PwC, South Africa: Contributing to the Development of South Africa

All businesses need to know about Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE).  Following the demise of the apartheid regime in South Africa in 1993, the new government introduced Black Economic Empowerment to promote positive discrimination in an attempt to counter the

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Maha Al-Ghunaim: Enterprising Ladies – Investing in Future Entrepreneurs

Maha Al-Ghunaim is chairperson and managing director of Global Investment House (GIH) – one of the largest such operations in the Gulf Region. She co-founded GIH in 1998 and just ten years later saw her business become the very first

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Siegmund Warburg: People and Passion First – Profits to Follow

These days, far too often loan applications for the funding of promising business ideas are rejected out of hand by bank computers that spits out a resounding ‘no’. Algorithms lacking intelligence, senses and – indeed – sense, now rule the

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Muhammad Yunus: Enabling the Poor to Rise and Prosper

Muhammad Yunus is a soft-spoken gentleman with a South Asian accent. When he speaks, presidents strain to listen. Being one of only seven people to have won the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and the Congressional Gold Medal,

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BlackRock: Bridging the Gap – The Rise of Infra Funds in Privately Financed Infrastructure

By BlackRock Infrastructure Debt Team In the wake of the global recession, privately-financed infrastructure has become a hot topic for policy makers from Berlin to Paris, London, and Washington. The attractions are not hard to see – private infrastructure is

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European Investment Bank: “Vienna Initiative” Keeps Credit Flowing

International financial institutions have joined forces to help calm economic turbulence and avert a collapse in the provision of credit to Central and South East European countries. Now in its second phase, the “Vienna Initiative” by the European Investment Bank,

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Shazia Bashir: Reaching Out with Integrity – Banking on Society

Contrary to popular perception, it is never quite easy for children of successful entrepreneurs to make their own mark in the business they were born into. Few actually achieve this. Shazia Bashir is one of those select few. She belongs

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Andrew Alli: Helping Unlock a Continent of Opportunity

Africa is still in desperate need of investment. The World Bank estimates that Africa requires $93 billion annually for the upkeep and expansion of its infrastructure. With governments the world over slashing foreign aid budgets, the pressure is growing to

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Hildegunn Kyvik Nordås: Why Do Countries Regulate Differently and How Does It Affect Trade?

The case of professional services in the European Union. Explicit barriers to cross-border trade in services are rare… Since services have been considered non-tradable in the past, explicit policy barriers to cross-border trade in services are rare. Nevertheless, in the

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André Esteves: No Limit to Ambition – Looking to Dominate the World

From intern to owner in barely eight years: If anything, Brazilian banker André Esteves is a financial whirlwind. After grabbing the reigns of Banco Pactual in 1997, becoming one of the bank’s five partners, he engineered its sale to Swiss

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