Classic Business

he world of mobility is rapidly changing. The market for electric vehicle (EVs), in all their forms, is growing exponentially. Combined with technological disruptions in the energy space, the rise of EVs puts battery technologies at the core of sustainable development. Multiple technologies and chemistries, with their respective advantages and shortcomings, are competing in a market currently dominated by lithium-ion batteries (LIBs).

Both South Africa’s government and industry have indicated their intention to position the local value chain as a key player in the mobility of the future.

BMW SA CEO Peter van Binsbergen has said that the next generation of BMW cars built in SA must include electric models if the local division of the German luxury car maker is to retain its export markets.

This is critical to ensure a just transition to e-mobility which would notably preserve, if not increase, job creation. Indeed, South Africa hosts a vibrant automotive manufacturing value chain. Like in the rest of the world, the domestic industry, however, produces internal combustion engine vehicles and components.

To explore the opportunities for South Africa to have a role in the LIB value Michael Avery hosted a roundtable with Dr. Blanche Ting, Energy and Low Carbon coordinator, UNIDO, South Africa Regional Office, providing an overview of the low carbon transport project; Edem Foli, Programme Manager, uYilo; Gaylor Montmasson-Clair, Senior Economist, TIPS, and Paul Osborne, Directo, Balancell, presenting a broad overview of barriers and opportunities of battery manufacturing in the country.

Chantal Marx, head of equity research at FNB Wealth and Investments

Francois Gouws, CEO PSG Konsult

Sygnia, the asset manager founded by Magda Wierzycka, has launched a new exchange-traded fund (ETF), giving investors exposure to overseas companies that promote sustainable investment.

Sygnia Itrix S&P Global 1200 ESG ETF was listed on the main board of the JSE on Monday, bringing the number of ETFs listed on the local bourse to 79, with the combined market value of R109.8bn.

The fund is also expected to list on A2X Markets.

To find out more about the fund Michael Avery caught up with Iva Madjarova, Sygnia’s Head of investment Consulting and Itrix

Jeremy Sampson, MD of Brand Finance Africa

Sydney Mbhele, Sanlam’s chief executive of Brand

Monato Mokgoko, CSIR Group Manager: Operations and Employee Relations

The big news in the crypto world last week was the IPO of Coinbase, a leading cryptocurrency exchange. Ahead of its listing Its shares last traded hands at a US$100bn valuation in private markets. $223bn is the estimated value of crypto assets that Coinbase has — or around 11% of the whole crypto market.

With most startups going public these days the key question is “can the economics improve long-term?”.

What Michael Avery finds find most interesting with Coinbase is that the key question is “can the economics stay this good long-term?”

Anthony Rocchi, Co-founder of RexSolom Invest, runs the rule of the Coinbase IPO.

Kevin Lings, Chief Economist at Stanlib

Mamello Matikinca

Chief Economist at FNB

and

Investec Chief Economist, Annabel Bishop

Fifteen centuries after China invented banknotes, the nature of money is set to fundamentally change. Back then, in the Tang dynasty (around 618AD) paper money was little more than an IOU and became known as “flying cash” because, unlike metal money, it had a tendency to blow away.

Cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin have foreshadowed a potential digital future for money, though they exist outside the traditional global financial system and aren’t legal tender like cash issued by governments.

China’s version of a digital currency is controlled by its central bank, which will issue the new electronic money. It is expected to give China’s government vast new tools to monitor both its economy and its people. By design, the digital yuan will negate one of bitcoin’s major draws: anonymity for the user.

Beijing is also positioning the digital yuan for international use and designing it to be untethered to the global financial system, where the U.S. dollar has been king since World War II. China is embracing digitization in many forms, including money, in a bid to gain more centralized control while getting a head start on technologies of the future that it regards as up for grabs.

A cyber yuan stands to give Beijing power to track spending in real-time, plus money that isn’t linked to the dollar-dominated global financial system

Michael Avery spoke to Bronwyn Williams, who is a Futurist, Economist, and Business Trends Analyst at Flux Trends, on whether this is as dystopian as it sounds.

EOH is one of South Africa’s largest technology services companies in Industry Consulting, IT Services, Systems Integration, Software, Industrial Technologies, and Business Process Outsourcing. T

The Group continues to try and put a period wracked with fraud and criminality behind it and remains a market leader in its core Information and Communications Technology (ICT) businesses, which operate principally under the iOCO brand name.

The Group’s 6 151* employees deliver services to over 5 000 enterprise customers across all major industries throughout South Africa. The Group also has a footprint across Africa, Europe and the Middle East

While the Group’s current liabilities exceeded its current assets by R1.7 billion, the Group has signed term sheets to refinance approximately R2 billion of the Group’s facilities, thus bringing the ratio of current assets to current liabilities to above one times but the hard slog continues

Michael Avery spoke to CEO Steven Van Coller, about the big unknown, being what value EOH will secure for its IP assets, which will 'substantially reduce legacy debt'.