28 MAY 2015 – 07:09 ELON Musk, perhaps today’s most visionary business leader, has an approach to problem solving — and thinking — beyond the next major pivot that is starkly at odds with how SA is confronting its present and future. The contrast with President Jacob Zuma’s black industrialists project spotlights key differences. Many…Continue reading Zuma’s strategy lacks dynamism

07 MAY 2015 – 08:01 WE WANT to believe the xenophobic attacks and the Marikana tragedy are exceptions. But while these horrors leave us deeply troubled, a difficult reality is setting in: the element of surprise has been lost. The only people who are shocked are those farthest removed from the problem. Public and private…Continue reading Like HIV, SA’s poverty trap can be managed

07 MAY 2015 – 16:16 Like the HIV pandemic which killed millions before politicians listened to science, SA’s poverty trap can be escaped if politicians implement good policies We want to believe the xenophobic attacks and the Marikana tragedy are exceptions. But while these horrors leave us deeply troubled, a difficult reality is setting in:…Continue reading Irrational politics keeping millions trapped in poverty

21 APRIL 2015 – 07:52 A Zimbabwean girl retrieves a solar panel from a demolished makeshift shelter at Manzou Farm in Mazowe. Epic leaps are required to go from subsistence farming to digital employment. Change in isolated areas due to greater connectivity is understudied, writes Shawn Hagedorn FABULOUSLY wealthy technologists are exploring ingenious ways to…Continue reading Charity campaigns to bring internet to rural Africa cause disruptions

13 APRIL 2015 – 07:50 AS THE nation’s current, intermediate, and perhaps long-term economic growth trajectories have recently ratcheted significantly lower, parliamentarians need to explore the extent to which they should hold the South African Reserve Bank accountable. This seems unfair as the Bank is arguably the least culpable, most professional and most capable among…Continue reading Central bank should not stand above the fray

11th March 2015 SA’s political dialogues have become inward focused as life chances and daily drudgeries reflect – and are exacerbated by – past missteps. Blunders, such as Eskom’s misadventures, put a tight lid on near and medium-term growth while Zuma era policies and practices undermine longer-term prospects. Yet adjusting to a changing global economy…Continue reading No inward looking to strong growth

23 JANUARY 2015 – 09:00 Putin’s Russia offers important lessons for SA and proves that a reinvention of current political-economic dispensations is necessary, writes Shawn Hagedorn RUSSIAN President Vladimir Putin presides over a huge and frequently frozen nation, yet its similarities with, and lessons for, SA are profound. • Exiting isolation. About 25 years ago…Continue reading Profound economic lessons for SA in Russia