Many years ago when I was at university I used to wonder why the cleverest people in my class at school could study anything other than medicine. To my mind if you were that clever then you might as well do a course that required cleverness – like medicine. This same sentiment occurs within […]
An overdue comment on entrepreneurship Read More »
New state bid to make BEE more hands-on (edited) CAPE TOWN — Amendments to the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act, aimed at shifting its focus from equity deals to enterprise development, will be tabled in Parliament by July. They would also address sharp criticism of black economic empowerment (BEE) as only benefiting a small elite
New state bid to make BEE more hands-on Read More »
This is a repost of one of my informative Caird Code Rules as per a reader's request. I've added in another little feature that I've never done before – if you place your mouse on the underlined text it will show the sections in the codes that I'm referring to. Charities and other section 21
What about those entities that think they might need a BEE scorecard but don’t Read More »
TOWNSHIP communities need to be empowered to develop their own economies so they can set up and sustain small businesses, said Thami Mazwai, director of the University of Johannesburg’s Centre for Small Business Development (CSBD). I found this in today's Business Day. This is typcial of Thami Mazwai's sentiment on empowerment. He is part of
Mazwai’s views on empowerment Read More »
Courtesy of Fred Wilson (love the reference to Microsoft) Things startups do need Sunny office Windows that open Democratically controlled music system Two forms of internet access Beer on fridays EVDO cards Video game system Good coffee maker Proximity to public transportation Proximity to park Heating that goes all night Health care plans for everyone
Things startups do and don’t need Read More »
A while ago I was doing a presentation to the American Chamber of Commerce on Equity Equivalents. One of the delegates was an apparel manufacturer who asked my why his company should consider the programme I was proposing. I was a little surprised that such a company would even consider equity equivalents as an option.
Caird Code Rule #1 – Is BEE applicable to you Read More »
Taken from an FM article on BEE investment houses who end up being benificiaries of deals and their overall performance. The article concludes that BEE deals need to evolve, suggesting perhaps that a move toward entrepreneurship and away from passive hand-out involvement. Recent broad-based empowerment deals from the likes of SAB, Tiger Brands and Adcock
The changing face of BEE deals as per FM? Read More »
I’ll tell you what I know about the art of BEE (as opposed to it being a science, which it clearly isn’t) and that is that every person in the industry interprets each element differently. Goodness knows that I have, convincingly I stress, interpreted all the elements in the most business friendly light and will
Cumulative targets? Read More »
Marisa is away on a two week holiday so she’ll only read about this when she returns. She and I were discussing enterprise development and ways of making contributions, most of which are contemplated in the Benefit Factor Matrix. I hadn’t noticed that there was a 100% benefit factor for an "interest-free loan with
Enterprise Development and tax and thanks to Marisa Read More »
I lamented somewhat miserably in my last post that the Big News website didn’t work. I was wrong – I can’t see it on my PC (DNS settings are not happy). The information about the enterprise development awards is available on their website. But I still can’t see it. I learned this from Christoff Oosthuysen,
Erratum sum meum (latin noticing) Read More »
