BizNews Radio

Elon Musk's Starlink, the high-speed, low-cost internet access offering from space, won't be coming to South Africa. The reason, says tenacious SA opposition politician Dianne Kohler-Barnard, is the ANC demands that to be licenced, Starlink must first give 30% of the local company to politically connected cronies under the guise of Black Economic Empowerment. That's a demand that Musk, who was born and raised in Pretoria and still has family in the country, refuses to countenance. This was admitted by the ANC in Parliament, prompted by Kohler-Barnard, the DA's Shadow Minister of Communications. So while the rest of Africa stands to leapfrog into the digital age through Starlink's cheap, fast, universally accessible bandwidth from space, ANC policy will stop South Africa from participating. Kohler-Barnard spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.

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Every month virtual game drive broadcaster WildEarth takes seven million viewers on safari in the South African bush - entertaining and de-stressing them while simultaneously planting seeds for future tourists. In this interview, UK-based Saffer and co-owner Andre Crawford-Brunt shares his journey from global banker to co-owner of an international media company that exposes the excitement of Big Five spotting. The trader turned entrepreneur, who partners Magda Wierzycka in the very successful private equity fund OSE/Braavos, has big plans for WildEarth, which already hosts millions of people at its live-streamed sunrise and sunset game drives. He spoke to Alec Hogg of BizNews.com.

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Tech entrepreneur and former Google Executive Stafford Masie answers questions on the rapid rise of cryptocurrency, the integration of Artificial Intelligence in business and the growing concern surrounding South Africa’s economic future. Masie highlights the overlooked value of Bitcoin as both an asset and an international currency, emphasizes the threat of economic irrelevancy for South Africa if they fail to catch up to their technologically pioneering peers such as Rwanda and Nigeria, and discusses the nuances surrounding the inevitable integration of AI into commerce.

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Dieter Eiselen was born in Pretoria and attended school in Stellenbosch at the Paul Roos Gymnasium and he has just been signed for a fourth season of the Chicago Bears, a professional American football team. Even though he loves rugby and would love to see his former class mate, Herschel Jantjies back in the Bok team, Eiselen swapped rugby for weight-lifting at school and only started playing American football when he arrived in the US. Eiselen told BizNews how he came to love American football, about his selfless role in the offensive line of the Bears, how he loved to tackle and his 100% chance of picking up injuries in gridiron. Linda van Tilburg

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In this insightful BNC#5 investment panel discussion 36One’s Cy Jacobs, Ranmore Fund's Sean Peche, and Merchant West’s Piet Viljoen offer their insights as they weigh in on pressing investing questions covering growth vs. value, the problems with technology and the volatile future of the stock market.

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In this BNC#5 Q&A, Cy Jacobs highlights the massive opportunity in the renewable energy sector and the trillions of dollars that will be spent globally. Jacobs discusses the involvement of various companies in the industry, cautioning against the slow turnaround time for fixing coal-fired power stations and the challenges facing manufacturing businesses in adopting renewable energy. The discussion also touches on the impact of loadshedding on the market and the potential for investment in Transnet assets. Despite the challenges, there is hope for increased investment in renewables across various sectors of the economy.

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In this BNC#5 presentation, Cy Jacobs focuses on hedge fund investment strategies, highlighting forensic research into businesses that are believed to be unsustainable. Jacobs discusses the ability to assess the current environment and choose between value, growth, or quality investments. Highlighting the importance of protecting capital during down markets and the benefits of shorting assets. Jacobs also delves into current market challenges, such as geopolitical tensions, COVID, zero carbon emissions, and political issues, but highlights the opportunities that exist, particularly in renewable energy investments. Jacobs concludes with a discussion on the importance of finding opportunities within a crisis.

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Finland has topped the list of the world's happiest countries for the past six years. That is according to the World Happiness Report. This always surprises countries like South Africa, where we consider plenty of sunshine and our friendly people to be the key ingredients of happiness. In contrast, Finland has long dark winters. In Lapland, daylight is restricted to a few hours in winter, and temperatures can drop to -50C. So, apart from their love of the outdoors, which we share - what is their secret ingredient for happiness? Kristiina Hietsaari, Senior Director at Visit Finland told BizNews why the Finns are so content, how happiness is becoming an export product, and why they don't mind paying tax. – Linda van Tilburg

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Veteran climate expert Dr Richard Lindzen made a name for himself before the term "climate scientist" had even been invented. In an interview with the pioneering atmospheric physicist and former emeritus professor of meteorology at MIT, he recounted how, between 1989 and 1996, funding for climate science in the US increased by a factor of 15, giving birth to the field of climate science and its absurdly stretched list of climate impacts. Having begun his research on climate change in the mid-70s motivated by a sincere interest in understanding the Earth's climate regimes, Lindzen's assessment of the various elements paraded as scientific evidence of an impending climate catastrophe is remarkably sensible, revealing the complicity of the media and politicians in forcing the disastrous climate change narrative upon an unsuspecting and trusting public from the very beginning.

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Songezo Zibi is a former newspaper editor and political commentator who was the chairperson of the Rivonia Circle, a platform that drew inspiration and courage from the Rivonia Trialists. He will need courage in the robust and sometimes even violent political world he is entering. Zibi comes from a tiny rural village called Mqanduli in the Eastern Cape that he calls one of the unseen communities of the country, where people have never had piped water or flush toilets and who live in fear of crime in the dark. He told BizNews that RISE Mzansi would soon register as a political party but that it wants to be more than that. South Africa's newest political leader envisages a non-racial movement, and the RISE Mzansi's national leadership Collective will soon embark on a series of town hall meetings nationwide to shape a People's Manifesto.

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