Hawkers: the guys who are at almost every single robot at which you stop; the reason you keep your windows rolled up and enjoy your air conditioning. I spend a considerable amount of time in traffic, like every other Johannesburg resident. The one thing that never ceases to amaze me is the spirit of these […]
Business
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Kortbroek, my hero
Let it not be said that our minister in charge of environmental affairs is a tight-lipped, ignorant piece of political flotsam. Sure he has a bit of a fish bone in the cupboard, related to perpetually interesting alliances, but he also has vision and strength of conviction, strong leadership qualities. So, our honourable minister indicated […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
Johncom may have a winner in the Times
Johncom, soon to be renamed Avusa, has for the first time released details about the cost of its two new print titles, the Weekender and the Times. The company spent R33-million from April to September improving its online offerings and launching the two new titles, CEO Prakash Desai said during the company’s interim results announcement […]
Posted inBusiness
Sustainability: From noun to verb
Corporate South Africa has long been riding the market value of buzzwords quite irresponsibly, along with the rest of a seemingly logically challenged world of commerce. Sustainability is one of these words. It exists in the minds of the economically driven community as a noun, something that pertains to a state of being towards which […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
Blogging the road to international design success
Blogging has opened up a remarkable new vista of opportunity for designers, artists and crafters to tap into overseas trends and market their work internationally, but it seems that few South Africans are taking notice. One exception is Heather Moore, a self-taught illustrator and fabric designer. Working out of her studio in Long Street, Cape […]
Posted inBusiness, Tech
2008: The year that changed telecoms in South Africa
Next year will be one of the most significant in the history of the South African telecoms market — possibly on par with 1994 when the two initial mobile operators surfaced. And it can’t get here fast enough. So, what are we in for (I think)? Let’s start with Telkom. It’s fairly widely known that […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
The motivation to co-create value
The idea of authentic co-creation is quite obviously the most important shift that is happening in marketing and strategy today. It is a move away from centralised control of communications and branding to a more decentralised, user-oriented approach. At the iCommons Innovation Series last week in Jo’burg, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales stated that any business […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
What the Idols taught me about brands that should blog
Last week I had the good fortune to be on the same kulula.com flight as the last five contestants in the Idols 2007 season. I wouldn’t say it was good fortune to hear them sing Happy Birthday over the intercom to one of the cabin attendants, even if it was very sweet of them, but […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
Whatever happened to the Economist?
The Economist was founded on principles of free markets and free trade. It has lost its way.
Posted inBusiness
Dropping import tariffs to raise exports: How mumbo-jumbo conquered the policy ‘debate’
The heated discussion over the past few weeks about whether South Africa should unilaterally lower its import tariffs reminds me of Francis Wheen’s excellent book How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions. In it, Wheen documents a range of modern delusions where truths are assumed to be so obvious that there […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
Reckon ye the number of the Beast
At the Grand Scaly Whale (RDM) in the old SAAN building, resplendent with Benjy’s Bungle jutting like a defiant middle finger into the Jo’burg skyline, we used the Atex electronic editing system. As with today’s zooty jobs, each of us had a password or login code to access the system. One of our cadets — […]
Posted inBusiness, Media
Grovel time
Although I never in my Spielbergian imagination thought I’d have to post a blog like this, I apologise sincerely for any offence I caused with comments in my blog headlined: “Working on that pig’s ear, baby“. It was not my intention to hurt my young colleagues and I acknowledge I used some harsh turns of […]