Tag: unemployment

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.

The Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) is here. It is evident in the way banks have started offering their digital services and disrupting the modus operandi of traditional banks; it is evident in schools, where books are being replaced with tablets and it will roll-out in almost every sector in the country.

The National Minimum Wage (NMW) is a crime against the poor of this country as it absolutely forbids them from accepting any compensation below the floor set by government. It is reasonable, therefore, to assume that some people who could be working are not employed because of the minimum wage.

With the elections now largely behind us, investors’ focus will shift to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s ability and political will in addressing issues of concern, namely: the composition of cabinet to be announced on the 28th of May, transforming the economy with the promised policy reform and resolving the problem that Eskom poses to South Africa.