These days we know her as Madge. She’s married, lives in England, has a few sprogs and writes children’s books. In the Eighties and Nineties, Madonna ruled the airwaves in a clinical fashion, using her cut-throat business acumen to turn her talent into the kind of empire that no modern pop princess could ever live up to.
As the sun rises in Zakouma National Park, Nicolai Taloua loads his Kalashnikov with familiar ease. At his feet sit two metal ammunition boxes packed with bullets. Others around him are busy mounting a machine gun on to the roof of their car. For Nicolai this is a perfectly normal start to his working day, all part and parcel of the ongoing war between park rangers and elephant poachers. "It’s a dangerous life, but one we’ve accepted," says Nicolai.
Defining the middle strata in one of the most unequal countries in the world is a tricky but unavoidable challenge that Businessmap Foundation researchers Khehla Shubane and Colin Reddy tackle in their report on black economic empowerment and the black middle class. The authors ultimately understand that the middle class includes people who live a lifestyle that is socially defined as "middle class".
She’s known as "Anne Atomique" and the Financial Times lists her as the world’s second-most fashionable business person. Would you expect anything else from the French? But don’t be fooled by the chic exterior. Not yet 50, Anne Lauvergeon’s meteoric rise to the top of the nuclear industry has been made possible by a tough-as-nails, straight-talking approach to government and investors alike.
Foul air, filthy water and contaminated soil have led to a surge of tumours in China, where cancer is the main cause of death, the state media reported this week. Raising fears that breakneck economic growth is having a dire impact on the nation’s health, a government survey blamed pollution for a sharp rise in cancer cases.
There are twin-packs of comfy men’s pyjamas. There are summer kaftans. And there are, of course, knickers — sold in reassuring white multi-packs. Welcome to Moscow’s Marks & Spencer, one of the chain’s newest overseas branches, and part of an ambitious expansion drive that is transforming M&S into a global brand.
The fallout from the Gauteng government’s billion-rand monorail, which will connect Soweto to the Johannesburg CBD, continued to grow this week. While Transport Minister Jeff Radebe and sources close to the Jo’burg metro council claim to be in the dark about the project, it has emerged that talks are already in the advanced stages with German consortia for similar monorails in the Tshwane and Ekurhuleni municipalities.
Broad-based BEE has been described as the greatest strategic issue confronting businesses of all sizes, structures and shapes in South Africa. Yet it is often swept aside as too onerous, confusing, unfair or unnecessary. Strategic implementation of broad-based BEE will help business and other roleplayers ensure sustainable economic growth and advantage the enterprises that implement it properly now.
Cape salmon and kingklip may start disappearing from restaurant menus if linefish stocks continue to be depleted at present rates. Meanwhile, government is considering a suggestion that a crucial marine breeding ground be opened up to community fishing. Scientists say this would further impact on fish stocks.
Tens of millions of Namibian dollars that were dished out as credits to black empowerment initiatives by the Namibian Development Corporation (NDC) will not be repaid during the parastatal’s liquidation, the NDC’s executive secretary told Parliament last month. This is despite the fact that many of the recipients are among Namibia’s nouveau riche.