Stand Up! Business

The world and its distant relatives have had their say about the theatrical meeting between South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and US President Donald Trump. Is there anything more to say? The answer is, well, yes. Particularly, it turns out about golf, and the process of telling fibs not only about contentious local and international events, but more importantly, about your handicap. Entrepr...

For philosophers, the truth is indivisible. But sometimes, there are those among us who think that the truth should not be divided, as such, but … why use it all? Particularly when it's really only necessary to use part of it - for reasons of convenience and utility, you understand. You just use the part that makes them look good. In this podcast, Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor...

What a day. The first Afrikaner “refugees” leave for the USA. On the same day, SA topped the tables in the World Athletics Relays in Guangzhou, China, winning two and coming third in another, breaking a national record. The 4x100 victory came against the mighty US team, which has won 15 Olympic gold medals in the event over the years, and the Canadian team, which won the most recent Olympic medal....

When hunger strikes, the fiscally responsible glutton knows what to do: scout around until you find a hotel with a buffet and pile your plate like it’s a game of edible Jenga. Essentially, that is what investors have achieved over the years by backing Warren Buffett, who retired at 94 over the weekend; investment Jenga. The Economist calculates that from 1965, when Buffett made his first investmen...

Most arguments in favour of freedom are positive: the correlation between freedom and human development goals is, generally speaking, pretty strong. But actually, the most powerful arguments in favour of freedom are negative: if you live in a place where freedom is limited and autocrats, your chances of ending up dead are pretty high. South Africa celebrated Freedom Day this week, and in this podc...

Pope Francis, not for nothing the namesake of St Francis of Assisi, died on Easter weekend, a wonderful coda to a remarkable career. Francis was a compassionate reformer who tried to modernise the church, and it was a mark of his humility that he appeared in public to deliver Easter blessings less than 24 hours before his death. In this podcast, entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor-a...

The stock markets around the world are in a funk following the decision by US President Donald Trump to impose "reciprocal tariffs" on more or less all the US's trading partners - except they weren't reciprocal, they were punitive. Then, there was a rumour that the tariffs would be put on pause. The markets went up. But that was denied. The markets went down. Then, they were put on pause. The mark...

A while ago now, a Twitter post called “My f** Marelize!” went viral. The pathos, the humor, and the undercurrent of frustration were all captured in an 18-second video of a mother trying to teach her hapless daughter (we assume) how to ride a bicycle and avoid the only obstacle in miles: the goal posts. That short video is oddly a great representation of our current moment as a country, faced as...

Government is always looking for money to take rather than money to make, says entrepreneur Mark Barnes in this discussion over the news of the week with Daily Maverick editor at large Tim Cohen. Which leads us to the delicate issue of the Nappy Law of Politics - and business, as it happens. With the GNU on the brink (again!) over the budget, we discuss its successes and failures, and the futility...

In this episode entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick editor at large Tim Cohen discuss branding - and that's not the kind you do to the cow. How important are brands (very), how do you work out what a brand is worth (complicated), and most importantly, how is Brand South Africa doing? (Even more complicated). Conclusion: SA’s brand has taken a knock, but it's holding up, and potentially cou...

Let's get some things straight. There are only three (expletive deleted) sources of capital; debt, tax, and foreign investment. Well, actually there are more, but as entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor at Larger Tim Cohen discuss, these are the main three, and SA needs to focus on the third because SA’s debt is too high and its taxes too onerous. We also discuss diplomacy and sweari...

SA’s Government of National Unity is trying to get its budget passed for the second time this week, but there is something missing in the mix: growth. Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Maverick Editor at Large Tim Cohen discuss the lack of transformative projects and - since our podcast is now over a century old - how age plays into the process of a growth mentality. Also, Johannesburg. Production and...

Like much of the world, entrepreneur Mark Barnes and journalist Tim Cohen were mesmerised by the Oval Office showdown between US president Donald Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy which ended in name-calling, finger pointing, and no deal. It's tempting to extrapolate too far, but it's clear a rift has developed between the post-war diplomatic reality. In this podcast we discuss thi...

What was that phrase, “Vat hom!”? Well, I think we can all agree that suggesting a two percentage point increase in VAT, was really going for it. The budget and the proposed VAT increase was, somewhat inevitably, the main topic of conversation between entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick editor at large Tim Cohen. One question remains: what about looking at a few savings here and there? Jus...

It's budget week, which means it's a period of festivity and celebration as we all look forward to higher taxes. Not necessarily. We will see on Wednesday. In the meantime, entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor at Large Tim Cohen discuss the budget this week among many other topics, somewhat in trepidation. And we reach the conclusion that the country needs to confront its weaknesses...

When you turn your friends into your enemies, don’t all your enemies suddenly become friends - with each other? There is an intrinsic design flaw when it comes to alienating your friends, but US President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to care. But hey, he’s not totally friendless - Trump has reached out to Afrikaners and initiated a new great trek. It sticks in the craw that it takes someone like Trum...

There are few things more fun than buying a new car, and few things more boring than taking it in for regular and expensive services. But the utility of making regular repairs can extend the life of everything, including as it happens, your own life. In South Africa, repair culture is in urgent need of repair. Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and journalist Tim Cohen try to keep their sagacity in repair b...

Slightly inevitably, the GNU is going through a bout of indigestion. How serious is it? Should we be buying gold, selling the rand and stocking up on loo paper? Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and financial journalist Tim Cohen discuss why it is that political parties seem to be more interested in their internal battles than they are in the problems of the SA population at large. Somewhat appropriately,...

There is no escape. This week's news is going to be dominated by the inauguration of The Donald. Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and journalist Tim Cohen discuss how the world will change from this week - and how it won't. All of a sudden, the world itself seems to be a different place, and we will all need to look to our laurels - if we have them. And SA's 2024 crop of matriculants seems to have laurels...

What is the difference between being adaptable and actually adapting? Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and journalist Tim Cohen discuss this and other important Darwinian questions, including the relationship between humans and yachts. And that raises the question, is Africa adapting or is it just adaptable? Are names of oceans adapting, like the African Ocean for example, formally known (somewhat unfairl...

Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and financial journalist Tim Cohen discuss the new year, and what we can expect, coming to the conclusion that we don't actually know what to expect because, well, global uncertainty. But we do discuss ways to operate in an uncertain world, and strategies you might use. Security threats are also part of uncertainty, so the question arrises, how many members of a personal s...

Remember when Christmas was a day? Then it became a season. Black Friday, you would think, would forever be a day, that day being, you guessed it, Friday. Turns out, Black Friday is now fast becoming a week, and will inevitably soon become a season. And talking of seasons, it has been the season of gambling, dubious state financing, election upsets, struggling governments and regime change. Entrep...

Pardon the confusion, but didn’t President Joe Biden say he would not pardon his son Hunter Biden, who was convicted recently on tax and gun charges? Turns out, he did say he would not. But then he did issue the pardon over the Thanksgiving weekend. Entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor at Large Tim Cohen discuss forgiveness and, critically, whether you can forgive yourself. One examp...

How much is a banana stuck to the wall with duct tape actually worth? Or, to put it another way, have we all gone bananas? Which leads on to the more important topic of the value of money, and that involves inflation. And interest rates. This week entrepreneur Mark Barnes and Daily Maverick Editor at Large Tim Cohen discuss last week's small interest rate cut, whether it was enough, and issues rel...

Is it Cop or cop-out; it's hard to tell. The UN’s Conference of Parties (COP) on climate action and sustainability is currently happening in Baku, Azerbaijan - the second time the conference is taking place in a petro-state. Unsurprisingly, it's currently hard to breathe in Deli. But, on the other hand, bitcoin is booming, raising the question of whether SA should rent out Simonstown, now that SA’...