1938: Hitler invades Austria. The occupation of Hitler's homeland is known as Anschluss, or annexation.

Fans of Alfred Hitchcock will be happy to know that today is dedicated to the prolific filmmaker.

DTI KNOCKS ON WORLD BANK DOOR TO BOOST FDI

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) has partnered with the World Bank Group for advisory services to improve the business environment for domestic entrepreneurs. The department said the partnership is aimed at undertaking policy and institutional reform to enhance foreign direct investment. It said this, in turn, will help with job creation with the country facing massive unemployment. Department director-general Lionel October said support from the World Bank and its development partners will promote South Africa's growth. October said the four-year programme will focus on business regulation, investment policy and market regulation. This will then help drive both domestic and foreign direct investment. (EWN)

INVESTORS WANT STABILITY, SAYS DUTCH AMBASSADOR

The outcomes of SA's national elections in May will give investors a clearer idea of the direction the country will take in the next few years, says Netherlands Ambassador to SA Han Peters. Previously ambassador to Brazil, Peters shared his views on various issues affecting potential foreign direct investment to SA. "I think investors all over the world want stability. I think now, quite a few investors have adopted a wait-and-see approach in light of the coming elections.” One of the hurdles to overcome is to improve the ease of doing business in SA, Peters emphasised. If it is easier to do business in SA, then it will make it easier for foreign investors to invest, he added. (Fin24)

NOT ENOUGH TIME TO PILOT MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION THROUGH PARLIAMENT

Co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Zweli Mkhize has approached the constitutional court to ask for a 12-month extension in which to enact an amendment to legislation dealing with municipalities. The court decided that the Municipal Systems Amendment Act of 2011 was unconstitutional on procedural grounds and gave parliament two years to enact a correct one. The two years expired on Saturday and no amendment has been passed. With parliament closing at the end of the month ahead of the elections on May 8 there will be no time to do so during the current term of parliament. He said the department of co-operative governance and traditional affairs would ensure that the Municipal Systems Amendment Bill — currently before parliament — was reintroduced in the new parliament after the elections. (BDLive)

ABSA EYES BUSINESS IN ETHIOPIA

Absa is considering entering Ethiopia, where lenders are hoping reformist prime minister Abiy Ahmed will liberalise an antiquated and state-dominated banking sector. Ethiopia has long prevented foreign ownership in economic sectors including banking, but Abiy has embarked on rapid political, diplomatic and economic reforms since coming to power in April. An entrance into the Ethiopian market of 100 million people, while not imminent, would be part of a strategy Absa laid out after its split from Britain's Barclays in 2017. It would be hard to build a retail banking business from scratch so Absa was more likely to think about acquiring, the bank said. (Reuters)

OLD MUTUAL MISSES TARGET

Old Mutual posted a 12% drop in adjusted full-year profit yesterday, missing its 2018 targets as a sluggish economy weighed on South Africa's second largest insurer's first year as a stand-alone Africa-focused entity. The company also announced a R2 billion stock buyback in a bid to placate shareholders following an almost one-third drop in its share price since it listed on the Johannesburg stock exchange in June last year. Headline earnings per share (HEPS) fell to 239.1 cents from 271.1 cents a year earlier, when adjusted to exclude businesses earmarked for sale as part of the radical break-up of its former conglomerate structure, which it completed last year. (Reuters)

WOOLIES SNARES FORMER CLICKS EXECUTIVE

In a big win for troubled Woolworths, it has managed to entice one of SA’s top retailers, former Clicks CEO David Kneale, to join its board as an independent non-executive director. Under Kneale, a former executive at UK health and pharmacy chain Boots, Clicks’s turnover grew nearly threefold to R29.2 billion and profit surged sixfold to R1.47 billion in 13 years. While Kneale has a lot of retail expertise, it is difficult to figure out how best Woolworths could use it. He was not a natural fit for its struggling clothing operations but could help improve margins on its food operations, analysts said. (BDLive)

MORE ALLEGATIONS AGAINST KOKO

Former acting Eskom boss Matshela Koko allegedly used his influence to lobby the utility’s Majuba power station to accept substandard coal from the Gupta’s Brakfontein mine. Koko’s alleged “hidden hand” was raised in testimony by Eskom coal supply unit manager Gert Opperman at the state capture inquiry yesterday. Opperman‚ who managed Eskom’s coal supply contract with the Brakfontein mine, owned by the Gupta family’s Tegeta Exploration and Resources, told the commission that after he rejected a consignment of coal in 2015‚ Koko called him directly and asked him to reverse his decision. (BDLive)

AYO PULLS OUT ALL THE STOPS TO KEEP ITS MONEY

Ayo Technologies, the company in which the Public Investment Corporation invested R4.3 billion in December 2017, has launched two court applications aimed at holding on to the investment, it said yesterday. The investment, which was a private placement when Ayo listed on the JSE, has become controversial due to its large valuation. Ayo said it had launched an application to interdict the PIC from complying with the notice. It also launched separate application against the CIPC to have the compliance notice set aside. It said there was no basis for the PIC to recoup its money. (BDLive)

COMAIR GROUNDS BOEING 737 IN WAKE OF CRASH

Comair has decided to ground its Boeing 737 Max 8 aircraft after a deadly clash in Ethiopia over the weekend, the second involving the model. An Ethiopian Airlines flight from Addis Ababa crashed six minutes after takeoff on Sunday morning killing all 157 on board.Ethiopian Airlines and carriers in China, the Cayman Islands and Indonesia have since decided to suspend the use of the Max 8. Comair said yesterday that it grounded the plane despite regulatory authorities and the manufacturer not requiring it to do so. Comair took delivery of its first Max 8 in February, making it the first in southern Africa. (BDLive)

BILLIONS LOST IN ABALONE POACHING

Abalone poaching has cost South Africa 96 million individual abalones worth R10 billion between 2000 to 2016. This is according to a recent report by TRAFFIC, an international wildlife trade monitoring organisation. There have been at least five multi-million Rand abalone busts in the Western Cape alone since December.Each of the operations saw batches of illegally poached abalone worth more than R2 million being confiscated. (EWN)

WILL LAST-MINUTE REPRIEVE SAVE MAY’S BREXIT?

The Pound surged as the British government said it had secured changes to its divorce deal from the European Union and planned to hold a vote in the UK parliament. Sterling climbed as much as 1.1% in Asia-Pacific trading this morning after climbing more than 1% the previous day amid optimism over Brexit. UK prime minister Theresa May has secured “legally binding changes” that “strengthen and improve” the Brexit deal, her deputy David Lidington told lawmakers late yesterday in London. He said the government has secured changes to the withdrawal agreement and political declaration on the future UK-EU partnership and that negotiations were ongoing in Strasbourg, France. (Bloomberg)

BLACKOUT HALTS VENEZUELA OIL EXPORTS

Venezuela's state-run oil firm PDVSA has been unable to resume crude exports from its primary port since last week's massive power outage, essentially crippling the OPEC nation's principal industry. Power remained patchy in most of the country after a blackout on Thursday that the government of president Nicolas Maduro claimed was a US-backed act of "sabotage" on the country's principal hydroelectric dam. His critics insist it is the result of more than a decade of corruption and mismanagement. Authorities have given few explanations about why the blackout occurred and how long it might take to resolve, spurring fears it could be indefinite. (Reuters)

ADVANCED PROJECT MANAGEMENT

Starts: 8th April 2019

There is a project management knowledge gap existing among those responsible for managing projects within different industries. This programme has been designed to provide delegates with sufficient contemporary project management skills in order to allow them to be efficient in managing resources and time when working on projects.

This programme is expected to turn current ‘Accidental Project Managers’ into knowledgeable and consequently skilled Project Managers. It is a core offering for business across key sectors of the economy and is important for managers in developing skills to effectively manage projects within an organisation.

Advanced Project Management is aimed at corporate and public sector clients who will be considering or would be involved in managing projects in the future

Duration:

12 contact days (3 modules – 1 per month)

Contact:

For more information please contact Adiela Raiman: 
T: +27 31 260 4665
E: raiman@ukzn.ac.za