Four steps to create an inclusive work environment for your business
Business owners are lucky that they create their own work environment, unlike managers in large corporations who step into rigid, pre-created cultures. However, many business owners allow the working culture in their businesses to flow organically from their personality, without giving much thought to how it could be perhaps better engineered. Kgomotso Ramoenyane, executive general […]
Work on and not in your business
By Jannie Rossouw Head: Sanlam Business Market You have surely heard the statement above, but what does it really mean? To start, run and succeed in business is not for the faint-hearted. Why? International statistics state that 40% of all new business start-ups fail in the first year and 80% within the first 5 years, […]
Looking at business success amid a drought
The Western Cape has over the recent past been hard hit by the severe drought in the region which has had direct, severe consequences on local businesses. Strict level 4B water restrictions have been implemented area-wide, and residents and businesses alike have been forced to curb water usage to 87 litres per person, per day. […]
Opportunities ripe for female entrepreneurs to shatter glass ceiling
The entrepreneurial gender gap is slowly closing in many countries, and in these days, women are as likely as men to start a small business. In hot pursuit of such gender parity is South Africa, where seven women are engaged in early-stage entrepreneurship for every ten male entrepreneurs, according to the recently released 2016/2017 Global […]
SME success a by-product of growth
When Pepe Marais and Gareth Leck founded Joe Public in March 1998 in Cape Town, they disrupted the local advertising industry with their innovative business model which was positioned as a Take-Away menu -aimed to demystify the business of advertising by making its service offering transparent to clients. “We started the business without a cent […]
Innovative entrepreneur taking the local ICT sector by storm
100% black female owned company – Mighty Comms – is a broadband solutions company that has carved out a niche for itself in the South African ICT sector. The company offers clients across various sectors broadband and network design services, deployments, installations and maintenance services. Mighty Comms founder, Refilwe Marumo, says she has encountered many […]
A business created for students, by students
Mpodumo Doubada – founding CEO of Pimp my Book, a chain of campus stores founded in 2006 at the University of Cape Town (UCT), is a young entrepreneur making waves in the education sector. 31-year-old Doubada from Cape Town founded the business on the premise of buying and selling used textbooks. Since the business was […]
Independent research firm carves a niche in the investment industry
After having worked as an Investment Analyst for large institutions for 12 years, Shamil Ismail – who was voted the 2014 ABSIP (Association of Black Securities and Investment Professionals) Analyst of the Year – founded Primaresearch in late 2015 as an independent, sell-side, equity research firm based in Cape Town. Since then, Primaresearch has grown […]
When sporting passion breeds success
Sports enthusiast and successful entrepreneur, Jacques Grobbelaar, has certainly made his mark in the South African sporting and events management industry – having already collected numerous prestigious industry and business awards both locally and internationally. Grobbelaar is the CEO and co-owner of Stadium Management SA (Pty) Ltd (SMSA) – a management consulting firm responsible for […]
The local entrepreneur enhancing the fashionista in plus-size women
Incessantly frustrated by the limited range of fashion available to the fuller-figured woman, Limpopo-born and Pretoria-based Ouma Tema began designing and creating her own clothes and sharing images of her creations on social media. After fielding a continuous stream of questions from friends and fellow plus-size ladies around where she purchased her outfits, Tema knew […]