Business Day Spotlight

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we talk about the state of local taxes as the government grapples with funding its activities in a contracting economy.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Keith Engel, CEO of the South African Institute of Tax Professionals (SAIT).

Engel focuses on tax season, the state of public finances, possible lost taxes due to Covid-19, the practicality of increases taxes and advice for consumers and business during this time.

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we talk about the ways in which telecommunications is helping connect organisations and consumers to the digital economy.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Vino Govender, executive for strategy, mergers and acquisition and innovation at Dark Fibre Africa (DFA).

Govender talks to us about digital transformation, specifically about how businesses have had to adapt to new ways of working. He says business continuity is major consideration, not only over the past months as a result of the pandemic but also looking into the future has had major changes and connectivity has had to also keep up with those changes.

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we’re looking at the health and state of the vehicle retail market.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Marcia Mayaba, chief executive of motor retail at Barloworld and vice president of National Automobile Dealers Association.

She also discusses trends around vehicle sales in SA, the health of consumers in the local market, reasons for the rise in second hand motor sales, the move to online retail for dealerships, leadership in the industry and an outlook for the sector.

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we’re looking back at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s economic recovery plan, delivered this week in parliament.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Dawie Roodt, chief economist at the Efficient Group to discuss the issues.

Roodt discusses the main points of the plan, the state of SA’s economy, the expansion of the Covid-19 benefits by government and an outlook for the year.

In this edition, we’re putting a Spotlight on the ongoing e-hailing strike, involving Bolt and Uber drivers in SA.

As part of growing global pressure against the gig economy, hundreds of drivers for ride-hailing platforms Uber and Bolt took to the streets of SA cities on this week to protest against working conditions and to demand regulation of the industry.

Our host, Mudiwa Gavaza, speaks to a spokesperson for the drivers, Vhatuka Mbelengwa.

Mbelengwa says the drivers want protection “for the domestic investment into this industry. We’ve seen billions running through but drivers are getting more poor. We’re struggling to understand how a business can have such high volumes of money flowing through it but drivers are just getting poorer. There’s something wrong from a managerial perspective.”

He also outlines what drivers are looking for from this strike action, how engagements with both Uber and Bolt have progressed over time, why they have decided to focus on Bolt specifically, as well as passenger and driver safety concern

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we talk about the ongoing debate of developing infrastructure for connectivity in SA versus property rights.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Dominic Cull, a regulatory specialist at consulting firm, Ellipsis Regulatory Solutions.

The discussion focuses on a new draft policy for how new network infrastructure will be built in SA, how the development of technology has affected property rights, the difference between a policy and actual regulations, ways in which people can engage with the state on making better policy and how 5G is likely to accelerate the building of networking infrastructure.

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we’re talking about the state of SA’s currency, the Rand.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Bianca Botes, executive director at Peregrine Treasury Solutions, a foreign exchange and treasury specialist company.

The discussion talks about the effect of government stimulus on the Rand, the SA Reserve Bank’s bond trading practices, SA’s place in the global economy, the concerns of institutional and individual investors around the Rand and an outlook for the local economy.

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we’re talking about how diversifying products, services and lines of business may be useful for business during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Dov Girnun, CEO of alternative lending company, Merchant Capital.

Girnun talks about Merchant Capital’s business model, the impact of Covid-19 on lending practices and working capital management for businesses, ways in which specialising has been challenged in the economy, advice on how small businesses can adapt to the new times, finding new areas of business and an outlook for small businesses in the current economy.

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we’re talking about a new mobile application by Cartrack to address personal safety risk in SA.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Zak Calisto, founder and group CEO of JSE listed vehicle tracking specialist, Cartrack.

The conversation focuses on Cartrack’s rationale for creating the new Karu Safety app, statistics and figures around the opportunity that Cartrack is looking to address with the product, thoughts around how both personal and vehicle security have been affected by Covid-19 and an outlook for the service.

In this edition of the Business Day Spotlight, we’re talking about the week’s top economics news, focusing on new employment and manufacturing data.

Our host Mudiwa Gavaza is joined by Peter Bauer, a professor at the University of Johannesburg’s School of Economics to review the week in economics.

The discussion focuses on recent employment figures, manufacturing data, a possible increase of the informal sector, the state of the arts and cultural sector and an outlook of the economy going forward.