Alec Hogg’s regular column covering investment, economics, moneycraft and, occasionally, something very personal.
I met the new CEO of Groupon South Africa yesterday. Emilian Popa is as interesting as his name exotic. MBAs from both Columbia and London Business Schools, he’s a bit of an Internet startup veteran. Popa returned to the company he left soon after helping his two former partners get it off the ground. They’ve … Read more
For journalists, old notebooks can be more than a stroll down memory lane. They are also reminders of forgotten lessons. Bestselling writer Malcolm Gladwell visited South Africa for the first time in 2009. He was invited by Discovery to headline its Leadership Summit, the most ambitious of its kind attempted here. The event has grown … Read more
By now hope you’ve managed to hear my interview with Robin Sharma. It was memorable. Including the part where he talked about the cleaning lady he met at the Didimala Game Lodge who beamed when she told him why she loved her job. As Robin shared: “It reminded me that all work has dignity.” Sometimes … Read more
By the way he put the human body together, the Good Lord encouraged us to listen twice as much as we speak. Shamefully, I forget this advice far too often. Say too much, and allow noise created by empty vessels or vested interests to infiltrate my thinking. Drawing conclusions before listening carefully to the small … Read more
Investors in and management of South African construction companies have been waiting a few years for the Government’s promised infrastructure programme to kick into gear. A Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordination Committee was established to fast track the process, using tactics successfully employed ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Last Tuesday the process received a timely … Read more
Age has its benefits, not taking technology for granted among them. Having started as a trainee reporter on a typewriter complete with carbon sheets and tippex, it’s hard to believe how far we’ve come in three decades. At the office last night we were talked through our radio studio’s technical problems with the aid of … Read more
During this time when South African business is under siege from lawless and increasingly entitled trade unions, we might all learn from one of Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett’s favourite people, the inimitable Mrs Rose Blumkin. In the 1983 annual report, Buffett explains how, at 23, Rose talked her way past a border guard to … Read more
By Sasha Naryshkine, Byron Lotter and Michael Treherne Quite an interesting way of going about it, the cat and mouse between government, the ruling party, the ANC and Anglo American taking place. Right now and of course over the last two decades, mining has been at the centre of our economy for a long time, Johannesburg … Read more
By Sasha Naryshkine, Byron Lotter and Michael Treherne SABMiller this morning has announced that they will be exiting their Tsogo Sun investment, the brewer owns a 39.6 percent stake in the hotels and entertainment group. According to the annual report from March 31, SABSA held 36.8 percent, perhaps excluding the treasury shares it is far … Read more
By Sasha Naryshkine, Byron Lotter and Michael Treherne Friday was an off day for the US markets, and if you want to know why it impacts global markets so much, then you should take a very quick look at this page:  National wealth. Total wealth in the US, as per the first quarter was a whopping … Read more