“Supporting women entrepreneurs is just good business”. These are the words of the Senior Vice President and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa, Aida Diarra. And while many companies would agree, are they doing enough? According to the 2019/2020 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), the African continent has seen the largest rise in female entrepreneurs across...
Since April 2021, over 19 million US workers have quit their jobs – a record breaking figure that is disrupting the business world. This phenomenon has been coined “The Great Resignation”. This isn’t just limited to the United States of America. Employees all over the world are voluntarily leaving their current roles, even in...
The renowned Dutch oil company, Shell, recently expressed an interest in exploring potential hydrocarbon reserves beneath the seabed along South Africa’s Wild Coast. Royal Dutch Shell Plc had initially received the go ahead from the department of Mineral Resources and Energy and the South African High Court to conduct a seismic survey along South Africa’s...
“Organic”, “Environmentally friendly”, and “Sustainable” are just a few of the buzz words that have dominated the business and CSR space in the last few years. Consumers are increasingly attentive to the environmental and social issues that plague society today, and companies are required to engage in corporate social responsibility...
Over the last few years education has become a key focal point for the private sector’s CSR in South Africa. As a result, several deserving learners and students have been the lucky recipients of bursaries and scholarships allocated by large corporates. Many of these bursary recipients have gone on to become sought-after professionals with...
Retail fashion giant H&M introduced an initiative called "The Garment Collection Programme" that encourages the recycling of textiles. Customers are encouraged to drop off a bag of unwanted items of clothing at H&M stores around the globe. The textiles are then sent to recycling plants where they are sorted for...
Rapid technological progress, from the internet, smart phones, cloud computing, to artificial intelligence and robotics have been both marvellous and frightening to watch as a new world unfolds before our eyes. Increasingly, automation and artificial intelligence have begun to reshape global manufacturing and supply chains. Amidst the Covid pandemic, the world is experiencing the ‘revolutionary’...
South Africa experienced a harsh week in July when the building anger, desperation and disappointment of our domestic communities’ historic inequality, poverty and unemployment erupted, bubbling and spitting hot….. It destroyed nearly everything in its path including 161 shopping malls, 11 warehouses, 8 factories, over 40,000 formal businesses, and 50,000...
Stroll down a busy street in any of South Africa’s major cities and you will come across some kind of informal economic activity. From street vendors selling sweets and toys, to people tailoring and creating garments out of their back yards, the South African youth have had to be creative in their means to...
It is assumed that organisations carry out corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives with the intention of bettering the communities in which they operate. However, whether the CSR initiative delivers on the desired benefits as envisaged, is not always easy to determine. Historically, companies focussed on the ROI that their CSR initiatives delivered. But this metric...
