Episodes

As part of our series on the Middle East and Africa, this episode explores the digital opportunities in East and West Africa. Africa is on the verge of massive digital disruptions with the explosion of mobile, the increase of cross-border data and the constant focus on development that is skipping a lot of the earlier digital technologies. But even while all this is going on only about 15% of SME’s in East Africa have a website. When you compare this to South Africa with 30%, select ME countries...

We still do not have enough equality in the C-suite. It does not matter how we cut the numbers they are just not there, and the question is why? One of the answers could be that we are all still living with unconscious biases, which can close the door to equality in the workplace. Many companies have diversity, equal opportunity and discrimination policies but they are not always “living missions and values”. But unconscious bias can also be within ourselves, and very often we women stand in our...

When are artificial intelligence and big data going to achieve traction within Fortune 1000 corporations? We think It actually already has. In 2018 NewVantage partners’, conducted an annual executive survey on AI and Big Data. The study was conducted on 60 Fortune 1000 or industry-leading companies, with 93.1% of respondents as C-level executive decision-makers. The main findings of the survey revealed that an overwhelming 97.2% of executives reported that their companies are investing in buildi...

Globalization is very often thought of as a new phenomenon, but it isn't. It is simply the contact between diverse individuals and it actually began when prehistoric wandering tribes settled and integrated themselves into more stable tribal environments. Digitalization- what is that? It will be a tremendous opportunity for society: over the years to come, it will be one of the strongest drivers for growth, jobs, and well-being. But it is a little scary. You toss in the span of generations workin...

We’re used to thinking of start-ups as primarily high-tech innovation companies and geographically located in Silicon Valley, but that has changed. First, start-ups have gone global with Hubs popping up from Tel Aviv to Toronto and from Berlin to Shanghai. Also, start-ups are not just about tech, but about local businesses. Harvard research has shown that there are four shifts taking place with start-ups and VC: Expansion, Globalization, Urbanization, and a Winner-Take-All Pattern trend. But the...

In ancient times the ability to memorize was a considered a magical skill --sometimes even thought of as mystical and it was essential to the passing down of stories, legends, history, and taboos and laws. It was used as a basis for social and economic development. Today, the Internet seems to be making memorization irrelevant. What we don’t remember, we look up. Many schools have also generally abandoned requiring students to memorize poems, famous speeches, math tables, and all sorts of academ...

With the lifting restrictions on cannabis, many say that the current “green rush” will actually have even more impact on the economy than the reintroduction of alcohol in the 30’s. But it is not that easy to grasp the entrepreneurial reins that are needed to make it in this industry. Restricted licenses, regulations and new technologies in an industry that is really in its infancy, makes it exciting but also very demanding and great leadership plays an important role. But it is not only about gr...

Artificial intelligence (AI) is changing everything. It is merging our personal lives with our business lives as devices learn more about us and location-based intelligence always knows where we are and what we are doing. We see AI used in internet searches, customer targeting applications, performance evaluations and it is rapidly changing many industries and the future of work. But AI is not new. In 1956, the term artificial intelligence was used at a conference at Dartmouth College, but not u...

Digitalization is happening at all levels of the economy and it is impacting small and medium size businesses (SMB’s) as much it impacts enterprise companies. The challenge is that SMB’s do not always have the same digital resources or knowledge that large enterprises have. For this reason, it is hard for SMB’s to keep up with the various types of digital media available resulting in a lack of web presence that may hinder being found when customers are ready to buy. SIINDA, The Search and Inform...

There is no place in the world where digital marketing is changing and advancing so fast as in the Middle East and African (MEA). In preparation for our LOCALCOMM SIINDA event, to be held at Google Headquarters, March 6 & 7 in Dubai, we are talking today with a MEA digital expert. . According to the latest telecom Intelligence reports, Mobile phone usage is skyrocketing in the MEA and the region is expected to account for the second-largest mobile phone population of any region in the world, wit...

Traditional marketers and business owners think that the word 'digital' in digital marketing is simplistically taken to mean 'our website' or 'our Facebook page' and this thinking limits the scope and opportunity that digital marketing brings. The use of the Internet, digital media and other new technologies support ‘new age marketing’ but it has also given rise to a number of labels created by professionals and marketers. These labels drive us to believe digital marketing about media, devices, ...

We were shocked when Equifax announced that 143 million Social Security numbers were compromised. Amazon and Walmart have had customer passwords leaked online. These are only the big breaches that we hear about, but there are many more. A 2017 PwC survey interviewed more than 9,600 IT executives globally and found that 41% had experienced at least one security incident in the past year. Of those, 37% reported financial losses as a result. The challenge is that hackers are getting more and more s...

We are in the 4th Industrial Revolution and we are facing rapid change in the way we work and the kinds of work we do. Our workforce is experiencing more changes than ever before, with economic transformation driven by new technologies, automation, a global economy and changing consumer behaviour. It is expected in the US that freelancers will make up the majority of the workforce by 2027 and also worldwide. In the UK, France and the Netherlands, freelance growth has outpaced overall employment ...

Thought Leadership is all about having the answers to the biggest questions on the minds of your target audience. It is about sharing a unique perspective on topics relevant to certain audiences. Thought leadership becomes effective when the passion and expertise of the thought leader coincide with the interests of the audience. Thought leadership is important in all aspects but it is also important to companies in both the B2C and B2B world. This also means it is important for leaders and entre...

A Supplier Gender Diversity program is a proactive business program which encourages the use of gender neutral supply chain selection and promotes women owned businesses. This is important because women-owned business enterprises are among the fastest-growing segments in the world-wide economy. But one of the most interesting observations about the status and progress of women business ownership is that it is not always correlated to the wealth and level of development of an economy, there is a ...

On paper, things have never looked better for female entrepreneurs. In fact, more than 11 million U.S. firms are now owned by women, employing nearly 9 million people and generating $1.7 trillion in sales, according to 2017 data from the National Association of Women Business Owners. But these numbers only tell part of the story. Women-owned firms are still in the minority, and the hurdles faced by women who have embraced entrepreneurship are vast and often very different than those experienced ...

Leadership is the most influential and critical element in business. Effective leaders have the necessary tools and skills to inspire and impact their teams allowing firms to run competently and smoothly. But there are different levels of leadership ranging from non-effective to highly effective, so how does one become a highly effective leader? One of the first things you have to do is understand where you are on the scale of effective leadership and where you want to be. Understanding the beha...

The power of the web has affected more than just the way we communicate and the vast access to information we now have, it also carries with it a variety of legal issues. These issues are o related to intellectual property concerns, copyright, trademark, privacy, and more, particularly in the context of doing business on the Internet. Authorities are seeking to apply new laws in traditional ways that expand the legal control over the connect world, but they are facing many challenges due to the ...

The Network Marketing and Direct Sales profession hit a new record in 2016 with $184 BILLION in global sales and in 2018 it is one of the fastest growing industries. It has become the new marketing method with intelligence, using AI to match buyers and sellers. Network marketing is no longer just a way to sell products by putting feet on the street. It is much more, and spans across industries form movies to organic products. It has even penetrated the SMB market. As digital marketing channels c...

The new trend shaping the future of marketing is the notion of Purpose. Influential marketing leaders say that becoming more focused on purpose-driven marketing will help increase business because both businesses and consumers are demanding it. As marketing becomes more purposeful with an increased focus on customer experience, engagement, right time marketing and technology changes such as AI, it needs visionary leadership. Visionary leaders are builders, working with imagination, insight, and ...

Business Etiquette is a set of rules by which we conduct business. Essentially, business etiquette enables a company to function smoothly in its interactions with other businesses, its own employees and the general public, although today it has taken on new dimensions. In this global environment, we need to pay attention to the subtle differences in behaviour that lie behind proper etiquette. What is acceptable in one culture may not be acceptable in another, even though the foundation of proper...

“Show me your friends and I will show you your future” Mark Ambrose. We all have friends, peers and associates that are part of our everyday life. Very often they provide us with support, they motivate us and give us a sense of community, but if we do not surround ourselves with the right people, it can also affect us negatively and hold us back. Speaker Jim Rohn says “You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with” and if these people are not helping you focus in the direction...

If we really want to break down the boundaries and have diversity in all industry sectors, we had better start reversing the trends, and one of the most difficult sectors to do this in is technology. The number of women that tech companies employ has declined from 37 percent in 1995 to 24 percent in 2016, and this trend should really be going the other way. There are many reasons why this industry belongs at the top of the list of industries that do not promote and, in many instances, do not hir...

Influencer marketing has gotten big in the past few years, but what is it about? It is the process of leveraging existing social media influencers—people who carry a strong reputation with a large number of people in a given niche—by having them endorse your brand, support your content, or co-create content with you and your brand. In 2017 research showed that 39% of marketers were increasing their marketing budgets for 2018, with 86% of marketers integrating some kind of influencer marketing in...