Minimise Cyber-Attacks During Covid-19

April 15, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Adv. Lufuno Khorommbi, Cyber Law Consultant and MD: Orizur Consulting Enterprise

Did you know that using public WiFi increases your online vulnerability? Public WiFi comes as a great relief to many internet users since it relieves them from the burden of having to pay for data to access the much-needed internet services. These free services are conveniently available in public places like airports, restaurants, hotels, malls, etc in that promoting amongst others users’ productivity and mobility.

Interest rate cut. Take advantage.

April 10, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Ronel Jooste CA(SA), Financial Consultant, Speaker and Author of ‘Financially Fit and Wealthy’

The South African Reserve Bank (SARB) has announced an interest rate cut of 1% (100 basis points) effective from March 2020. The interest rate cut brings the repo rate down to 5,25% and the prime lending rate to 8,75%. This follows the previous cut of 0,25% that was announced three months ago in January 2020 bringing the repo rate to 6,25%. The cut in the interest rate is in response to a South African economy struggling for quite some time now.

Adapting Our Businesses

April 9, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Catia Mondlane

The new Coronavirus pandemic has forced most of us to stay indoors, and having to work from our homes seems to be the only way out to survive the current situation. As bad as things seem to get, I truly believe that there is a bright side out of the bad news we have been seeing and hearing about what is going on around the world.

The world is in ‘shut-down’ mode. Financial and Business Lessons.

April 6, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Ronel Jooste

The year 2020 was earmarked to be the ’20-plenty’ year. A year filled with great expectations, abundance, growth, achievement and joy. The outbreak of covid-19 brought those expectations to a sudden halt. It almost feels unreal that a virus can have this significant impact on the entire world. The world is in ‘shut-down’ mode. No more travelling, schools and multiple businesses are closed, many employees work from home, big events are cancelled etc. The impact of covid-19 on the economy, businesses and individuals will be phenomenal.

Thinking outside the box

April 6, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Lelemba Phiri, Operating partner and Fund Manager of Enygma Ventures

Earlier this year in January we selected 11 female entrepreneurs to be part of the first cohort of our investor-ready programme. We flew them all into Cape Town from various SADC countries to participate in an intensive weekend of training and exciting strategic planning. We could not have imagined nor foreseen that a few weeks down the line, we would be faced with the global Covid-19 pandemic and the ensuing health calamities, national lockdowns and global economic turmoil. All the polished strategic plans we had put together were effectively thrown out of the window in the last few weeks! We had to go back to the drawing board both as investors and entrepreneurs as we try and navigate completely uncharted territories.

The influence of COVID-19 in South Africa’s work environment

March 31, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Nomihlali Ntsunguzi

In the last week prior to and during the lockdown, the number of people working from home increased, some were sent home on unpaid leave. This has distinguished companies that have started adapting to the 4IR through proper systems, from those that haven’t adapted at all. Jacques du Preez (IOA) says, “those quickest to utilize the new technologies that come with the 4IR will reap the most benefit. Some estimates place the profits reaped by early-adopting firms at almost 120%, with a measly 10% for those who only adopt the new technologies later on”.

8 Ways Designers Can Adapt During The Crisis

March 31, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Tapiwa Matsinde

The pandemic has forced us to rethink the business plans we set out for the year ahead. While we cannot control what is happening we can control how we choose to react and for designers and creatives that includes adapting the way we work. Conversations with designers in my network have revealed the ways in which they are pivoting and I share theirs and my suggestions with you.

Be careful out there!... Not because of a virus, but of becoming smaller and smaller...

March 31, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Shaleen Wohrnitz, General Manager, BrandBuildingSA

To all the Lionesses out there: Be careful out there...! Not because of a virus, but becoming smaller and smaller… This is the time when one should not cave in and stop creating - the exact opposite in fact. Promote more, increase your reach, gain more market share and run with your life and everything in it. Live your life to the full and show all those around you how to expand in spite of adversity!

Coronavirus necessitates new ways of doing business

March 29, 2020 Melanie Hawken

Impact Partner Content: Absa / by Riaan Petersen, Head of Business Banking Segment Solutions, Absa Retail and Business Bank

Governments across the world are taking drastic measures to reduce the spread of Covid-19. At the time of writing this article, the virus affected 199 countries and territories, 536.6k confirmed cases, 24.1k deaths and 124.4k recoveries. There are now more than 2,400 confirmed cases of Covid-19 across Africa and growing warnings that the pandemic will cause major challenges for the continent’s under-resourced health services.

Covid-19: How to capitalise on the next 3 weeks

March 27, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Clare Appleyard

On the 31st December 2019, there was a global sense of optimism. 2020 is our year, said everybody from entrepreneurs to politicians and Olympic athletes. Fast forward three months and much of the world is in tatters. Dreams have been shattered, economies have been devastated and lives have been lost. Nobody, nobody could have predicted the worldwide havoc that an invisible enemy called Covid-19 would wreak.

Do business differently and be a disruptor

March 24, 2020 Melanie Hawken

by Jolene Roelofse, Owner of Bludoor Market and Co-founder of Fluence

Given the current status quo globally and the State of Emergency declared this past weekend in South Africa, it is far from Business as Usual for businesses. But it is the ideal time to do business differently, change the course, be a disruptor, and use the current situation to your advantage.

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