Blog
Stock picks for 2016
For the last few years I’ve been sharing my take on the stock market and my investment thesis in the listed space. Last year, I made some predictions that were sound, and others that were off the mark. The slide in the Rand made me look like a superstar, though, with my portfolio up 46% in…
Danny MacAskill skills
Having been to Gran Canaria a few years ago, this is the last thing I’d imagine someone would do.. on their bike.
Hard Work has its Rewards
The last few weeks has provided an opportunity for me to spend time with young and aspirational people, more than I usually do. For the last few years, near the end of the year we’ve upped the number of interviews we do as some of the best of the South African youth come into the…
The Landscape Hunter – exhibition in Cape Town
If you’re in Cape Town, drive to Sea Point and check out Thomas Ferreira’s exhibition – a solo exhibition titled The Landscape Hunter. It’s a collection of some incredible images of landscape photography that he’s assembled from touring across the globe, including New Zealand, USA, Chile and South Africa. The most appealing thing for me…
Crowdsourcing innovation
When I worked as an investment banker, one of the insights that became clear to me very early on was that banks have transformed very quickly into technology businesses. What used to be an industry with relational managers and bank balance sheets offering very vanilla products has now become a very technology-centric industry with multiple…
The next commodity supercycle involves something we all already own
The commodity supercycle which started in the early 2000s, saw the prices of physical commodities such as food, metals, fuel and chemicals rise as demand from emerging markets outstripped demand. A slowing global economy has recently seen a rapid slide of commodity prices, having severe impacts on global economic markets, job security and emerging market…
My love-hate relationship with entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship is the poster-child of the economy – consensus appears to be that running your own business is the ultimate pinnacle of a career – full of fun and the secret to untold riches. That might be the truth for a very few entrepreneurs, but there’s also a dark, lonely and extremely challenging side to…
What is Google Deep Dream?
I didnt know until a few months ago that you could put an image into Google search and it will tell you what’s in the picture and find similar pictures for you. Patson, the man that makes us coffee at the office, told me how he’s found a spider at his house and wanted to…
Innovation – the intersection of science and the humanities
I recently gave a guest speaker address a leading media company, where I looked at the aspects of why a business should innovate, how to go about it and how best to lead it. Best captured by Walter Isaacson, “The next phase of the digital revolution will bring a true fusion of technology with the…