B2B Central

Opinion

30 Aug 2016

The sad house

By Janice Roberts

My husband and I have done a bit of house-hunting over the last few weeks.  While we’re looking for more space to accommodate my husband’s hobbies (collecting cars and motorbikes) and my book collection, we’re taking our time about moving house. During our outings with realtors to look at various properties, we’ve seen some sad...
11 Aug 2016

No, women can’t have it all – Women’s Month

By Janice Roberts

As we celebrate Women’s Month, Christelle Colman, Chief Executive Officer of Europ Assistance South Africa says women “can’t have it all.”
21 Jul 2016

Is food really that expensive in South Africa?

By Janice Roberts

Well just how pricey is our food?  From this account, written by a fellow journalist who prefers to remain anonymous, (let’s call him M), we’re not badly off here when it comes to shopping at our supermarkets.  This is what he said in an email to friends and colleagues upon his return to South Africa....
05 May 2016

Common Sense Isn’t Common

By Janice Roberts

I recently spent a few days away at a trout fishing lodge in the Magaliesberg mountains.  The experience was enlightening and proved the often quoted saying: Common sense isn’t common.  
17 Feb 2016

What we expect from Budget 2016

By Janice Roberts

The first question I always encounter when discussing budget previews is: Will we pay more tax?  The answer is a definite ‘yes’.  PWC says there has been a rapid slow down in revenue collections since the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) was presented in October last year.
02 Dec 2015

The great climate debate

By Janice Roberts

“Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get.” (Anonymous) This week thousands of heads of government, activists and officials gathered in Paris for the 21st United Nations climate conference.  The planet has definitely become hotter and weather patterns have drastically changed – of this there can be no doubt.  What’s to blame though? ...
19 Nov 2015

Vive la France

By Janice Roberts

Like most decent people, I was both shocked and saddened by the loss of life in Paris on Friday, the 13th of November 2015. Like many who watch and analyse the news, I had predicted that such an incident would occur in Europe.  As the weekend moved on, I began to wonder what effect the...
19 Oct 2015

Is your wealth killing your children’s ambition?

By Janice Roberts

According to Jamey Lipschitz, wealth manager at Sanlam Private Wealth, there is an old saying: “the first generation makes the money, the second enjoys it, and the third squanders it”. Lipshitz says that when it comes to their children and their wealth, “we often guide our clients to look beyond material assets and to consider...
14 Oct 2015

What the ANC wants

By Janice Roberts

The ANC is certainly mixed up.  Take membership numbers for instance.  On the first day of the conference, both Zuma – in his political report – and ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe – in his organisational report – insisted that the party’s membership had declined from 1.22 million in 2012, to around 770,000 today.  Yet...
28 Sep 2015

Is it time to buy VW shares?

By Janice Roberts

It’s only natural that some will view Volkswagen’s share plunge as a buying opportunity. Unless you’re living in another universe, you’ll know by now that the car manufacturer has been caught trying to fool US regulators into thinking that emissions from its diesel cars were lower than they actually were. (What the manufacturer did was...
07 Sep 2015

Salaries of NW ghost workers dwarf Nkandla

By Janice Roberts

The cost of the salaries paid in one month to the 36 000 ghost workers in Northwest Province is approximately 3,5 times more than the money that has been spent up to now on Pres. Jacob Zuma’s Nkandla home, trade union Solidarity said last week.  
29 Jul 2015

How worried should we be about China?

By Janice Roberts

China’s Shanghai Composite index plummeted at the beginning of this week, falling 8.5%. This was its worst single-day fall since February 2007 and followed the release of economic data showing that Chinese industrial profits had dropped in June, compared with the previous year, while manufacturing activity was lower too. How worried should investors be?