Tag: unemployment

We are an investment manager investing in South Africa. Our capital comes exclusively from American investors. Being based in New York and Johannesburg gives us a useful perspective on how SA is perceived by the international investment community.

Recruitment scams are becoming a horrible and worrying trend in South Africa. One of South Africa’s fastest growing recruitment agencies has recently been hit by a recruitment scam. We would like to raise an alarm to job seekers that there is someone that is using their company name to scam job seekers.

With GDP up 3.1% in the second quarter of 2019 (seasonally adjusted, annualised) and 0.9% for the year to June 2019, the markets have responded positively. The rand appreciated by some 10 cents on publication of the data and bonds yields declined by about 10 basis points.

Around the world, workspace requirements are changing dramatically. Fuelled by an increasingly tech-driven business ecosystem, office spaces have to evolve in order to meet new workplace demands.

Government needs to take bold and rapid action to extricate the country from the economic quagmire in which it finds itself. The local economy is struggling to generate the growth needed to address high unemployment and inequality, as well as arrest the declining productivity that has eroded the country's global competitiveness.

By 2025, millennials will make up 75% of the global workforce and their growing influence on business is rapidly redefining our notion of success. Unlike baby boomers, whose aspirations centred around working their way up the corporate ladder, millennials gravitate towards entrepreneurship and the flexibility, innovation, creativity and purpose associated with start-up businesses.

In their 2014 Harvard Business Review article titled 'What VUCA Really Means for you', Nathan Bennett and James Lemoine warned us not to use the VUCA acronym as a crutch. Sadly, looking at the South African context today, this has indeed become a reality. It is important to understand that just because we can’t prepare for a Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous world, does not mean we cannot lead our businesses through it.

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered his second State of the Nation Address (SONA) on 20 June. The speech was filled with rousing language as well as conciliatory offers to work together with members of the opposition. Unfortunately, no new details of his ostensible reform agenda were released, including details of how his dream for South Africa will come about.

In celebrating the Youth Month, we are reminded that the uprising that began in Soweto more than 40 years ago was all about education, and how it profoundly changed the socio-political landscape of the country.

When young Americans grow up, rarely do you hear them being excited about going to study in Europe when they leave school. Why would they be? They have world-class universities and immense opportunities at home. It is not uncommon, however, to speak to young South Africans who are keen to leave this country either for extended periods or indefinitely.