The need for entrepreneurs in South Africa

Entrepreneurship is not the solution to all the problems that countries experience, but it is the solution to most. Successful entrepreneurship is a major contributor to the alleviation of poverty and creation of employment opportunities. Economists believe that entrepreneurship has a positive impact on the growth of GDP and employment. Furthermore, the role of entrepreneurship is stressed in implementing innovations. In the White Paper on National Strategy for the Development and Promotion of Small Business in South Africa (1995), it is stated that small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMEs) assist hugely to address the challenges of job creation and economic growth in South Africa. SMEs play a vital role in absorbing labour, penetrating new markets and generally expanding economies.

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Punk Your SME entrepreneur competition

An exciting new competition for small business owners has been launched under the title of “Punk Your SME!”. The competition will invite South African small business owners to motivate why their business deserves to be “punked” and receive a shot in the arm to raise their profile.

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Evolution One Fund reaches Final Closing At R700m

Earlier this month, South Africa’s first, specialised, private equity clean technology fund, Evolution One Fund  reached its Final Closing milestone having raised ZAR700 million ($US94 million) in capital from local and foreign investors, including supranational and sovereign wealth funds.

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SAB welcomes Competition Tribunal ruling

The South African Breweries Ltd(SAB) welcomes the Competition Tribunal’s decision to separate out aspects of proceedings relating to the company, following a hearing yesterday.

The Tribunal today ruled in favour of SAB on its application to separate out key aspects of the proceedings. These deal with SAB’s distribution system and its use of appointed distributors; an alleged practice of resale price maintenance; and an allegation of price discrimination – all of which will now be heard in August.

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Henkel off to good start

Multi-national chemical giant has made an upbeat start to 2010

Some of the key figures from its first quarterly trading update released on Wednesday

·                  Sales increase by 7.8 percent to 3,512 million Euros
·                  Organic sales growth of 8.8 percent
·                  Adjusted operating profit: plus 79.1 percent to 421 million Euros
·                  Adjusted EBIT margin: plus 4.8 percentage points to 12.0 percent
·                  Adjusted earnings per preferred share (EPS): plus 93.5 percent

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P&G reports signs of a healthy company

Following the recent announcement of Procter & Gamble’s financial quarterly results Martin Kromat, Finance Director from Procter & Gamble South Africa, gives a local perspective on the financial trends of this multi-national company.

Kromat says “Globally we are very pleased with this quarter’s results which include the fastest rate of organic volume growth in 18 quarters which we believe was driven by a strong innovation programme supported by high media weights which equalled volume growth across all regions and five of the six business segments. In total, the diluted net earnings per share from continuing operations grew six percent to $0.83.”

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How safe is the Pfizer dividend?

Sean Riskowitz from asset management firm Manhattan Financial takes a look at whether the pharmaceutical giant can retain its dividend to shareholders:

By Sean Riskowitz, Manhattan Financial

The pharmaceutical industry has long been associated with strong dividends, large cash piles and cures for all mankind’s chronic ailments. The lure of annuity revenue streams protected by patents, huge cash piles and ever improving products makes dividend seeking investors one of the biggest holders of pharma stocks, as a group.

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SA consumers still under pressure

The South African consumer continues to seek out short-term personal loans to try and keep their heads above water, but there are signs that interest rate cuts are starting to take effect.

That’s according to data drawn from the financial services product aggregator operated by Rival Financial Services which is a product owned by local publishing and research house Rival Industrial.
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Sanofi-Aventis tops pharma dividend payers

By: Sean Riskowitz of Manhattan Financial

Investing in stocks that pay high dividends is an effective way for the conservative investor whose concern is mainly with the preservation of capital. When investing for a high dividend yield, the most important consideration for the investor is the sustainability of such dividends. Hence research into the underlying dividend payer is crucial.

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Zimbabwe drops Indigenization Law

Global consulting firm Stratfor is reporting that Zimbabwe has dropped its highly contentious Indigenization Law.

Stratfor reports that a spokesman for Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai said April 13 that the Indigenization and Empowerment Act has been rendered null and void following a cabinet meeting.

This is potentially a critical development for Zimbabwe, South Africa and the African continent as a whole following economic collapse in Zimbabwe. This has had a significant knock-on effect to neighbouring countries which have been forced to absorb refugees from this region and has deterred foreign investment as government officials have attempted to enforce a law which threatened to force all foreign companies in Zimbabwe with assets worth more than $500,000 to sell a majority ownership stake to black Zimbabweans by 2015.

In December 2009, geo-political analysts had suggested to ManufacturingHub.co.za that president Mugabe’s grip on power in Zimbabwe was coming to an end with the more aggressive expecting him to relinquish power before the end of 2010.

With the Indigenization Law being a corner-stone of president Mugabe’s rein in power, this would appear to put these predictions on target despite some bickering between the Tsvangarai and Mugabe power-sharing agreement.