JOHANNESBURG – Plans for new coal plants threaten to push 26 “frontier countries”, including South Africa, into a cycle of coal-dependency, according to the latest Global Coal Exit List (GCEL), released yesterday.More than 200 financial institutions are now registered users of the database and investors representing close to $10 trillion (R146.6trln) in assets are using one or more of the GCEL’s criteria to screen coal companies in their portfolios. The index is compiled by Germany’s non-profit Urgewald and 30 other non-government organisations. GCEL said 26 commercial banks had committed to…
Read MoreTag: south african manufacturing
Government owes construction contractors R5.5bn
Government currently owes construction and building industry contractors about R5.5 billion and recent business failures and job losses in the sector have been blamed on the non-payment or late payment of contractors. Roy Mnisi, executive director of Master Builders South Africa (MBSA), says this practice by government departments and government entities is the number one challenge facing the industry. Read: Construction industry in survival mode Mnisi says there has been no improvement in this area year-on-year, despite government ministers in the built environment and even President Cyril Ramaphosa talking about the…
Read MoreEntrepreneur starts edible straws business to help the environment
DURBAN – Entrepreneur Leila Siljeur who is a second-year Chemical Engineering student at Stellenbosch University (SU) has bagged a massive cash prize for her edible straws business. Moved by a Facebook post of a sea turtle with a plastic fork stuck in its nose, Leila Siljeur (19) felt she had to do something to help reduce plastic pollution. She decided to design her own brand of edible and environmentally friendly straws. She won R50 000 for her invention in a recent Allan Gray Orbis Foundation National Jamboree. Her business which…
Read MoreThe SAISC Steel Awards celebrates diversity in South Africa’s steel construction industry
The 2019 entries for the SA Institute of Steel Construction (SAISC) Steel Awards contained an unprecedented level of diversity. This ranges from building type, size, ownership and construction/property value, from cost-effective to high-end. There has also been enormous diversity reflected in both the aesthetic and functional use of steel in construction: from light steel frame building, to metal roofing and cladding, and the use of heavy structural steel. The level of diversity this year is also reflected ‘behind-the-scenes’: in terms of age, gender, professional discipline and background of the many…
Read MoreHow the construction ‘mafia’ business model jumped to other sectors
They started off invading construction sites in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), demanding 30% of the contract work. Then it spread to Gauteng, and has now gone countrywide. The tactic is working, and many contractors simply pay off the gangs rather than have building work disrupted. Sometimes they employ the locals, often at extortionate rates. They became known as the construction mafia, though they prefer to be called business forums. The business model is so successful that it is being replicated across the country in different sectors of the economy, as local community…
Read MoreNew technology extinguishes demand for coal-fired powe
CAPE TOWN – South African coal exports are approaching long-term decline, according to an Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) report released on Monday. IEEFA energy finance analyst Simon Nicholas said the sector needed to come to terms with the prospect of fading demand from its major export destinations. “Policy makers in South Africa need to prepare for the ongoing technology driven transition away from coal or face the inevitable social and economic consequences,” said Nicholas. “It won’t happen overnight, but key trends in global markets show new…
Read MoreOil declines as market assesses attacks on Saudi facilities
INTERNATIONAL – Oil dropped on Tuesday although the market remains on tenterhooks over the threat of a military response to attacks on Saudi Arabian crude oil facilities that cut the kingdom’s output in half and sent prices soaring by the most in decades. The Saturday attack raised the prospect of a major supply shock in a market that in recent months had focussed on demand concerns due to the erosion of global growth amid the ongoing U.S.-China trade dispute. Saudi Arabia is the world’s top oil exporter and has…
Read MoreProudly SA: Creating employment in SA through re-industrialisation
JOHANNESBURG – Last week we joined Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev)/(SAB Breweries) on a trip to the Free State to celebrate and visit one of the companies that has come through its Enterprise and Supplier Development programme and entered its supply chain. Kevali Chemicals, manufacturer of waste-water treatment solutions, sanitation, cleansing and detergent products as well as adhesives, is located in Harrismith. The company’s success comes as a result of a combination of commercial decisions and economic conditions that conspired to put them on a significant growth path, enabling them to…
Read MoreThe changing face of digital payments
JOHANNESBURG – Around the world there is growing, collective consensus that digital disruptions will continue as old ways of doing business are fast being ditched, and new ways are being adapted across industries. Industries such transport, accommodation, print media, television and dining, have all seen disruptions that were not really expected to take off at such speed two decades ago. Now these industries are playing catch up, with some winning and others struggling to keep their heads above the water. What has been noteworthy is the advent of the democratisation…
Read More22 On Sloan: Innovative start-ups show sky’s the limit
JOHANNESBURG – According to a 2018 World Bank report, 66 percent of sub-Saharan Africans are unbanked. Financial inclusion remains elusive in Africa and most times access to it for micro, small and medium-sized businesses (SMMEs) remain a key challenge for these to scale. In South Africa, where various studies have identified racial-profiling as one of the impediments for the previously disadvantaged, raising funding remains a thorny issue. Last year, we collaborated with the World Bank to do research on SME finance gaps in South Africa and the result deepened our understanding…
Read More