BizNews Radio
Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and business people from South Africa and across the globe.
Programme to boost early-stage SA tech businesses is hitting home runs
South Africa is way behind the curve when it comes to early-stage venture-backed businesses. The country has not managed to excite the global venture capital community in the same way that other African countries like Nigeria and Kenya. To address this lag, the Local Scale Up programme was launched in…
Ivermectin: facts and science are in its favour – Dr Rapiti
In August 2021, BizNews conducted a panel discussion with Professor Colleen Aldous, Dr Nathi Mdladla and Dr Pinky Ngcakani – all of whom are strongly in favour of ivermectin. The discussion was published on BizNews TV on YouTube and for a year, it managed to evade the YouTube censorship police…
Corion's David Bacher: Assessing Peche's performance fee expose' - and an explanation for why July's market rebound faded away
At the BizNews conference last week, David Bacher invested time with Sean Peche to better understand the whistleblower's perspective on SA money manager performance fees - and was particularly interested in the way big companies restrict access to the investment platforms (which they own). He shares his conclusions on both…
"The industry will get away with what it can..." - Revisiting SA's 'out of step' performance fees with OMBA's Mark Perchtold
In this podcast we revisit SA's performance fee scandal exposed a fortnight back by Sean Peche whose investigation showed that the big money managers are harvesting billions from savers despite delivering poor returns. OMBA co-founder Mark Perchtold, who like Peche is a South African based in London, shines more light…
BBB Ep 44 - Recession fears - Markets hit with crude oil dropping 6%, Rand to R17.30; BNC#4 through eyes of its golf champion
While most of the BizNews team's focus was on its fourth conference (BNC#$) in the Drakensberg last week, the rest of the world was absorbing sobering news about the global economy - with the oil price losing 6% and stock markets falling sharply. In this episode of the BizNews Business…
IBS: no longer the default diagnosis for something doctors don’t understand
BizNews spoke to Dr Mark Pimentel, a gastroenterologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre in Los Angeles, California, about irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a disorder which has gained a reputation as a default ‘leftover’ diagnosis due to the medical fraternity’s inability to conclusively define or diagnose the condition. Pimentel, who created a test capable of…
‘Companies that enforced vaccine mandates set themselves up to be the state’s fall guys’ – Dr Herman Edeling
As the Covid-19 waves have decreased, various resultant issues, either ignored or wilfully bypassed in the midst of the pandemic frenzy and subsequent mass vaccination drive, are now coming into focus. Sharply. In July, BizNews published an article by veteran SA journalist Brian Pottinger in which he pointed out that…
Polling data shows ANC a sniff above 50% with 56% voter turnout - Dr Frans Cronje explains
Independent analyst Dr Frans Cronje's think tank, the Social Research Foundation (SRF) has issued a report showing the ANC would likely win an absolute maximum of 52% of the vote in an election modelled on voter turnout of 56%. The SRF report has garnered significant attention primarily because polling company…
Ramaphosa's new anti-corruption council 'a step in the right direction' - Corruption Watch
Karam Singh, Director of Corruption Watch, is well aware of the cynicism among South Africans when it comes to any anti-corruption initiative borne from the government - but he's optimistic the new National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council (NACAC) is fundamentally a progressive development. He told BizNews that the mere announcement of…
Transnet arrests: Brian Molefe, Anoj Singh and co. granted R50k bail
OUTA chief investigator on state capture Rudie Heyneke reacts to the arrests of former Transnet and Gupta-linked Regiments executives charged with contravention of the PFMA, fraud, corruption and money laundering. Former Transnet CEO Brian Molefe and the parastatal’s former finance head Anoj Singh were joined in the dock by Regiments…
Township is the next business frontier, not a place for charity – Yebo Fresh
The spaza shops, bakers and other retail outlets running their small business in townships have a heap of challenges. They close often to go and source products, carry cash and have no access to credit. Intrigued by these township markets, Jessica Boonstra, originally from the Netherlands, started her business, Yebo Fresh…
PBMR myths and facts - Eloff, Donaldson debate whether SA's R30bn nuclear power "Moonshot" can be resuscitated
With both supply and costs of electricity having changed dramatically for SA in the past few years, many are wondering it's time to dust off the blueprints of Eskom's groundbreaking Pebble Bed Modular Reactor nuclear power programme. Cancelled in 2010 due to affordability, the PBMR project had sucked in a…
Grindrocket delivers again - CEO Andrew Waller with back story to booming JSE stock, reckons there's more to come
Investors got the fireworks they expected from Grindrod in the half year to end June, and despite a share price that has already trebled this year - the market rewarded the stock with another price increase. In this interview, CEO Andrew Waller talks to Alec Hogg of BizNews about his…
Estimated 10% of GDP lost to Transnet inefficiencies; ARIA calls for private sector intervention
Transnet's latest annual report highlights net profits of R5bn - marking a significant turnaround from the R8bn in losses in the prior financial year - but the African Rail Industry Association (ARIA) says don't be fooled. ARIA CEO Mesela Nhlapo spoke to Michael Appel about the state of the country's…
BBB Ep 43 - Financial whistleblower Sean Peche "blown away" by reaction to expose'; Eloff, Donaldson revisit R30bn PBMR nuclear plan
In this episode of the Briefing, we're joined by financial whistleblower Sean Peche for reaction to his blockbuster expose' this week on Performance Fees being charged by most of SA's big money managers (a uniquely SA cost) - even when they lose clients money. Also, we revisit SA's nuclear power…
CrypTalk ep 6 - Tornado Cash sanctions, mixing services and how to keep and move your crypto safely
In this episode of CrypTalk, Ross Sinclair speaks to Gaurav Nair of Jaltech about the sanctions against Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixing service which was designed for privacy, but was abused for money laundering by the North Koreans, which caused the Office of Foreign exchange control (OFAC) to crack down on…
‘Sound the alarm’ report - Corruption Watch on education corruption
Corruption Watch is raising the alarm about corruption in South Africa’s education sector, bringing together statistics collated from over 3,600 reports to the NGO over the last decade. Senior researcher Melusi Ncala - who wrote the report - spoke to Michael Appel about the overall picture that emerges from their…
Singing an alternative tune in volatile markets – Overberg Asset Management's Nick Downing
When markets are volatile, where would you normally invest if you are seeking lower volatility and higher income yields than equity markets? The traditional answer to that is government bonds. Founder and CEO of Overberg Asset Management, Nick Downing, says bonds are however no longer fulfilling their traditional role as…
BBB Episode 42 - Heystek on Peche Performance Fee bombshell; Elon gets a trump card vs Twitter; Richemont ties up with Portugal's Steve Jobs; Oil back..
Straight-speaking independent financial advisor Magnus Heystek joins as a special guest in this episode of the Briefing where much of the focus is on Sean Peche's bombshell expose' on the billions fleeced from SA savers through dubious unit trust Performance Fees. Heystek also weighs in on the possible knockout blow…
“It's not just carbon, it's climate and behavioural change” – Kevin Whitfield on Nedbank CIB’s carbon journey
Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (Nedbank CIB) has been diligently working on ambitious and rigorous goals towards a just energy transition, as evidenced by the Nedbank carbon journey series published on BizNews.com over the past couple of months. In this interview, Bronwyn Nielsen speaks to Kevin Whitfield, head of Africa…