Finance
The Top 10 Innovation Challenges for 2020
The global innovation community, at least that chunk represented by professional innovation managers, begins its annual get together today in Hamburg, Germany. One of the first presentations that passed my desk (courtesy of Chris Skinner in my LinkedIn network) was Tim Jones‘ Top 10 Innovation Challenges for 2020. Tim runs Future Agenda (as I write the link to Tim’s site seems to have been hijacked – so here is his company link). So what are the top 10 innovation challenges? Naturally I disagree with Tim’s choices so let’s open a debate about a few of them.
Key lessons to improve your Financial Situation in 2018
3 Lessons that will Change your Financial Situation in 2018
Our ability to manage money effectively plays a huge part in our lives. It can determine whether we spend much of our time in and out of debt, or worse still, having to rely on formal debt management solutions to get by. Yet despite the crucial role it plays, even basic financial literacy is not taught in many countries around the world.
In a recent global financial literacy survey, educated middle-aged males from developed countries had the highest financial literacy rates, with those from Scandinavian countries scoring particularly high. But what about those with lower financial literacy rates? What are the key lessons they need to learn to improve their financial situation over the coming year?
Why invest in South Africa?
With its wealth of minerals, South Africa is one of the most resource-rich regions on the planet. Add to this its sophisticated financial sector and strong business focus, its skilled people and strategic location, and you have a recipe for investment success.
South Africa is one of the world’s most promising emerging markets; it is sophisticated, innovative and diverse.
Its strategic location at the southern tip of Africa provides an accessible gateway to the rest of the continent, a market of some one billion people.
In addition, South Africa itself is worth looking at for investment opportunities: it is one of the economic powerhouses of Africa, is a member of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), and plays a critical role in local development initiatives. The country also currently holds the chair of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Click here to read the rest of the article …
Why cash isn’t always king
I like cash and I like companies that have cash. But what if they have too much? In other words: a lazy balance sheet. Now first, let me explain why too much cash is lazy.
Return on equity (RoE) is a popular metric for measuring a company’s, as well as its executives’, performance.
More cash means more assets, and therefore increases the equity part of the equation. With higher equity, the return will decrease if all else remains the same.
How much it costs to open the 10 most popular fast food franchises in South Africa
Despite a weak economy and tough trading conditions, the franchising sector has continued to perform well – especially in the fast-food sector.
“Over the past few decades, business format franchising has become the most successful business model the world has ever known,” said Tony Da Fonseca, chairman of the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA).
“Seeing that in this fast-moving world of ours, change is seen as the only constant, it is appropriate to ask whether franchising can maintain its momentum. My answer is a resounding yes.”
Survey results released by FASA in 2017 showed that the sector’s performance remains on an upward trend.
Sustainability through investment A McCain Foods case study
McCain Foods is the world’s largest producer of frozen chips. It opened its first processing factory in New Brunswick, Canada in 1957 turning out cartons of frozen french fries. Owned and managed by the McCain family, the company grew rapidly and entered the UK market in the 1960s. Today, around 45% of all frozen potatoes sold in the UK are McCain frozen potato products. This makes McCain Foods the clear market leader.
McCain Foods emphasises continuous innovation to enable the brand to deliver both variety and quality. This gives McCain real competitive advantage. By investing in new technologies, it can produce products on a huge scale. This enables the company to meet customer demand and keep down costs.
How to start saving from your first pay cheque
Mar 16 2018
Cape Town – Investing when you are young sounds like an expensive and daunting task, especially when you have just started your first job, says Lance Solms, managing director at Itransact. He says the best time to start is with your first pay cheque.
“There are plenty of investment options available that don’t require you to have millions. How much you save depends on what you want and what your goals look like, there are investment and savings options that require even as little as R300 per month,” said Solms.
He shares some tips on how to get started:
Start early
Keep in mind, savings accumulate and the interest compounds without taxes, as long as the money is not withdrawn. So, it’s wise to establish an investment vehicle early in your working life.
“Another reason to start saving early is that, usually the younger you are, the less likely you are to […]
Even at 15%, South Africa is not paying too much in VAT compared to the rest of the world
Timothy Rangongo , Business Insider SA
• Value added tax (VAT) was increased by one percentage point to 15%.
• The hike was met with heavy criticism by businesses, consumers and the opposition.
• South Africa’s VAT rate is still relatively low compared to the rest of Africa and the world.
It didn’t take long for the DA to launch a full-on offensive at the planned one percentage point increase in VAT, complete with an online petition.
So will South Africa be paying too much in VAT?
As it turns out…
The hike could actually be justified as our VAT rate is lower compared to the rest of Africa. So, they could have gone with a 2% increase but probably decided against it when factoring in its impact on the poor.
Severus Smuts, Indirect tax specialist at Deloitte
The 15% VAT South Africans will have to pay from 1 April, is mild compared to the rest of the world.
Global VAT […]
Elon Musk lines up $55bn payday – the world’s biggest bonus
Another great share by Tony Timm – Thanks!!
Musk will become planet’s richest man if he turns Tesla into a $650bn business in a decade
Elon Musk, the founder and chief executive of electric car company Tesla, would smash all pay records and become the richest man in the world if an extraordinarily ambitious new incentive scheme pays out.
The 46-year-old entrepreneur, who is already a multi-billionaire, has agreed to work unpaid for the next 10 years – after which he would collect an unprecedented $55.8bn (£40bn) bonus if builds the 14-year-old business into a $650bn company within a decade.
If Musk achieves the hugely ambitious target it would be by far the biggest ever executive windfall.
“Elon will receive no guaranteed compensation of any kind – no salary, no cash bonuses, and no equity that vests by the passage of time,” the company said of the new pay plan. “Instead, Elon’s only compensation will […]