Alec Hogg’s regular column covering investment, economics, moneycraft and, occasionally, something very personal.
South Africa’s political leadership has the ability to espouse wonderful ideals. But its ability to execute is pathetic, a fact reflected in the slide in just about every measurement matrix imaginable. From global agency downgrades to the ever sliding exchange rate; stagnant economic growth to the WEF’s Global Competitiveness Report, the trend clear. For everyone, … Read more
By Alec Hogg It was all Oscar Pistorius yesterday. Even my autocue operator made an uncharacteristic slip, distracted by the OP channel in the control room. Biznews.com’s top stories listed as always at the bottom of this mail, reflect that reality. Fortunately, all of my CNBC Africa interviews are recorded. Then transcribed and published on … Read more
By Alec Hogg September is a great month. It’s our official start of Spring. And reporting season for many of the country’s best companies. Which, for me, includes interviews with South Africa’s best capital allocators. In just over a week, it’s been my privilege to sit down with Brian Joffe of Bidvest; Markus Jooste of … Read more
What social engineers have always missed is while people might join crowds, each human being is an individual with customised thoughts and actions. And dreams. Deep inside every parent is the belief our newborn child will be the next great thing for the world – a future CEO, Judge, Doctor, Professor even President. Of course … Read more
By Alec Hogg Will spend today in a forum on energy hosted by ENS, the largest independent legal firm on the continent (650 lawyers, 220 partners, they tell me). It promises to improve our collective knowledge base in an area most of us tended to ignore. That was until the Eskom-centred crisis hit. My pre-forum … Read more
By Alec Hogg I’ve been astonished at the seemingly ever sliding share price of Moneyweb. Having started the company and still being a significant shareholder – by my modest standards anyway – I know the business is as sound as any media company in this environment. With around R25m in the bank, no debt, a … Read more
In this focused discussion on renewable energy, Paul Semple of Futuregrowth explains why his company has lent more than R4bn to 19 South African projects – and explains why renewable energy will deliver cheaper electricity into the national grid than Eskom’s new coal-fired power stations. But he frets that this is the trough for renewable … Read more
By Alec Hogg Over the weekend, I got thinking about age. And how healthier lifestyles are helping us live productive lives for a lot longer. My father in law is 89 yet still expertly edits his industry’s quarterly newsletter. My hairdresser turned 75 last week and cuts as well as he did when I first … Read more
By Alec Hogg In the four years since 2011, South Africa’s respective placings in the WEF’s annual Global Competitiveness Report has been 50th; 52nd; 53rd; and now 56th. Thankfully we’re still in the top half of 144 countries covered, but Mauritius (39th) is out of site in the African league and Rwanda (62nd) catching up … Read more
Allan Greenblo was my boss at Finance Week in the early 1980s and wrote extensively then about attempts to introduce compulsory preservation of pensions. Those were heady times. Labour was starting to flex new muscles legalised through the laws enacted following the Wiehahn Commission, and it was before the UDF’s internal activism hit top gear. … Read more