants to manage their own integrations into multiple solution providers. Merchants should be focusing on their core businesses and leave payment complexities to specialist companies,” says Andrew Springate, CEO of tech and financial gateway service provider PAYM8. Founded in 2001, PAYM8 quickly expanded its footprint across the African continent and now processes over R3 billion in annual transaction value for its clients, and is one of the few payment solution providers in Africa capable of providing a single offering to merchants spanning both payer and payee-initiated payments. Merchants want all payments...

CX is the key to staying ahead of the competition

22Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

CX is the key to staying ahead of the competition

Immersion Group's new head of experience design, Ismail Dawjee, believes that the company's recent rebranding efforts will help it become a leading player in the experience industry by setting a new standard for how all experience disciplines work together. According to Dawjee, this unified approach will maximize profitability and growth potential for the company. Immersion Group's recent CEM Africa Summit in Cape Town was a key launching point for its new brand identity. The response from attendees was positive and showed great promise for the company's future. He believes that experience design should be used as a way to gain a competitive advantage, and that by integrating different disciplines into the experience design process, organisations will see a significant impact. Forward-...

20Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News

South Africa: The unintended consequences of Most Favoured Nation Clauses in Tax treaties

By Francis Mayebe, Candidate Attorney, overseen by Virusha Subban, Partner and Head of Tax, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg Background Bilateral tax treaties are mainly based on the principle of reciprocity. Under this principle, one state negotiates better treaty terms with another in exchange for making a particular concession. As is clearly seen in most protocols, the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) clause is usually included as a concession by a developing state looking to renegotiate particular treaty provisions. An illustration of this can be seen in the inclusion of the MFN clause in South Africa's protocols with the Netherlands and Sweden, as it was negotiating to include withholding tax on dividends. The broad rationale behind MFN clauses stems from the field of foreign direct investmen...

19Sep

By Africa BusinessNo Comments

South Africa News, Tech

The Most Common Facebook Marketplace Scams—And How to Avoid Them

Carey van Vlaanderen, CEO of ESET South Africa shares critical safety tips when buying or selling on Facebook Marketplace and how to tell if you’re being scammed. Last year, Facebook Marketplace passed one billion global users. With this, it has become a giant in the consumer-to-consumer commerce space, allowing individual Facebook users to buy and sell seamlessly. Online retail in South Africa has more than doubled in just two years and with 29.5 million-strong Facebook users, more than half of the country’s population has a Facebook account. Dominating the online classifieds Marketplace has become so popular in South Africa that similar platforms are struggling to compete. Previously-popular OLX has closed its doors, while Gumtree still hangs on by a thread. Facebook Marketplace has o...