Africa patients offered online helping hand
A recent report found that seven of the 10 fastest-growing internet populations are in Africa Mobile technology is rapidly transforming the way business is being conducted in Africa, particularly in the healthcare industry, as a result of the growth in internet connectivity. With patients in Africa having to wait in long queues, travel vast distances...
Progress on hold as trade barriers constrain Africa
African leaders frequently pay lip service to the virtues of regional integration, but have yet to implement any meaningful change. One small positive step that a number of countries are slowly implementing is the one-stop border post concept, in which two countries jointly operate a border crossing to remove the usual two-step process. Supported...
Structure is business-friendly, but new laws are not
The government continues to pursue legislation that is not friendly towards investors On Friday, 17 March 2017, President Jacob Zuma launched Invest SA, a one-stop shop service for foreign investors. An initiative of the Department of Trade and Industry, Invest SA is tasked with promoting investment in SA. It was mentioned in the state...
Changing the retirement landscape
If followed faithfully by trustees, the revised OECD Core Principles of Private Pension Regulation, introduced late last year, will go some way to restoring public confidence in private pension funds in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). “The lingering atmosphere of general distrust the average person has towards the integrity and...
African fixed income investments coming into their own
Given the continued global search for yield and growth in an increasingly low-yield world, debt markets in Africa should and will attract increasing attention from institutional investors. Pensions and savings institutions around the globe are facing rising liabilities because of low interest rates. Coupled with the effect of volatile markets and low...
Improving the way we benchmark private equity performance
The direct alpha method Measuring private equity performance in a standardised and easily understandable way has proven difficult, specifically for those that operate outside of the private equity space. The greatest difficulty is that private equity cannot be measured like listed equity which has frequently available pricing and an accurate time series...
Pension fund investing – a specialist or a balanced portfolio?
Namibian pension funds appear to prefer investing their members’ contributions in balanced funds, as they believe these offer a better solution. Given the results of a 20-year study from the UK, perhaps it is time to start asking if this is correct. The study, performed by renowned Professor David Blake at Cass Business School found...
South African private equity returns highlight the value of the asset class in building resilient portfolios
The latest performance record of South African private equity, as reflected in the RisCura-SAVCA South African Private Equity Performance Report for the second quarter of 2016, confirms the capacity of this asset class to deliver steady returns in a setting of moderate to slow local and international economic growth. The report, which tracks a representative...
