There is no single formula to start a business, all you need is passion and purpose

Photo credit: Startup Stock Photos (Pexels.com)

By Catherine Wijnberg This article takes a realistic and practical perspective of business start-up using lessons from my extensive start-up experience and those of hundreds of South African entrepreneurs I have worked with across every industry over the past 15 years. It is also why I can admit that unlike baking a cake, there is […]

The Need for a Better France-Africa Partnership

Authored by ONE in Africa Executive Director Serah Makka & ONE in France Director Najat Vallaud-Belkacem After the withdrawal of French forces from Mali and more recently from Burkina Faso and responding to the – rightly – growing demands of his Sahelian and sub-Saharan allies, President Macron has called for a new relationship with Africa. […]

Prohibited transactions raise substantial competition or public interest concerns that cannot be remedied

By Angelo Tzarevski, Director Designate, Competition & Antitrust Practice, Baker McKenzie, Johannesburg On 22 February 2023, the South African Competition Tribunal issued an order prohibiting the proposed intermediate merger between Corruseal Group (Pty) Ltd (Corruseal) and Neopak Holdings (Pty) Ltd (Neopak). In their request for consideration to the Tribunal, Corruseal and Neopak sought to have […]

South Africa: Two birds with one sunbeam – ESG windfall with the expanded renewable energy tax incentive

ENGIE starts operations of Kathu, a 100 MW Concentrated Solar Plant and one of South Africa’s largest renewable energy projects

By Tsanga Mukumba, Associate, and Jordan Moonsamy, Candidate Attorney, and overseen by Kieran Whyte, Partner, Head of Projects, and Virusha Subban, Partner, Head of Tax, Johannesburg. The introduction of an augmented and accelerated capital expenditure deduction for the cost of constructing renewable energy infrastructure in South Africa is a boon for companies that have not yet reached their […]

The mine’s operating model – and why your people underpin it

By Arjen de Bruin, Managing Director at OIM Consulting In its simplest form, a company’s operating model can be described as a visualisation of its business strategy. The intent of the model is to provide a clear framework or blueprint for how this strategy is executed to deliver on the organisation’s goals. But who is […]

Gender in Focus: Senegalese “Agripreneur” and African Development Bank AgriPitch Competition winner says digital marketing key to luxury tea startup success

Senegalese businesswoman Adja Sembene Fall said she had no choice but to launch her start-up business online because her new Contanna fair-trade tea company only had $200 to its name. “Due to [lack of] finance, it was not possible to get a physical shop. We started out in the backyard of my brother’s house. We […]

A Growing Young Generation may be the Secret to Africa’s Success

By Varda Berenstein Listen to any political speech in Europe and the West, and you’ll hear over and over again, repeated to the point of cliché: “Our children are the future.” Young people are held up as the great hope for social, cultural, political, and economic development. They will ‘save the planet’. Their energy and […]

Fintech ImaliPay signs deal with Renda to empower e-commerce across Africa

ImaliPay, a leading fintech-as-a-service provider, has signed a major deal with 3rd Party e-commerce fulfillment solution Renda (1st March 2023). The partnership will support businesses across Africa by simplifying and streamlining the process of order fulfillment for Enterprise and Medium-sized businesses across Africa, starting with Nigeria. The two companies will provide key services to ambitious businesses, making it easier […]

Yofi Grant, CEO of GIPC, is the African business personality of the year 2022, and Ghana represented by GIPC is the best FDI destination in Africa

Yofi Grant, the esteemed CEO of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), has been honored with the prestigious title of African Business Personality of the Year 2022 by International Investor Magazine. This coveted award recognizes Yofi Grant’s outstanding leadership and contributions to promoting investment and economic growth in Ghana and across Africa. Furthermore, GIPC, representing […]

8.7% of users encountered phishing attacks in Africa in 2022, global number of attacks exceeds 500 million

Kaspersky’s (www.Kaspersky.co.za) anti-phishing system prevented more than 500 million attempts at accessing fraudulent websites globally in 2022. This is twice more compared to 2021 figures. In Africa, 8.7% of individuals and corporate users were affected by phishing: attacks on their devices were detected and stopped. In South Africa, the share of users affected by phishing […]

WeWork and SiSebenza Announce Franchise Partnership for WeWork South Africa

WeWork, the leading global flexible space provider, today announced a franchise partnership with SiSebenza, a pan-African real estate investor, giving SiSebenza the exclusive right to operate WeWork’s existing locations in South Africa. The deal also grants SiSebenza exclusive rights to grow and operate the WeWork franchise in Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius and Nigeria. The franchise partnership […]

Shopping for sustainability: online stores and e-commerce merchants answer growing consumer demand

While 92% of South Africans say sustainability is important to them, only 58% claim to live sustainably according to a 2022 study by global consumer insights agency InSites Consulting. It’s clear South Africans want to make a change; they just don’t know where to start. That’s where online retailers and e-commerce merchants come in, says Steffen Burrows, CURBON co-founder and director. The […]

MultiChoice Africa Accelerator Programme set to boost prosperity of African small and medium-sized businesses (SMME)

MultiChoice shortlists 11 start-ups to pitch for international funding and take their small businesses to the next level At a time when unemployment challenges and economic instability are high, small and medium-sized businesses (SMMEs) are proving to be the engines of economic growth and job creation throughout the African continent. In recognition of the critical […]

Modernising and regulating SA’s payments industry

In the second half of 2022, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) announced it has its sights set on stricter regulations for the South African payments ecosystem “to ensure financial stability in a world of increasingly innovative and disruptive technology”. Though some new fintech players winced at the thought, it is a necessary move if […]

Strategies for water efficiency and continuity in South Africa

Loadshedding in South Africa has become the norm and will continue for at least two more years but another problem has arisen due to these prolonged blackouts and that is an interruption in water supply. When the stages of loadshedding are higher (stage 6 and 8) and there is no electricity for four hours or […]

How South African small businesses and traders can up their game for financial success

Cape Town Aerial After Sunset

The better financially educated business owners are, the stronger the foundation of their business will be. Financial literacy has been proven to not only affect both saving and investment behaviour, but also debt management and borrowing practices. Financially savvy traders and SMEs are more likely to accumulate wealth, get better returns on investments, and cover emergency expenses. […]

Habits That Shaped Influencer Jason Borkland and Helped Him See the Wild and Almost Unimaginable

Jason Borkland is a man of multiple talents. On any given day, you will see him on the riskiest of expeditions, snorkeling with sharks, weaving through the sky on heliskiing excursions, or simply traveling and exploring the wonders of the world. And while he’s at it, he makes sure to capture everything to share with […]

New outlook on skills development can solve CTO headaches and fast-track coding careers in 2023

By Jessica Hawkey, Managing Director at redAcademy As 2023 begins in full swing, we can all be forgiven for feeling as though we have been on a seemingly endless roller coaster during the past year. However, despite the surprises and shocks, one thing remained consistent throughout 2022 and is predicted to be one of the […]

PAM Africa Launches First Ever Net Zero Village in Africa

Leading Cleantech company becomes Africa’s first solar company to provide quality energy access for Africans. PAM Africa, a renewable energy company that provides quality energy access through Solar PV, Grids, Batteries, and Innovation, has today announced the launch of their Net-Zero Villages – a groundbreaking approach that consists of a community that is designed with […]

Moving on up: Why change management matters in evolving workspaces

Our workplaces are changing rapidly, with organisations redesigning their spaces to be more flexible and hospitable, moving to accommodate hybrid work practices, or simply relocating to downsize. While the reasons for moving are clear, there is often an inconsistent understanding and implementation of change management, which can result in overwhelmed employees, reduced productivity, and the […]

Simple Ways to Support Digital Learning and Help Build SA’s Digital Future

Education in the online space was brought into sharp focus during the COVID-19 pandemic and the COVID-19 and barriers to participation in education in South Africa, 2020 report released by Statistics South Africa showed the scale of the challenge in that only 11.7% of schools offered remote learning options, nationally. Most households did not have […]

Invest Africa: 6 Reasons To Choose Ghana

As the world gradually emerges from the ruins of the recent economic recession, the search continues for the next hotspot for global commerce. Emerging markets in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East are being viewed as possible new engines of economic growth. Amid the hot debates and ponderings, the case for Africa has grown […]