Africa’s cities are facing an urban ‘polycrisis’

The award-winning African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit comes to Gauteng in October to gather leading built environment and property professionals, architects, project developers, investors, town planners, and city and municipal managers from all over the continent to focus on “Developing Future African Cities”.

“Over the next 20 years, growth in Africa’s urban population will increase the demand for more infrastructure, including transport, housing, hospitals, schools, retail, industrial and fundamental facilities,” says Benjamin Jones, Event Manager of African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit. He adds: “to meet this ongoing demand, public and private sector stakeholders will need to adapt their strategies to develop and fund projects that will need to meet the specific demands and challenges of African cities.” The summit will take place at the Sandton Convention Centre from 25-26 October.

JLL, the global financial and professional services firm specialising in commercial real estate services and investment management, is the official content sponsor for the event. Simon Ardonceau (MRICS), JLL’s Head of Strategic Consulting, Sub-Saharan Africa and speaker at the African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, says: “driven by strong fundamentals such as sustained economic growth, favourable demographics, emergence of a middle class and rapid urbanisation, the real estate sector is bound to grow.”

Visionary city planning
In November last year, the inaugural African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit in Cape Town provided an innovative space for more than 300 sector experts gathered for interactive sessions that focused on key case studies of visionary city planning, investment opportunities in the commercial and residential real estate sectors across the continent as well as the challenges of urbanisation. A key finding of the conference was that Africa’s cities are facing an urban ‘polycrisis’ and that there is a need for a new urban agenda and an opportunity for innovative solutions to address urbanisation challenges.

The summit was voted Africa's best Confex (half conference, half exhibition) earlier this year by the AAXO ROAR event industry awards.

More key findings that emerged during the first African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit included:
-  African countries need to adopt new development models designed to take advantage of urbanisation by facilitating structural transformation, creating jobs and addressing social inequality and poverty, while creating sustainable human settlements with equal opportunity for all.

-  The future of Africa is at stake and the future of Africa will be more and more linked to how cities are managed and the way they choose to contribute to African unity. Careful, complex, thorough administrative management and pro-poor urban development will turn African cities into world-class cities, not design plans based on fantasy Dubai-esque city makeovers.

- The City of Cape Town has invested over R22 billion in infrastructure over the last five years and needs to provide an additional 650 000 housing opportunities over the next 20 years.

-  Merely pursuing low-density low-cost housing on the outskirts of the cities is not an option. Innovative thinking must be part of the solutions for urbanisation challenges and partnerships between the public and private sectors play an important role.

Leading African cities that have been invited to showcase their major infrastructure and building projects and opportunities in October at African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit include: Abuja, Nigeria; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; Cape Town, South Africa; Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania; Johannesburg, South Africa; Kampala, Uganda; Kigali, Rwanda; Lagos, Nigeria; Luanda, Angola; Lusaka, Zambia; Maputo, Mozambique; Nairobi, Kenya; Harare, Zimbabwe and Kinshasa, DRC.

Property Buyer Show
During the same week as African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit, the Property Buyer Show also comes to Gauteng from 27-29 October at the Sandton Convention Centre. The Property Buyer Show, which took place for the first time in Cape Town in April this year, is a unique exhibition aimed at first-time residential property buyers or real estate investors. The innovative exhibition layout is designed to walk buyers through the property buying process and meet with developers, agents and financial service providers.

The African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit and the Property Buyer Show are organised by the Cape Town-based, multi award-winning Spintelligent, well known for organising exhibitions and conferences across the continent in the infrastructure, energy, mining, agriculture and education sectors. Longstanding flagship events by Spintelligent include African Utility Week, Future Energy Nigeria (formerly WAPIC), Future Energy East Africa (formerly EAPIC), Agritech Expo Zambia, DRC Mining Week and EduWeek. Spintelligent is part of Clarion Events Ltd, based in the UK.

Dates and location:
African Real Estate & Infrastructure Summit: 25-26 October 2017
Property Buyer Show conference: 27 October 2017
Property Buyer Show expo: 28-29 October 2017
Location: Sandton Convention Centre, Johannesburg, South Africa

Websites: http://www.african-real-estate-summit.com/ & http://www.propertybuyershow.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ARES_Summit & https://twitter.com/propertyshowsa
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/8518271

Media contact
Senior communications manager:  Annemarie Roodbol
Telephone:  +27 21 700 3558
Mobile:  +27 82 562 7844
Email:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  

Great news for the South African National Culinary Team is that the City Lodge Hotel Group will be taking care of their accommodation needs as they prepare for next year’s IKA Culinary Olympics taking place in Erfurt, Germany!

This means that the eight member team – three from Johannesburg and five from Cape Town – will be able to get together for practices as they build up to the big event which takes place from October 22-26 in 2016.

If the Joburgers go down to Cape Town, they will be able to stay at any City Lodge Group Hotel – if the Capetonians come up to Joburg, they will be able to stay at any City Lodge Group Hotel.

As Heinz Brunner, manager of the SA National Culinary Team, says: “Travel is necessary to ensure that the team can practise together and then go back to their restaurants and perfect their dishes through including them on their own menus.” The team will practise at different venues every two months.

“We are training hard, developing an exceptional menu and working as a team to produce world-class food that represents South Africa’s culinary scene with excellence. We couldn’t do this without our fantastic sponsors and partners. A huge thank you goes to the City Lodge Hotel Group for their support as our accommodation partner and to Imperial LSC as our headline sponsor.”

Commenting on behalf of the City Lodge Hotel Group, Peter Schoeman, Divisional Director, Sales and Marketing, said: “It is a privilege for us to assist our Springboks of the food world as they prepare to represent our country in the world’s ultimate culinary challenge.”

The competition will see national teams from across the globe compete in categories such as Hot Kitchen, Cold Table and Pastry.

Our ongoing efforts to grow out footprint in South Africa and selected countries are bearing fruit.

At our interim results announcement on February 18, we updated the market on the progress we are making.

Here’s a rundown of what’s in the development works.

In South Africa:

• We fully opened the 149-room City lodge Hotel Waterfall City Hotel at Midrand in February
• The 148-room City Lodge Hotel Newtown (downtown Johannesburg) is well underway and will open before the end of 2015
• The 90-room Road Lodge Pietermaritzburg will commence in February and is scheduled to open in November

Elsewhere in Africa:

• Earthworks are expected to begin in the second quarter of 2015 for the 169-room City Lodge Hotel Two Rivers in Nairobi, Kenya, and for the 147-room City Lodge Hotel Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.
• A financial feasibility study is being conducted into the possible development of a 150-room City Lodge Hotel in Kampala, Uganda.
• A memorandum of understanding (subject to conditions) has been entered into for the possible development of a 140 to 150-room Town Lodge in Windhoek, Namibia
• Negotiations are at an advanced stage for the development of 150 to 160-room City Lodge Hotel in Maputo, Mozambique.

The bottom line is that we will soon have more great locations to meet your business and leisure accommodation needs – both in SA and elsewhere on the continent!

The launch was attended by various members of the industry, friends, clients and the Overseas TT Revival Factory Suzuki Squad of Mick Grant, Tepi Lansivouri as well as factory technician Paul Bolton & multiple British Super Bike Champion, Isle of Man winner, Ian Simpson.

Hamptons have an impressive range of old SA favourite classics from Lawson Replica’s, Honda RC’s, Katana’s, Red Hunters and even quite a number of modern bikes as well. They offer the classic motorcycle market a place where they can display and sell their motorcycles in a safe and knowledgeable environment and a destination where enthusiasts can meet and catch up.

Hamptons are also the only dealership in the country from which insurance companies will accept their insurance valuation certificates from an insurance coverage perspective.

For more information call Gavin or Ian on 011 463 2160, or visit the showroom at 5 Main Rd, Bryanston, Johannesburg.

We are thrilled to announce that both the public and private sectors appear to recognize the value of board diversity as BPW SA has been approached in the last month alone, to assist with eleven board vacancies for women on our Register.  Women and men have different interests and perspectives in important areas, and boards are starting to see the importance of utilising these varying experiences to tackle the tremendous challenges. 

BPW SA and the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti) want boards of directors to widen the search for talent by looking beyond the traditional pool of executives and bring new potential to light.  It is for this reason that we have joined forces to provide a Women on Boards programme to create a Register of female leaders in South Africa who are excellently trained and, as a result, are highly sought after by Boards.  After all, why on earth would you voluntarily exclude half the smart people?

Our first group of 19 senior women, all thoroughly trained through our 9-month Women on Boards director development programme and certified by the dti, are now available on our register of Board Potential Women Directors and we urge companies to contact us for potential female directors.

Seven of our graduates are in line for board interviews , many have been interviewed by the media – both radio and magazines – and all will be profiled in the KZN Chamber of Commerce Power Book (2015). As an ongoing service to the graduates, BPW SA continues to raise their profile in an effort to access suitable board placements.  We have proven that board diversity is not a supply problem, but rather a demand problem.

BPW SA is proud to announce that we have incorporated an international module into the Women on Boards programme.  Business acumen - incorporating business finance and strategy - a must in today’s complex landscape. Business acumen is a keen understanding of what it takes for an organization to make money.  It combines financial literacy – the ability to interpret numbers on financial statements – with business literacy – recognizing how strategies and decisions impact these numbers.  Call it a sophisticated business simulation. Call it an exercise in experiential learning. Or call it a board game. Whatever you label it, the simple fact is that the training is fun and will gives participants a true competitive edge.

A recent Women on Board graduate, Tebogo Maziya, who holds a Masters degree in Science, a postgraduate diploma in finance and a B Comm degree says the nine-month journey has been fulfilling. “I learnt there’s a risk and that that risk is manageable. So it’s important for the board to be transparent and accountable and for a board member to be aware of decisions made because they will be held accountable.”  Another graduate, Amantha Maharaj, a BSc electrical engineering graduate with an MBA, who works a top management level at an engineering consultancy says of the programme: “It teaches one to know how a board is structured, what to do, and questions one needs to ask when sitting on a board. It also teaches business risk and how one should view business from a higher level. It was certainly value for money.”

For more information about our Women on Boards Programme, please visit our website at www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za or contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (011) 794-4991.

On the 7th August, 2014, BPW South Africa and the Department of Trade & Industry launched South Africa’s first database of “Board Potential Women” at a Business Breakfast held with over 200 CEO’s and high level government officials.  Acting Director General, Mrs Pumla Ncapayi of the Department of Small Business Development (The Department of Trade & Industry) handed over certificates to 19 senior businesswomen who have completed the intensive BPW SA “Women on Boards” director development programme and have now been profiled on the “Board Potential Women” database.  

The first 19 women on this database all fulfil stringent criteria for corporate governance and legislation and are well trained through our “Women on Boards” director development programme.  This list of "Board Potential Women" makes it clear that there are more than enough eminently qualified women to help lead South Africa’s corporations into the 21st century and that it is now time to shatter the glass ceiling that keeps these women from ascending to board positions.  Furthermore, it’s time we provide opportunities to more women than just the “high flyers” who currently occupy most board seats.  

We need to use all of our society’s talents to ensure that South Africa’s economy thrives. We often hear the argument that there are insufficient qualified women to occupy positions in the boardroom. Today BPW SA and the Department of Trade & Industry are shattering those myths as well as glass ceilings! The database shows that the qualified women are there – it’s just a matter of finding them and we’ve made it easy through our database.  There is no longer any excuse for recruiting unqualified non-executive female directors onto a board.  

The programme and database is administered by BPW SA in consultation with the Department of Trade & Industry. All women listed in the database are suitable to be considered for company board-level positions and meet a clear set of criteria.  Every application to be part of our “Women on Boards” programme and database is formally assessed and reviewed and only those women who meet the criteria are accepted. Notably, all women on the database have extensive formal qualifications and at least five years senior management experience.  

Companies should now make use of this untapped pool of talent, and businesswomen interested in potential board posts, should be joining the “Women on Boards” programme and ultimately our national database, in order to promote their profile amongst a larger audience.

For more information, give us a call on (011) 794-4991 or 083 212 9134 or visit our website at www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za.

As a Director or Shareholder, it’s important that you are familiar with the changes that the Consumer Protection Act (CPA), Protection of Personal Information Act (POPI), National Credit Act, Companies Act, 2008 and King III has on your business. Get to grips with what is required of you as a director in your business. The International Federation of Business and Professional Women (BPW) in partnership with the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti) invite you to attend their Empowerment seminar that will educate and inform you about how to comply with these regulations.  Delegates will receive a Certificate of Attendance from the dti and BPW confirming their participation of the event.

The seminar will take place in Johannesburg from 1-3 October from 09h30 to 17h00. Attendance at the seminar will cost R12 000 for the 3 days excluding VAT, transport and accommodation.  Please note that cancellation fees will be incurred once you have confirmed your booking.   

In keeping with its core aims, and due to popular demand, BPW has garnered the support of top legal experts to assist you in gaining valuable insight into a rapidly changing branch of corporate law. Both men and women are encouraged to attend.  

BPW is an international businesswomen’s organisation founded 81 years ago in Geneva, Switzerland. BPW is recognised as the largest and most influential international network of business and professional women, with affiliates in 100+ countries on five continents. We have over 500 000 members internationally which include women leaders, entrepreneurs, business owners, executives, professionals and young career women.  BPW has had Consultative Status with the United Nations through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) since 1947 and participatory status with the Council of Europe and works in partnership with the Commonwealth Business Council.  BPW South Africa has partnered with the dti in South Africa.  

BPW has the ambition to make the equal participation of women and men in power and decision-making roles a reality through capacity- and confidence-building. Through hosting this seminar together with the dti, BPW is leading the way by enriching the knowledge base of directors and stakeholders when it comes to taking responsibility in a corporate setting.

For more information on topics or to make your booking
visit: http://www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za/index.php/events/30-future-events/98-business-training-courses
or

Contact:
Toni Gomes
Tel: (011) 794-4991
Cell: 083 212 9134
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za

Business Results Group and GIBS presents The 10th Progress Conference on Balanced Scorecard Essentials, with Dr David Norton, Live and in Person. Dave Norton will present a one day programme in JHB on the 11th September 2014. In 2012, over 500 executives participated in his colleague, Professor Kaplan’s event in South Africa.

Dr Norton has most recently been honoured by Thinkers 50 in their Hall of Fame sharing this acclaim with Tom Peters, Warren Bennis, Howard Gardner, Charles Handy, Philip Kotler, Henry Mintzberg, Kenichi Omae, Ikujiro Nonaka and his colleague Professor Kaplan, for their mammoth contribution to business management and leadership. Harvard Business Review recognised the Balanced Scorecard as one of the most influential management ideas in the past 75 years.

The 2014 programme includes the latest findings and experience in Strategy measurement, leadership, human capital and cross functional priorities and solutions.  

This is what his clients have to say,

“Our BSC helped us to deliver superior performance, consistently and predictably in all facets of our organisation.” Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO, INFOSYS

“BSC is the strongest tool I have seen in 22 years of my career, to align people in the organisation to the corporate objectives.” Sunil Wahwa, CEO, New Delhi Power

“I am convinced that implementing the Balanced Scorecard has helped us to deliver record-breaking progress over the past 5 years.” Bill Padfield, CEO, Data Dimensions

To acquire access to Dr Dave Norton’s latest thinking, findings and solutions to execute strategy in a new economy, call Angela on 011 463 9898. For further information visit www.theprogressconference.com

With the current recession and reportedly South Africa in billion’s rand of debt including major corporations and banks feeling the pinch it has left our economy in bad state of financial affairs, which business owners and government aren’t willing to admit. The solution XTI Recoveries a debt collection firm with a unique approach to debt collection believes that businesses and government need to use debt collection as a means of recovering debt.

After a recent survey XTI Recoveries has found speaking to accountants and ex directors how businesses are dealing with losses and the shocking response? They either write off debts or hand over matters to attorneys which take months to recover adding on thousands of rand’s to have the debt recovered which is leading to liquidations and insolvency indicators of unpaid debt. The number of voluntary business liquidations increased by 71 % in 2014‚ while compulsory liquidations increased by 20 % over this period. This left XTI Recoveries puzzled why, would a business that currently has debt, create more debt, and the answer?

Business owners aren’t educated about the benefits of debt collectors nor do they trust them with their “bad books”.In the USA the leading economy President Obama has included in legislation the grave need and financial benefits of debt collectors towards the economy. “U.S. debt collection agencies were estimated to directly create $495 million of federal tax, $289 million of state tax and $221 million of local tax, for a combined tax impact of more than $1 billion.”XTI Recoveries believe that their unique business model and approach to debt collection is the future to minimize debts for the economy.

South Africans especially SME’s and start ups need to be educated about the benefits of debt collection. As SME’s and start ups are crucial future economic contributors to the economy. SME’s currently contribute 70% towards job creation, XTI recoveries feels strongly about assisting SME’s in minimising debt. 

For queries contact XTI Recoveries on:
Notes for editor Christi will be available for interview or any further queries upon scheduling

Contact details:
Christi Du-Plooy (owner)
Tel: 011 794 9877
Mobile 082 073 0594
Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Business & Professional Women (BPW SA), and the Department of Trade & Industry (the dti) are hosting a business breakfast on 7th August 2014 to launch a unique 3-day Women’s Empowerment Programme in South Africa to provide registered SME’s with the legislative knowledge required to effectively run their business within the parameters of South African law.  

The breakfast is hosted by DDG Mr Mojalefa Mohoto and DDG Mrs Pumla Ncapayi from the DTI and BPW South Africa as well as senior representatives from the JSE and UN-Women and the Commonwealth Business Council.  Various international Ambassadors and High Commissioners will host tables at the event.  A sponsorship fund will be launched at the breakfast for qualifying enterprises.  

Organisations of all sizes in South Africa need to develop and apply sound governance, risk and compliance principles and institute high ethical values. Failure to do so will have devastating consequences for the organisation, including penalties.   For SMEs, the biggest challenge is a lack of understanding around the difficulties associated with becoming compliant.   Understanding the ever-changing regulations makes the difference between a small business thriving – growing the economy and creating jobs – or closing its doors, and thus closing the door on job creation.  

Simply put, you need to know your laws. Know your rights and obligations. In this way you mitigate risk to yourself, your business, your employees and your customers. If done well, it helps to improve business performance and ensure financial success.   If you would like to be part of this Women’s Empowerment Programme, we invite you to join us at this Business Breakfast – tickets are R500 per person or R5000 per table of 10.   

For more information, or to attend the Business Breakfast,
please visit our website at http://www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za/index.php/events/30-future-events/98-business-training-courses.
Website: www.bpw-jhbsa.co.za