JOHANNESBURG – Learning from those who know more, is the life lesson that Jephtah Onwuama works and lives by. “The whole thing about being an entrepreneur and working for yourself is that you are prepared to listen and learn from others” he says. “If you knew it all you would probably be doing something else. I certainly don’t have all the skills I need yet, but that’s why it’s exciting. You are taking on board different things every day.” It’s this solid homespun message that underpins…
Read MoreDay: Aug 5, 2019
Sub-Saharan Africa under-utilising AGOA benefits – Patel
JOHANNESBURG – Africa must take steps to increase utilisation of its benefits under the United States’ African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) as well as to deepen trade and investment relationships with the world’s biggest economy, South Africa’s economic development, trade and industry minister Ebrahim Patel said on Monday. Patel, who chaired one of the sessions as a consultative meeting of African ministers in Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire, also highlighted the need to aligning trade partnerships to the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA). AGOA is…
Read MoreOil resumes drop as demand fears overshadow Iran tanker seizure
Oil has resumed its decline as a sharp drop in the Chinese yuan compounded fears that a deepening trade war will depress demand, countering concerns crude flows may be disrupted following Iran’s seizure of another ship. Futures lost as much as 1.5% in New York. The yuan weakened beyond 7 a dollar for the first time in more than a decade after President Donald Trump said Friday he can raise tariffs on China to a “much higher number.” That followed his threat the day before to increase levies, which spurred…
Read MoreA popular SA gin has just been bought by the French giant that owns Absolut, Chivas, and Jameson
French liquor giant Pernod Ricard, the manufacturer of popular liquor brands such as Absolut Vodka, Chivas, and Jameson, has acquired a majority stake in South African distillery Inverroche. Inverroche, founded in 2011, is based in the rural community of Still Bay in the Western Cape, where it pioneered the use of indigenous fynbos in gin production. Founder Lorna Scott will maintain a shareholding in the business, and continue as CEO. She said the deal is a vote of confidence in South Africa’s economic prospects. “[Pernod Ricard’s] vast distribution network will…
Read MoreFlip-flops to building blocks: Ivory Coast uses plastic waste to build classrooms
The one-of-a-kind factory is aiming to build 500 classrooms across the country by 2021, using plastic bricks. Inna Lazareva, Thomson Reuters Foundation / 3 August 2019 00:19 3 comments Plastic products like flip flops and tyres are turned into plastic bricks to build schools in the Ivory Coast. Picture: Thierry Gouegnon, Reuters Too much plastic and not enough schools are scourges of modern life many countries face. Now a factory in West Africa will try to tackle both by transforming old flip-flops and car tyres into bricks to build classrooms. The factory…
Read More.Solar and mobile technology will fuel Africa’s future economy
Backyard industrialisation has been tried; it was a miserable failure. During the so-called Great Leap Forward in China under Mao Zedong, peasants were encouraged to erect steel furnaces in their back yards. Predictably, most people had no idea how to build a mini steel plant much less make steel, and there was no market for their wares. The result was economic disaster. But you don’t have to invoke Mao to see that most production tends to be centralised. Manufacturing tends to cluster in factory towns, and these towns are…
Read MoreThe top miners are split on how to chase the EV battery boom
BHP and Glencore don’t agree on is which metals will deliver the best long-term exposure to the developing global market. The new Crystalliser at the BHP Billiton Kwinana Nickel Refinery in Kwinana, Western Australia, Australia. Picture: Philip Gostelow/Bloomberg The world’s biggest miners, including BHP Group and Glencore, are finally firm believers in the electric vehicle battery revolution — what they don’t agree on is which metals will deliver the best long-term exposure to the developing global market. BHP has revived a declining nickel unit in Western Australia to…
Read MoreChina launches world’s first intelligent mega tanker
An Oil carrier with a capacity of 308,000 tons, amounting to approximately 2.275 million oil barrels is the world’s first intelligent mega tanker, a VLCC, which has been installed with an intelligent operating system and is the first smart carrier in the world. China currently stands as the fourth-largest oil producer in the world, and with the petroleum industry rapidly increasing, it’s easy to see why China has invested in upgrades of marine technology, as demand to supply oil to foreign countries has risen quickly. The new VLCC carrier,…
Read MoreWhat small businesses should know about using customer communication channels effectively
JOHANNESBURG – As all entrepreneurs will tell you, building a business is difficult. In the small and medium enterprise (SME) space especially, knowing where to concentrate already limited resources can feel overwhelming. This is as true of customer communications as it is of any other aspect of the business. What channels should you focus on? What kind of content should you send out on those channels? And how frequently should you be communicating with your customers? While a lot depends on the nature of the business and what it’s…
Read MoreA nuclear future awaits South Africa
JOHANNESBURG – We have heard a great deal about the price of coal recently and how critical the coal price is to the production of electricity at a coal-fired power station. This is rather obvious. What people are generally very unaware of is how nuclear fuel works. Yes, people have heard of uranium going into a nuclear reactor. But you don’t throw blocks of uranium into a reactor, like charcoal on the braai. The uranium is fabricated into “fuel elements”. The traditional type is a group of tubes about…
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