Peer Steinbrück, Germany’s minister of finance, likes to criticise the bankers (and their insistence on getting their bonuses paid) for their “irresponsible behaviour”, but what Steinbrück came up with yesterday (a few months before the election), is nothing short of “extremely irresponsible behaviour”. Apart from the fact that it doesn’t make sense from an economic policy point of view. [Read on]

I’m a SA citizen* living in Germany, where I can’t vote in any German elections. But, that’s OK, because I can vote in SA elections…or that’s what I thought until a few minutes ago. [Read on]

Dimension Data, LSE-listed IT services provider with strong roots in SA, helped Kabel Deutschland, operator of cable networks in 13 German states and supplier of cable connections to about nine million households in Germany, to install important new technology.

Dimension Data managed the installation “from engineering to operations” and delivers ongoing support for the new technology out of its Global Service Center, Kabel Deutschland said in a statement.

The new technology enables the German company to “maximize the utilization of bandwidth, enhance customer experience and increase revenue with new and competitive service offerings”.

It’s 10 years since SAB went to London.

Tim Cohen, ex-Business Day man, wrote a very nice piece about “the war” which SABMiller is fighting (and winning) for market share all over the world. The article is based on an interview he had with SABMiller chairman Meyer Kahn. Great read.

On 1 April Stephen Chan, professor of international relations at the School of Oriental and African Studies, will address the SA Business Club in London on the topic Chinese investment in Africa. 

To all who will be attending the address: Here is a nice background article on the topic.

And now I have it in my archive for easy reference when next I write on the topic “The Chinese in Africa”.

As is the case for a growing number of SA companies, the foreign market is becoming ever more important to the JSE-listed Spur Group.

Spur Group generates an ever bigger part of its annual turnover outside the borders of the country: In 2008 international restaurants in the Group accounted for 30% of turnover – up from just 4% in 2006.

No wonder then that management is spending ever more time and energy looking for further growth opportunities abroad. 

The story is the same for other food chains like Nando’s and Mugg & Bean. 

In its 2008 Annual Report Spur said:

While franchising remains our core business model, we have invested in wholly-owned restaurants to accelerate growth in the United Kingdom and Australian markets. We plan to invest in the forthcoming years (focusing on substantial franchisee partners, who invest in and operate the franchised outlets personally), whilst continuing to develop our franchise base. Our international division now comprises 35 restaurants, with 28 Spur Steak Ranches and seven Panarottis Pizza Pasta outlets.

The ownership structure in these regions is as follows:

• United Kingdom: The group owns three restaurants and operates five franchised outlets.

• Australia: Three restaurants are company-owned, with the group holding a minority interest in a further three restaurants and one restaurant is fully franchised.

• Africa and Mauritius: All 20 restaurants are franchised.

The recent substantial decrease in the world economy’s trading patterns may bode well for our brands to expand, as rentals decrease and opportunities present themselves to top class operators.

The group plans to open 16 restaurants in South Africa in the 2009 financial year. We are also investigating opportunities across Africa, including Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania and Zambia, while continuing to explore potential in the Middle East. Further locations are being pursued in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Read all about Spur’s drive to internationalise here.

Vinny Lingham (and his investor?) have decided to change the name of their “build-it-yourself” online service called SynthaSite to Yola. The name-change will take effect in a few days. (Old address: www.synthasite.com and new address: www.yola.com.)  

This is why and how (from a blog post and e-mail sent to all registered users this morning):

We’re changing our name to “Yola.” It’s easy to remember and pretty fun to say. It comes from the Hindi word “jhola”, which means hatch – and hatching big ideas is exactly what you do at Yola.

Our new name Yola is about half as long, but contains 100% of what you know and love about SynthaSite. We’re the same company with the same team. You’ll find all the sites you built (at www.yola.com) and their web addresses are also the same.

In a few days, when you visit SynthaSite, our home page will have a whole new look. Don’t worry, you’ll be at the right place. 

South Africans living in Europe should not forget to e-mail their completed VEC10 forms to vec10@elections.org.za as soon as possible. And then to cast their special votes in the SA election on 15 April at the nearest voting venue. 

Go here for the form. 

And here for the list of voting venues. 

An here for all the background info you need. (Info on special votes in the top lefthand corner of the home page.) 

Good luck!