I wrote this article recently for the Mail & Guardian. I have since had some interesting responses to it, so I thought I’d put it up on my blog.
I have been asked to write a piece on why I believe that you as a student should stay in South Africa in the face of […]
I listened with interest to the budget speech and was mostly
impressed by what was said, especially around tax incentives for investment in
sustainable energies such as wind, wave and solar. The Cape region is better
positioned to lead in the use of renewable energies than just about anywhere
else in the world; what with our abundance of wind, […]
I’ve just come back from speaking at a conference in Dubai, where I was completely awestruck by the enormous scale of the visions that are being made into reality. There are mindblowing projects like the Palms and the World (man-made islands in the sea), Dubailand (280 million square metres of development, almost equivalent to […]
I am currently in Barcelona, attending a conference on Place Branding. Today is the Grand Prix, so the place is teeming with people from everywhere. It’s an amazing city that has built its international reputation largely on the back of huge events, starting with the Olympics in 1992. Before 1992 the city […]
I’ve recently finished reading Freakonomics (see the blog here) and have been inspired by the authors’ commitment to smashing conventional wisdom by showing the real numbers. Conventional wisdom is rampant in discussions about South Africa, and I thought I’d share one of my own attempts to smash the conventional wisdom surrounding the number of […]
I have recently been appointed the CEO of a new organisation called Accelerate Cape Town (ACT). Accelerate Cape Town is an organisation started by leaders of key businesses in the Cape, who are concerned that complacency and lack of cohesive thinking make it increasingly difficult to attract and retain businesses and top talent in […]
Crime is one of those topics in South Africa that get emotions to the point where they override any rational discussion, so I was happy to receive a very unemotional view on crime, written by JP Landman. JP is a fellow analyst, writer and professional speaker. You can see his website at www.jplandman.co.za. […]
The speech I gave in 2001 called “I pledge allegiance” is doing the rounds on email and the internet again. Unfortunately the original version has been hijacked along the way, so I thought I should post the “official” version here:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic […]
International expansion and consolidation is the catch-phrase for any number of businesses, and it will continue to be so into the future. Many are investing in emerging markets because of the higher returns that can be gained. For example, even Warren Buffet made his first major investment outside the USA recently, paying $4bn for an […]
The growing rage against crime by ordinary South Africans is quite understandable in light of the high profile murders that have taken place recently; most notable amongst them the cold-blooded killings of playwrite Taliep Petersen and historian David Ratray.
One possible explanation as to why people are reacting as angrily as they are, despite an actual drop in […]