How to land a job even if you have no experience

It is the Catch-22 situation that has been frustrating jobseekers for ages: positions requiring experience from applicants, while applicants can’t gain any experience without first having had a job. But there are ways to make oneself employable and gain experience without having landed a position in formal employment first, an education expert says.

South Africa & China: deal-making differences

Natalie Kolbe, a director at pan-emerging markets private equity investor Actis, reflects on the differences between the deal-making environments in South Africa and China. The label ‘emerging markets’ may help us summarise prevailing global economic trends but it can also conceal and simplify: masking the myriad differences between the countries it describes.

Boring is back, says Finweek

The recent Budget speech delivered by finance minister Pravin Gordhan has provided an opportunity for South Africans to stop and re-evaluate their investment choices and to consider taking some advice around the smartest way to structure their investments.

In its cover story entitled “Boring is Back”- hitting shelves on 2 March 2012, Finweek unpacks the benefits of properly structured investment planning.

A decade of difficulty: reasons for South Africa to be fearful and reasons for hope

South Africa’s economic performance is highly correlated with that of our traditional economic partners, including Britain, Western Europe the US and Japan.  Evidence of the extent of this economic inter-relatedness follows from the fact that each time Europe has gone into recession in the last two decade, South Africa has followed.  Thus, whilst internal factors – such as the political landscape, considerations of nationalisation, currency volatility and stability of electricity supply – will matter to South Africa’s economic performance in 2012, external factors will matter at least as much.  

Which country’s economy grew the fastest over the last decade? No, it’s not China

Almost 10 years since the Angolan ceasefire, the country’s economy has risen like the proverbial phoenix from the ashes. Adrian Saville, CIO of Cannon Asset Managers, reviews Angola’s ten year of independence as its anniversary approaches in April 2012.

When Angola gained independence from Portugal in the mid-1970s, the country was the fourth largest coffee producer in world.  Alongside coffee, this large, fertile country exported other cash crops,

A year of “Elegant Chaos”

2012 is likely to be a year characterised by high technology, volatile asset prices and a positive economic undercurrent. In short, a year of “Elegant Chaos”. These were the takeaway themes from the first Finweek Outlook event for 2012 hosted in conjunction with consulting group Accenture. Guest speakers for the day included technology guru Simon Dingle, ETM Analytics Economist Russell Lamberti and Finweek Editor Marc Ashton.

Strange but true, Ocean Basket Flies into Dubai

Ocean Basket launches their 11^th restaurant beyond South African boarders

Dubai, the setting of the most mind-blowing modern architecture on the planet, also has one of the most fabulous – and busy – airports. In fact it ranks as the busiest in the world in terms of international passengers, serving 150 airlines flying to over 220 destinations on six continents. (Latest figures from Airports Council International [ACI])

Free smartphone app that alerts you to specials

A ground breaking free smart phone application has been developed in South Africa, called DialMedia Deals, which will inform subscribers of relevant deals and specials available at major shopping centres around the country. Developed and launched by South African company DialMedia, consumers are able to download the application for free to their smart phones...

Another view of change

A while back I had the exceedingly pleasurable experience of being ready and waiting in the right place and the right time.  It was a small day at The Pipe (our local break) and a group of surfers hung around in-shore, competing for little waves.

SA national Cadet training project gains momentum

On Tuesday, South African Maritime Safety Authority (SAMSA) together with the South African Maritime Training Academy (SAMTRA) bid farewell to 16 Cadets who will be going to sea to complete their training as Seafarers. 

The Cadets are part of the SAMSA CADET PROGRAMME which is in line with the SAMSA skills development programme.