South Africans should be more self-confident about their ability to innovate in the IT solutions space: We operate in a vacuum a lot of the time. It's only when you go to the international conferences that you begin to realise that in some areas we are actually way ahead of our counterparts in the rest of the world.

Fewer available places at tertiary education institutions and a marked decrease in learners who have matriculated with mathematics and science is a major concern to education authorities and employers.

As you open your gifts this festive season, or tuck into your dinner, take a moment to think about the extent to which free markets have made this possible.

The age of the one way communication street - where brands controlled the manner in which their customers communicated with them – has passed.

The recent data outages at international company Research in Motion (RIM), which left Blackberry users across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Brazil, Chile and Argentina without connectivity for days on end and sparked outrage from these users on social media platforms, only serve to highlight how dependent the modern world has become on stable Internet connectivity, particularly through previously non-traditional channels such as smartphones.

We've all heard the saying 'local is lekker' and seen campaigns by local manufacturers urging us to support South African brands. However, the China effect is being felt the world over, our own country included, as businesses and retailers increasingly look towards the Far East to source products rather than supporting local manufacturers. This because of the plain fact that goods manufactured in China are cheaper.

‘Autonomy’, ‘recognition’, ‘freedom and discovery’, ‘belonging’, ‘more global, more local’, ‘identity blur’, ‘new consciousness’, ‘vitality’, ‘wired world’ and ‘take a stand’ – 10 phrases that South African brand owners should pay serious attention to as they hold the key to current shifts in consumer attitudes and behaviour.

In a R30 billion plus industry, the average South African is bombarded by advertising. Some of its good, some of its bad, some we take (a little) notice of, while some annoy or irritate and some of it helps us in our lives.

Is it a selfish desire that drives individuals to seek new ways to make life easier, more enjoyable, and more rewarding? Does this selfish desire require a God-like presence to steer it and manage it so that whatever developments take place become available to everyone in the country? Or should it be left to the creative instinct of ‘man’ to satisfy the needs of his fellows?