Classic Business

Nikolay Mladenov, Portfolio Manager Ashburton Investments

Johann Erasmus, Executive Director 1Nvest

Iva Madjarova, Sygnia's Head of Investment Consulting and Itrix

Anthea Gardner, MD Cartesian Capital

Jeremy Sampson, MD of Brand Finance Africa

How often have you been driving on a congested highway, and you notice one edgy driver who's trying to get ahead. He passes left, swerves right, zigs and zags, trying to get an edge. Meanwhile, you just pick a lane and go with the flow. Sometimes the maneuvering driver gets ahead, only to get caught in a slow patch where he falls back and you wind up passing him!

This goes on for some time, dodging taxis and potholes, and despite all of the aggressive driver's efforts and work, he's still even with you. But he's stressed out, he took unnecessary safety risks, and he wasted a lot of petrol on accelerating and braking which in the end leaves him behind and spending more per km traveled.

The moral of the story is that passive investing is like surrendering to the ebbs and flows of traffic and accepting that as much as you try, attempting to beat traffic rarely works. Just go with the flow.

It’s why Jack Bogle the grandfather of the index fund advocated not looking for the needle in the haystack. But rather just buying the haystack!

The South African Listed Tracker Awards (“SALTA”) are now in their fourth year. It is an initiative by certain service providers to the growing ETF industry in South Africa, who are not issuers of ETFs themselves, to reward such issuers for exceptional products provided to the South African markets.

The JSE, Refinitiv, Profile Data, and etfSA.co.za are the sponsors and organisers

Only quantitative assessments have been utilised and no subjective judgments were made.

Michael Avery caught up with all the winners and winning etfs to tuck away into to your portfolio, from satrix, Absa, OneNnvest, Sygnia Codeshares and Ashburton.

How are you feeling, anxious all the time, a little frayed around the edges?

With warnings of a ‘mental health pandemic’ sitting in wait ahead, it’s vital that we dive into the reality of Covid-19’s impact; not only in a year of lockdowns, social distancing, and anxiety but further into the future, when the risk of coronavirus is low and lockdowns are a distant memory. How serious is the effect of the past year on our mental health? Will the end of lockdown fix it with the jab of a vaccine needle? And what do we need to do to heal what could be the next major health crisis?

While I’m an optimist, I’m also a realist and believe that we should reconsider whether a permanent move to remote work is such a good idea. It risks taking us from the coronavirus pandemic to a loneliness pandemic, with potentially terrible costs.

Every responsible senior business leader wants to know what changes employees want in the post-COVID era. The truth is, only your employees can tell you how they have changed as a result of the pandemic and why.

Many of the traits that have always been important for managers — empathy, clarity, authenticity, and agility — are even more crucial during this time of uncertainty and upheaval. Leaders have been challenged to maintain connection and a sense of belonging within their teams even when they cannot be in the same room together.

True to this Zoom fever form I recently caught up with a globally renowned expert on empathic leadership. She the host of the ‘Empathy for Breakfast’ show in Dubai, as well as the ‘Secrets of The Gap’ podcast, Mimi Nicklin, who recently wrote a book about empathy titled Softening the Edge

Nic Ray, Brandseye CEO

Cobie Legrange, co-founder of Rex Solom Invest

Juergen Dresel, CEO