Tag: new business models

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What do you do when business confidence is in shreds?

Picture 1115I was driving in the morning traffic when I saw a newspaper poster on a poll that proclaimed “Business confidence in shreds”. I wondered just how bad it was. When I saw the newspaper report from a survey done by the accounting firm it was sobering. The survey showed that only 9% of local businesses are optimistic, compared to 39% recorded by South African businesses in 2013.

How are small businesses going to cope? What can they do? Continue reading “What do you do when business confidence is in shreds?”

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Hot Karoo town feels the heat… from foreign competition

024I am sitting in the Wimpy at the Engen 1 Stop in Beaufort West, a town in the semi-desert Karoo. It is 3:45 PM and the temperature outside is 32°C. I have driven four hours from Cape Town seeing the vast landscapes of shrubs, hills and blue sky.

The wind is blowing outside and the poplar trees swaying with their green leaves shaking about. My food is already 15 minutes late and I open the local community newspaper because I know my chicken and salad is going to take at least half an hour.

I flip through the newspaper and my eyes stop at the editorial on page 4. This is what interests me: Continue reading “Hot Karoo town feels the heat… from foreign competition”

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Pirates of the Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. ...
Pirate publishers printed their own copies of A Christmas Carol stealing potential revenue from Charles Dickens.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Charles Dickens took a trip to Manchester to deliver a speech in support of the Athenaem, which provided adult education for manufacturing workers.

Like most entrepreneurs he was in desperate need to make money. He and his wife were expecting their fifth child. His family needed money. He had a large mortgage on his Devonshire Terrace home. Sales from monthly instalments of “Martin Chuzzlewit” were dismal.

On his trip to Manchester he had thoughts about education being a remedy to crime and poverty. He wanted to “strike a sledge hammer blow” for the poor. Continue reading “Pirates of the Christmas Carol”