BizNews Radio (OLD)
Welcome to BizNews Radio where we interview top thought leaders and business people from South Africa and across the globe.
Disruption generates another 43% growth for BrightRock and its Simon Marais lookalike
LONDON — In a world where salaried executives and their spin doctors boast when they post growth in single digits, it's refreshing to find those for whom those numbers don't cut it. So after another strong year, this time of 43% growth, I tapped insurance company BrightRock's CEO Schalk Malan…
Going offshore for ESG investing: Here's what you need to know
JOHANNESBURG — Sustainable, or ESG, investing is becoming a more prominent form of growing your wealth in many parts of the world. While South Africa's JSE is internationally respected as among the world's top bourses with good liquidity, the very nature of the companies on it (especially the big presence…
Don’t throw blockchain baby out with cryptocurrency water
LONDON — Bitcoin once flew high and peaked at around $20,000. Compare that to the recent price of a mere $4,000. The vision of a token-driven decentralised economy and off course untold wealth for people has imploded and it is now almost a dirty word as it struggles for legitimacy…
How Makhanda's GADRA school gives matrics a second chance
JOHANNESBURG — The GADRA Matric School in Makhanda (formerly Grahamstown) has quickly become the biggest feeder school to Rhodes University. The school only focuses on learners who have previously done matric and essentially gives them a second chance to get a bachelor's pass. But as the school's Dr Ashley Westaway explains…
What next for Alzheimer’s research after latest trial failure?
LONDON — Research on Alzheimer’s disease that afflicts an estimated 40m people worldwide has experienced a major setback when pharma company Biogen and its Japanese partner, Eisai announced that they are ending their phase three clinical trials for the drug aducanumab. They concluded that the drug had little chance of…
Ex-RMB exec Peter Gent helps build leadership in SA schools
JOHANNESBURG — Peter Gent is a former veteran of the banking world having occupied top roles at RMB, including the bank's head of project finance. These days he's in a very different role as Head of Sales and Marketing at NGO Columba Leadership. This NGO is doing incredibly valuable work by…
Women flee boozy, lecherous insurance brokers at Lloyd's in London
LONDON — The cornerstones of the world’s insurance business, the prestigious Lloyd’s of London has been accused of having a deep-seated boozy, sexist culture. Female brokers say they feel uncomfortable working there and that the alcohol-filled, long lunches are a major contributing factor to lecherous behaviour. These women generally fear…
487 lives changed thanks to Qhubeka celebrity bike auction
JOHANNESBURG — For several years now, technology company Dimension Data has been linked to a charity organisation called Qhubeka. What's incredible about Qhubeka is that it does something that, from the outside, looks very simple: delivering bicycles to children and communities who need them most. What amazed me about this…
International recognition for Cape speech therapist tackling illiteracy
LONDON — South Africa has a serious problem in literacy rates among Grade 4 pupils. It ended at the bottom of a list of 50 countries in the Progress in International Literacy Study known as PIRLS conducted in 2016. It is estimated that 78% of Grade 4 pupils cannot read for…
SA startup InvestSure secures fresh funding, eyes Aussie market
JOHANNESBURG — In May 2018, I interviewed the team at InvestSure, which developed a world-first insurance technology product which protects buyers of shares from management teams that mislead and deceive shareholders. The product is aimed at protecting shareholders from Steinhoff-styled meltdowns that are sparked off by managers behaving badly. And in the…
Boeing 737 Max - Could Boeing's clout at US aviation authority trump safety?
LONDON — Roughly two-thirds of the world, including South Africa have grounded the Boeing 737 Max as airlines see a connection between the crash of an Ethiopian Airline jet that killed 157 people and a similar disaster involving the same plane last October in which 189 people were killed when…
These are the key economic risks Africa faces in 2019
JOHANNESBURG — The most recent edition of The Economist has described how there is a new 'scramble' for Africa amid foreign involvement in the continent reaching new levels. A record number of new embassies, as well as renewed interest from emerging economic giants such as India, are resulting in new…
Only 9 Tech Giants building our AI future – It’s changing humanity
LONDON — We are waking up to the fact that barely anything we do online is private. I had a stark wake-up call when friends were talking about the European ski season on a WhatsApp group and ideas to borrow ski jackets were discussed; one brand name came up and…
Eyeing a US expansion, Adi Kaimowitz's Virtual Actuary takes off
JOHANNESBURG — In a previous podcast with BizNews in 2018, Cape Town-based Adi Kaimowitz told us all about his interesting startup 'Virtual Actuary', which has been dubbed the 'Uber of Actuaries'. Almost a year later and Kaimowitz's model has been hailed globally amid him being invited recently to speak at…
Canada’s cannabis industry lessons - smoking hot, but full of stumbles
LONDON — The South African Constitutional Court ruling in September 2018 on the decriminalisation of marijuana for personal use has increased pressure on the government to change its policy on the cannabis industry. In his Budget speech in February 2019, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni acknowledged that there is a need…
Surveillance capitalism - Your data is the new world currency
LONDON — We are all starting to slowly wake up to the fact that the minute detail of our daily lives that we share when we google, post our pictures on Instagram and Facebook are monitored, turned into big data and sold on to target specific advertisement to our tastes…
Cavalcade of unicorns going public – where should you invest?
LONDON — It looks as if 2019 will be the year when a number of high profile tech companies are going public. Ride-haling company Lyft is first in line, followed by its bigger rival Uber. They are not the only companies who have signalled their intention to float; messaging start-up…
Empowering SA's emerging farmers: The story of Ncebe Jakavule
JOHANNESBURG — It's not often that one hears the stories of emerging farmers in South Africa and the challenges they go through. Amid noise around land reform and the politics that go with it, it's these voices that get lost in the cacophony. So, it was an interesting opportunity to…
Rein in Zuckerberg, says former mentor Roger Macnamee
Facebook is standing first in the firing line of criticism of the big tech companies who are accused of selling users private data, channelling propaganda and fake news and damaging democratic elections. More countries around the world are now starting to talk about regulating Facebook and other social media platforms…
SA-born success story: Lobster Ink trains world's hospitality staff
JOHANNESBURG — Many people in South Africa may have never heard of Lobster Ink before. It's a company that's quietly gone about its business providing online video training to staff in the hospitality and tourism sector. From small beginnings in South Africa, Lobster Ink has grown rapidly to service the…