Contador Harrison

More than half of Africa economic activity is driven by SMEs from all sectors ranging from agriculture to manufacturing . However, most of African businesses are facing increasingly difficult conditions, as fluctuations across both African markets and the local economies create a persistent challenge that companies will need to address.For senior executives, understanding these developments and positioning their business to make the most of new opportunities will be essential for realising strong ongoing growth. As the economic situation continues to fluctuate throughout 2017, senior managers are going to see even greater demand on their core leadership skills to navigate these changes. This has been reflected in the most recent survey which revealed that although business leaders are confident about the future, 49 per cent feel the biggest barrier to future growth will be their ability to develop new innovation.  A further 30 per cent are worried about finding the right staff, wh...

According to data available, only a third of African population has access to water and more than half of those don’t access clean water. Water is the most precious natural resource and something that most people take for granted. Africa is now increasingly becoming aware of the importance of water to its survival and its limited supply, especially in such a dry continent as it is.  Thats why water harvesting during the rain season has become critical . The harvesting of rainwater simply involves the collection of water from surfaces on which rain falls, and subsequently storing this water for later use. Normally water is collected from the roofs of buildings and stored in rainwater tanks. This is very common in rural Africa. Water can also be collected in dams from rain falling on the ground and producing runoff. Either way, the water collected can be considered to be precious. Implementing water efficiency measures in planning policy could help save Africa billions of dollars, i...

A research describing how widely  e-Commerce is used in Africa, the primary sectors that sell through e-commerce, and how much product and service in each sector is sold through e-commerce versus brick and mortar retail is painting a very bright future .According to it, the amount spent online in Africa is only going one way and thats up. I will try to dissect whether African business  are best placed to take advantage of the e-commerce revolution as well as examine trends shaping African e-commerce.Although the African e-commerce industry has been thriving,  there is plenty of room for further growth, as it still only accounts for less than 3% of the total African retail sales .In order to capitalise on this opportunity, issues with inadequate infrastructure, poor payment systems, and logistics have to be addressed. For instance, although the number of credit card users jumped 39% in the past three years, 95% of e-commerce payments are completed with bank transfers and ...

Convergence of digital content and communications systems is changing face of African media. The old order of television, print and radio remains significant and common, but the emergence of a new world of social and mobile media is unstoppable. Convergence is not so helpful when it comes to unpredictable policy challenges that are created by disruptive and far-reaching change . Dislocation of content has led to proliferation of services resulting to fragmented audiences and advertising. The informal media economy receives little attention from government policy-makers across the continent and the sector is unregulated, untaxed, and unlicensed, and without doubt this is one reason why it is also an extraordinarily dynamic, market-driven, externally oriented sector.Social media is perceived as playing a crucial role in political activism in Africa with latest being Kenya which will hold elections in August this year, is witnessing fierce online exchanges between government and oppositi...

Manufacturing is seen as a sector that can provide much needed employment in Africa. Several countries are offering incentives to attract manufacturers in their markets with governments promising locals of long term employment opportunities  but because of technology, the true picture is different from such promises. Although Africa need to produce for its own markets, most of the factories being set up as well as existing manufacturers certainly are representatives of sunset industries, slowly but inevitably subsiding into economic irrelevance. Today, half of the costs of Internet of Things (IoT) projects related to manufacturing go on integration . In South Africa, many manufacturers are realising they already have IoT solutions and now they need to integrate them better to leverage the full benefits.The country’s manufacturers are not entirely ignoring the massive innovation and restructuring going on in traditional manufacturing. But there's no doubt urgent changes are require...

Close to two million foreigners are said to be living and working in South Africa, a country where its common to see official posters in the streets telling people that illegal migrant workers bring in diseases and crime . There has never been outrage about such. South African police were said to have used rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse anti-immigration demonstrators and their opponents in Pretoria. Many jobless South Africans have accused foreigners of taking their jobs and a local group actually marched two days ago to signal their indignation, especially against Nigerians, Zimbabweans and Congolese. When challenged on this continuous racism, most South Africans will deny that they are racist and some will say it is the “SA way”. I was disgusted to see South African intellectuals say that  to discuss these things is just political correctness that doesn’t make sense, of cause how can it make sense when your not affected ? Ain’t affected as well but morally i hold a...