Malaysia’s 1MDB fund raised $6,5 billion in bonds with reportedly $4 billion (about R60 billion) being looted and shared among those that set up the fund and the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The story thankfully reveals that the scam was discovered and that many involved are facing the consequences, but it has left Malaysia with a debt of over $7 billion. The lessons for South Africa include just how long it takes to prosecute cases like this and how sentences may not seem to fit the scale of the...
Mar 16, 2022•12 min
They say the first casualty in a conflict is the truth. For those wanting to help, knowing who or where to send help is a challenge. In the disputed elections in Kenya in 2007, the access to phones and ability to send a message or email started the modern shift for how to help in a crisis. An open source website called Ushahidi (Swahili for witness) would collect the reports from those witnessing violence in order for those areas to be avoided. It has grown to be a regular service deployed durin...
Mar 09, 2022•11 min
Perhaps digital contracts that automatically trigger the sanctions for failure to meet the undertakings will keep the populists and strongmen from sending their and other countries to the brink. Photo by Ehimetalor Akhere Unuabona on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Mar 02, 2022•12 min
One company has seen their business soar during the lockdown - ecommerce site Shopify. Business Unusual looks at the resourceful founder that has seen his start up grow to at one point become the most valuable business in Canada. Audio credit: Recode Image credit: Shopify See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 23, 2022•14 min
They may be millions of years old, but they are still new to humanity image credit: Pexels See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Feb 16, 2022•12 min
When we read about the build up to previous wars, it looks like the outcome could be predicted, but at the time it looked very different. Are we in a situation now that looks like posturing and rhetoric that will settle down or will future generations look back and wonder how we missed the obvious signs? image credit: Pixabay See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Feb 09, 2022•15 min
Inflation occurs if you make more money available but keep the supply of goods the same or if the money supply is stable but there is a drop in supply and it can also occur when the money supply and the supply of goods are the same but faith in the currency is reduced through increased debt and poor exchange rate or political instability. Right now we have all three in place in various economies. The US has increased money supply dramatically, almost half of all the money that has ever existed i...
Feb 02, 2022•13 min
The Edelman Trust Barometer is an annual survey in 28 countries of about 35 000 people to determine what the current levels of trust is in four key institutions - government, media, business and NGOs. What is trust A simplified version is that it is the belief you hold about someone that they will or won’t do something, a second element relates to the justification in doing or not doing something. Psychologically, it would be a measure of your competence and warmth. When we come across people wh...
Jan 26, 2022•14 min
Long delays and massive costs aside, this is epic engineering. In the end the telescope would weigh over six tons and be as high as a multi-storey building. It would detect infrared light and so would need a sunshield which turned out to be about the size of a tennis court. You can’t fit a double decker bus on a tennis court on top of a rocket. You certainly would also struggle to accelerate it to supersonic speeds and hope for anything to survive. So you need to make the largest, most expensive...
Jan 19, 2022•14 min
Guest: Richard Mulholland | Owner at Missing Link See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Jan 12, 2022•12 min
Guest: Graeme Codrington | Futurist and Partner at TomorrowToday See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Dec 15, 2021•14 min
At 27, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has accomplished more than most can in a lifetime For those outside the crypto-world Bitcoin is likely the only new fangled form of money you have heard about. There are thousands of coins and platforms. Many are simply copycat versions hoping to catch unwary investors but some do offer new ways to imagine how finance, business and even governments can operate. Buterin became intrigued with Bitcoin after his father introduced him to it at age 17. He was...
Dec 08, 2021•13 min
Politicians and pharmaceutical companies could have done more to tackle Covid-19 In December 2019 Business Unusual considered the disruption that could come from a pandemic. It came on the back of growing anti-vax behaviour from small sections of communities that did not only believe vaccines were not helping, there was a growing belief that they would cause harm. As a consequence outbreaks of diseases that were on the verge of being eradicated were making a comeback with outbreaks that in some ...
Dec 01, 2021•14 min
Food production is a megabusiness and while you may know dozens of food brands, they all come from just a handful of companies. This is a short history of how a biscuit formed an empire. Image credit: See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Nov 24, 2021•15 min
The long term solution may be to reduce the need for overhead cables or get rid of them all together. It was the height of the cables that caused the scandal with the trains South Africa bought that were too tall. Removing the cables would not only solve that issue but cable theft too. The solution is to use hydrogen and a fuel cell in the same way a diesel electric train operates, rather than diesel to run a generator, the hydrogen fuel cell generates electricity, is silent and only produces wa...
Nov 17, 2021•13 min
South Africa is at COP26 to discuss how to avoid a climate disaster, this is the plan. The Presidential Climate Commission was tasked to both move South Africa towards a low carbon economy while managing the impact from potential disruption to jobs. The idea of a just transition looks to both deal with how to lower our CO2 emissions and give those employed and dependent on those industries to maintain or ideally improve on the current conditions. While the focus is on the energy sector, carbon e...
Nov 10, 2021•12 min
Bots are often the reason sale items appear and sell out almost instantly This story begins with the latest Xbox that looks like a small fridge, Microsoft the makers of the Xbox said that if they could win a Twitter battle of brands they would turn the meme fridge into reality and after winning the contest in April released the mini fridges for a limited sales run in October. Lots of people wanted one, most did not manage to get one, but quite a few were seen for sale on auction sites at much hi...
Nov 03, 2021•13 min
As cities grow and land becomes more expensive so too does being able to afford a burial. Cremation allowed for less space to be used, but the CO2 and potential pollutant impact on dealing with 60 million deaths a year may make it a less favourable option. Here are some alternatives. Photo by Noah Buscher on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 27, 2021•12 min
Despite the bad news associated with big tech, this is something to celebrate The first challenge as older South Africans will recall is getting connected. Many young South Africans may still struggle with access and cost, but like anything that you can supply in volume, you get to get it for less. This is the first critical tipping point for progress. The first fibre cables came online only in this century even though the first undersea cable arrived from Europe in the 1800s, but in the two dec...
Oct 20, 2021•14 min
Taiwan is a significant economy but only 14 countries acknowledge it as a country. China and some in Taiwan want to see the countries reunited others would prefer the two remain neighbours. Depending on what happens, it will not only impact the citizens of the two regions but perhaps everyone. Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash Audio credit: Blue Origin See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 13, 2021•14 min
Sometimes you are the player, but sometimes you are being played. The impact that playing games is having on how we do business. Photo by Sigmund on Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Oct 06, 2021•14 min
The search giant is 23 years old, it is mostly amazing but doesn’t say don’t be evil anymore I have covered the ups and downs of Google a good many times for Business Unusual. It was the definitive disruptor to begin with but at only 23 it is now a massive global company with few that have not felt its effects although what its next 23 years will look like may not be as rosy. I am not saying it is no longer disruptive, instead like most if not all very large companies it begins to disrupt itself...
Sep 29, 2021•14 min
Air and rocks are everywhere, why not turn them into a battery? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Sep 22, 2021•13 min
As Apple moves away from its focus on hardware it is looking to improve the offerings it offers via software and services. Its pay services and ad network are two with Apple TV another big play. The other is the work to make their watch better as a health device. When SpaceX sends its first four private astronauts to space on 15 September for a three day mission in a low Earth orbit, it will be tracking how the astronauts are doing via Apple watches and surveys via iPads. Photo by Trac Vu on Uns...
Sep 15, 2021•14 min
The documentary on the 9/11 attacks in the US for the 20th anniversary is a good reminder of how freedom is viewed in different societies. It tracks the events that led to the attacks in response to US interventions in Afghanistan, the Middle East and other Islamic countries, the events on the day and then the long and lasting impact of the decisions to retaliate and invade and overthrow the governments of Afghanistan and Iraq. With the US withdrawing before the 20th anniversary effectively on p...
Sep 08, 2021•12 min
OnlyFans can be described as a relatively new service made up of existing older services to satisfy the oldest service. It is a platform for content creators that has photos like Instagram, videos like YouTube, and posting and messaging like Facebook and Twitter. It charges a subscription like Patreon. Creators and fans can supply a wide variety of content across many subjects, but for the most part the content is adult related. Most of the creators are women, most of the fans are men and since ...
Sep 01, 2021•13 min
The speed and reach of global media including social media and the impact of influencers can make a gadget global in a very short space of time. Add the power of Chinese manufacturing and ease and speed it can be shipped and some toy cycles can be created in just a few days. But too much exposure can make a must have toy, yesterday's news just as fast. image credit: Unsplash See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Aug 25, 2021•7 min
Apple will check your messages and photos, they say for good reason. If you own an iPhone, the first question is what does owning it even mean. Apple will not allow you to load unapproved apps. Apple only allows you to have it worked on by Apple approved service agents and in the US when the next iOS update is released it will scan your phone messages and photos. These might not sound like good reasons to want to buy one of the most expensive phones on the market, but the reasons for the update ...
Aug 18, 2021•13 min
Could we solve the most common traffic violations by making our vehicles the law enforcer A TV show from the 90s called Beyond 2000 featured an insert on car technology that as a teenager I thought was a great idea and expected to be seen as standard by the time I was able to drive. A breathalyser built into the car. To start the car you first needed to blow on the breathalyser. If you passed the car would start, if you failed it would not. What if you got a passenger to blow for you? What if it...
Aug 11, 2021•13 min
Customer satisfaction is a relatively new concept, customer dissatisfaction is ancient. We can trace the history of poor service to a person called Nanni. The shipment of copper ore that was ordered did not arrive on time and was of poor quality. What makes this report remarkable is that it was sent by the unhappy merchant over 3500 years ago. The clay tablet is held by the British Museum and because we are living in the digital age you can see it for yourself by clicking the link. Audio credit:...
Aug 04, 2021•11 min
