BizNews Radio
Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and business people from South Africa and across the globe.
Futuregrowth invests in SA’s first-ever ECD social impact bond
JOHANNESBURG — Futuregrowth Asset Management, acting on behalf of client funds, recently concluded an investment in the Impact Bond Innovation Fund (IBIF), a South African outcome-based financing mechanism that seeks to improve early childhood learning and development (ECD) outcomes in the Western Cape. The IBIF, a social impact bond, is…
Why smoking could be banned inside your own home in SA
JOHANNESBURG — The tobacco industry and smoking are controversial topics in South Africa. But a newly proposed bill appears - on the surface - to risk basic civil liberties and entrench what could be interpreted as a nanny state. The Draft Tobacco Bill intends banning smoking in your own home and…
The Editor’s Desk: Why did Ramaphosa say what he said in NYC?
Cyril Ramaphosa spent some time in New York last week, and while he was there, managed to insert his foot firmly in his mouth by denying that South Africa has a land grab crisis or any farm murders. It was a strange lapse for a careful politician and in this episode, Alec Hogg and…
The Editor's Desk: Stimulus plan – Ramarecovery or Ramafailure?
In this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan discuss the proposed SA stimulus package, asking whether it's going to spell Ramarecovery or Ramafailure. Cyril Ramaphosa has outlined a plan to boost investment in the hopes of reigniting growth and launching South Africa out of recession. Many questions, however, remain. Much…
How PfP totally transformed Tembisa's Khula Sizwe Primary School
JOHANNESBURG — In this podcast, Louisa Mvelo - who is the school principal of Khula Sizwe Primary School in Tembisa - tells us how the Partners for Possibility programme has helped completely transform and improve her school. It's an example of what can be done to vastly improve South Africa's…
Imtiaz Patel: 'We anticipate MultiChoice will be a Top 40 JSE-listed company'
JOHANNESBURG — Naspers' announcement that it intends to separately list and unbundle its video entertainment business as MultiChoice Group on the JSE has been seen as Naspers' first step in unlocking its stock discount in relation to its 31% Tencent stake. While Netflix and Amazon are starting to eat MultiChoice's…
We won't see a repeat of Bell Pottinger - PRCA's Francis Ingham
JOHANNESBURG — It was just over a year ago, on 5 September 2017, that I interviewed Francis Ingham, the Director General of the PRCA. At that time, the PRCA had made the extraordinary decision to expel Bell Pottinger from the organisation amid the dodgy work it did for the Guptas…
The Editor's Desk: Digging inside the Investec banking/AM split
Investec is splitting up into a London-based asset management business and a South Africa-based bank. It's an unusual move in a sector that prizes size and synergy, yet the share price has reacted favourably to the news. In this episode, Alec Hogg and Felicity Duncan dig into the Investec announcement…
Hard times in SA: How to start moving your wealth offshore
JOHANNESBURG — Sable International has become known as the experts when it comes to moving your wealth (or yourself) offshore and taking advantage of the likes of Portugal's Golden Visa programme. But there's a statistic in this interview with Sable International's Andrew Rissik that stood out for me. Amid recent…
Egypt now Africa's top economy and most investible; SA slips back
The latest update of RMB’s superbly researched Where to Invest in Africa listing arrives at an opportune time. Another Emerging Market crisis, sparked by ructions in Turkey and Argentina, is making it more important than ever for developing countries to differentiate themselves. Investors have become increasingly discerning – paying ever…
Investec Asset Management's John Green on China, state of SA
JOHANNESBURG — Amid the legendary Stephen Koseff stepping down officially from Investec on 1 October 2018, there's a group of executives about to move up the ranks at the financial institution. One of those executives is John Green who, come 1 October, will along with Mimi Ferrini be stepping up…
Court judgment is good news for existing, new SA emigrants to UK
Relocation to a new country is challenging. The decision itself is not easy. Even the most rational of beings find it difficult to overcome emotional aspects like the familiarity of people and places, the in-built understanding of how things work, and aversion for change that’s embedded in all of mankind…
MTN's woes in Nigeria: Analyst Dobek Pater on what's gone wrong
JOHANNESBURG — The situation for MTN in Nigeria continues to be fluid as the company indicated on Monday that it will be turning to the West African country's courts to fight $10bn in claims from the Nigerian government. Nigerian officials have accused MTN of illegally transferring $8.1 billion out of Nigeria…
The Editor's Desk: SA is in recession, but what can we really do?
With South Africa officially in recession, the government is talking up the possibility of a multi-billion rand stimulus package to restore growth. But how realistic is this? After all, the rand is weakening, the country is already carrying a heavy debt load, and tax revenues are falling. In this episode,…
Futuregrowth the first SA institutional investor in payments disruptor Yoco
JOHANNESBURG — Yoco, the makers of a card reader device that connects with a merchant’s smartphone or tablet, has raised a Series B round of US$16m (R230m) led by Partech, a venture capital firm based in Silicon Valley and including the likes of South African-based Futuregrowth. Yoco is a fascinating local business as…
Andrew Canter upbeat about direction SA's going, despite its economic challenges
JOHANNESBURG — The Chief Investment Office of Futuregrowth, Andrew Canter, was in the spotlight in 2016 when the fund manager took the unprecedented step of halting lending to six major SOEs. After reviewing these SOEs and conducting further reviews, Futuregrowth cleared some of them. Earlier this year, Futuregrowth also made the news…
The Editor's Desk: How do you dodge the falling rand and come out on top?
The rand is officially slumping and it looks like the fall could continue as emerging markets currencies remain under fire. What is a South African to do in such an environment? Well, the biggest trick is investing offshore, hedging against the rand with dollar, euro, or pound investments. Alec Hogg…
From Mpumalanga to the rest of SA: How Khaya Matchegue is building a fashion empire
JOHANNESBURG — Entrepreneur Khaya 'Angel' Matchegue, who is the owner and founder of fashion and design company Lechero, has found a brilliant niche in designing school uniforms, work apparel and other clothing. She started the business with just an idea but is now building it out, employing others and buying…
Improving education, one school at a time: How SA's PfP programme is making a difference
JOHANNESBURG — Everybody knows that the state of South Africa's education system is pretty appalling. But one programmed dubbed Partners for Possibility (PfP) wants to help ensure quality education for all school children in the country by the year 2025. PfP targets doing this by establishing co-learning partnerships between School Principals and Business Leaders. In…
The Editor's Desk: Trump's SA tweet is the act of a man in crisis
When Trump tweeted that he wanted to investigate land expropriation and "the large scale killing of farmers" in South Africa, he sent the rand into a tailspin. But the tweet says a lot more about the president than it does about EWC in South Africa. In this episode, Felicity Duncan…