Did this small business sign personal sureties?

Stadium progress - March 2008
Stadium progress – March 2008 (Photo credit: warrenski)

The weekend newspaper in the Western Cape covered the assets of a construction company under liquidation in its auction pages. When you look at the concrete mixer, generators and cut-off saw machine you get struck by the sadness of a business going into bankruptcy.

The sale didn’t only include these items but also the company’s construction, road and survey equipment and its office equipment and furniture. These items included containers, compactors, compressors, water pumps, moisture density gauges, generators and Leica Land Surveyor and large quantities of tools, ladders, drills and spares, scaffolding and trailers. Continue reading “Did this small business sign personal sureties?”

Why would you want to lose R1 million in Cape Town?

Table Mountain seen from Cape Town harbour's jetty
Table Mountain seen from Cape Town harbour’s jetty (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I was sitting outside with the proprietor of an Italian restaurant in an up-market suburb in Johannesburg. We were talking about the specials on the menu. These included rabbit and goats. Her son was telling us how he sources the goat meat from the Northern Cape and the rabbit meat from a special supplier in Botswana. I’m not quite sure why the proprietor mentioned it but in her thick Italian accent she said people ask her to start the same restaurant in Cape Town but she doesn’t want to go there and lose R1 million.

Would you invest R1 million opening a business in Cape Town? Continue reading “Why would you want to lose R1 million in Cape Town?”

Low-income markets hold promise for business owners with imagination and innovative ideas

flowering Karoo, near the Highway N1 between L...
Flowering Karoo, near the Highway N1 between Laingsburg and Prince Albert Road Western Cape, South Africa (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In recent months I have travelled through the Richtersveld in the Northern Cape and the Karoo in the Western Cape. Vast expanses, unique flora and hardy, friendly people who live and work in these semi-desert regions.

When you arrive in the small town of Philipstown, De Aar, Carnarvon, Calvinia, Laingsburg, Beaufort West and Hanover, you are stuck by the large number of young people, unemployed people begging for money and the mostly run-down retail shopping areas.