From naughty lists to sprinting swans, wandering ducks to Amarula-based incentives, The First Kudu takes you on the roller coaster ride of a start-up, and dives into real learnings along the way.

The narrative invites you to journey through the chaos with the young team and unpacks in gritty detail what goes into building a tech start-up – with stories of fun and failure honestly told in equal measure.

The First Kudu tells the story of HouseME, a rental technology company founded in South Africa that grew to 34 employees and 50 000 registered users, processing hundreds of millions of rands each year. The company won awards, raised several rounds of funding and was sought after by competitors.

It was exciting. It was excellent. And then… it was dead.

Ben Shaw (former CEO) and Lorne Hallendorff (former COO) provide a whirlwind tour of what goes into building a start-up at the southern tip of Africa and what they would do differently, were they to do it again.

We have all been culturally programmed, whether we are aware of it or not. We are the sum total of our upbringings, life experiences, and cultures. These factors influence how we manage relationships and interact with other people around us. Yet, so many managers and leaders today underestimate the importance of diversity to personal & corporate success.

In Black Son White Mother, Human Resources experts Charlie Masala and Gail Vermeulen reveal how to manage diversity fairly and with confidence.

You will discover how to:

• Make diversity work for your organization
• Utilize people as a competitive business advantage
• Be aware of your own prejudices/biases and stereotyping that hinder your leadership success
• Become an inspirational leader by integrating intelligence, emotional intelligence, and social intelligence
• Embrace people from diverse backgrounds
• Tap into the positive power of diversity
• Accept that you need to move out of your own comfort zone where you are happiest, in order to grow

In a changing world, there has never been a more crucial tiime to understand and manage diversity. This book shows you how.

The Ultimate Business Companion CD contains all the business forms, templates and checklists that effective South African business owners and managers need to increase efficiency and growth in their businesses. The book explains how the forms fit into business processes, explains why and how each section should be completed, and guides the reader in the most effective ways to utilise the documents.

Updates to the Fifth edition include:

• All new forms and requirements for starting a business as found on CIPC website
• Forms for registration as a taxpayer and VAT vendor
• Updated marketing chapter to include new forms of reaching customers such as social media
• Updated agreements to comply with new legislation
• Updated procedures for safety in the workplace
• Updated information related to good corporate governance, specifically in terms of King Report IV
• Updated BEE info, specifically B-BBEE Codes of Good Practice

Employee engagement is at the forefront of business agendas as it facilitates organisational performance. Engaged employees result in delighted customers, which in turn contribute to improved financial results.

The book address the following issues:

• What is “employee engagement” – different levels i.e. organisational, department/team, individual?
• Why is employee engagement important?
• Measuring employee engagement; the different instruments available; the different national and international approaches in measuring employee engagement; why is it important to account for context in measuring?
• High level overview of the Nienaber and Martins employee engagement framework and measurement instrument (including trust)
• The current state of employee engagement in SA
• Engagement and related human resource concepts/constructs (eg. organisational culture, commitment, citizen behaviour).

So you’ve come up with a winning idea for a product to sell online. What now? How do you turn your idea into a successful e-commerce business?

Selling Products Online is the book for you. Brought to you by Heavy Chef and Payfast, this guide gives you everything you need to start an e-commerce business in 10 practical steps – and you don’t have to be an expert on websites, advertising or logistics to get going.

It is designed to support you on every step of your e-commerce journey and will show you how to:

• Find your customers.
• Set up your e-commerce store.
• Take online payments.
• Sell on existing platforms.
• Attract more customers.
• Fulfil online orders.
• Manage stock.
• Serve your customers.
• Make a profit.
• Build your team.

Heavy Chef sat down with some of South Africa’s pre-eminent entrepreneurs to fill these pages with real, practical advice from experts who’ve beaten their own paths to success in e-commerce. You’ll hear from the brains behind some of South Africa’s most-loved brands, including Faithful to Nature, Payfast, SnapScan, Yuppiechef, and many more. They’ll answer all your questions about selling products online in concise “bites” – as if you’re sitting down to coffee with them.

Go on. Tuck in

South Africa and its fraught political economy provide a fascinating case study into how it takes a particular brand of genius to thrive in a difficult domestic environment and to take the ideas and the businesses that deliver them from local to global. Genius tells the stories of some of the extraordinary individuals, companies and industries whose ideas, products and raw materials solve problems and add value across the globe.

Greatness comes from acting on purpose, and there is a generation of South Africans solving problems for the future. Learn how Pratley beat Armstrong to the moon, how a former Eskom quantity surveyor capitalised on Britain’s obsession with meerkats to create the UK’s most visible price comparison website, how to take a Mediterranean-style food concept to the Mediterranean, and how a device designed to beat diamond smuggling made it from the set of a popular US hospital drama into emergency rooms and pathology labs across the US.

Genius examines what it takes to thrive in an increasingly complex, fast-paced and divisive global environment. These are lessons for anyone looking to succeed anywhere against the odds.

Everyone has an idea that they believe could be a business. As you read this blurb that idea is in your head, isn't it? But so is the fear of failure, the apprehension to take that first step and the concern that you don't have what it takes.

Very few people take the leap but with the economy turned upside down by Covid-19, there is no better time to get started on your side hustle – to experiment and generate extra income.

Entrepreneur Nic Haralambous has spent 20 years building businesses, learning the hard lessons and figuring out what it takes to launch a side hustle. In this book, he helps you take the first steps towards that side hustle you’ve been dreaming about.

‘In a time when success is a mere hashtag and self-worth is determined by adoration on Instagram, it’s tempting to think that success is instant and easy. But the truth is that most of us are failing every day. Testing. Iterating. Trying. Even in the face of overwhelming odds. So how you make the jump? If you have a side hustle, how do you scale it? Nic’s personal journey, his humorous style and engaging stories from the trenches of business will help you – the true entrepreneur – make some sense of the madness.’ – Vusi Thembekwayo

‘Practical. Personable. Searingly honest. Everyone should have a side hustle. But not before reading this book.’ – Bruce Whitfield

The new, updated edition of this bestselling investment book will show readers that financial freedom is possible for everyone. It has been updated to include the current hot topics of investing offshore and online, while setting out distinct guidelines on how to do both carefully and prudently. Also new is the special chapter on analysing and understanding investment risk so that readers can figure out their own comfort level of where to invest their hard-earned money.

Aimed at the financial novice who needs clear basic guidelines on how to deal with money, the book covers all aspects of investment that a normal person would encounter in his or her life, from earning their first salary cheque, up to and including retirement. Readers will learn where and how to invest, how to diversify, whom to trust, how to save on costs, which investments perform the best, and so much more.

A highly accessible must-read for everyone who wants a financially secure future.

Once the owner of a diamond mine, a wine farm and the most expensive house in Cape Town.

Former chairman of South Africa’s largest retailer, director of the Reserve Bank and the richest man in the country. As a young man, Christo Wiese cut his teeth at Pep Stores. Over the years he built a mighty business empire, which included Shoprite and a number of other enterprises. His recipe for success: an endless love for cutting deals, a fearless appetite for risk and a keen eye for a bargain. This man of great charm has never been afraid of sailing close to the wind. Over the course of 50 years these calculated risks paid off, making him one of the most successful businessmen of his generation – until he encountered the furniture group Steinhoff, and things went awry. Business journalist and writer TJ Strydom tells the story of one of South Africa’s best-known business giants in a fresh, engaging way.

‘A fabulous, sweeping adventure read – almost a thriller – that chronicles the rags to riches rise of yet another giant of Afrikaner capitalism.’ – Peter Bruce

Eran Eyal had it all: a trendy New York apartment, a jet-set lifestyle and investors lining up to get in on his million-dollar cryptocurrency start-up, Shopin. He had come a long way from an ordinary middle-class childhood in Durban and the burgeoning tech start-up world of Cape Town.

But the New York authorities pounced in 2018, charged him with fraud and packed him off to Rikers Island. There began the gobsmacking unravelling of a scam that spanned investors across the globe and revealed that Eyal had built a house of cards involving fictitious products, clients and advisors for Shopin and his previous company, Springleap. As more than $40 million went up in smoke, the South African entrepreneur was exposed as an audacious fraudster determined to succeed at any cost – even if it meant spinning a web of  lies to do so.

“An age-old narrative about ego and flying too close to the sun as well as a modern version of greed in the tech world.” Michael Jordaan

“Eyal proves definitively that a thousand white lies can get you convicted of fraud. This book meticulously walks the reader though the start-up lies that ended in tears.” Nic Haralambous

Workplace bullying is an increasingly pervasive issue and is a challenge that should be addressed holistically, comprehensively and with a targeted approach. Every one of us in the workplace is affected by bullying, and we – company leaders, HR directors, bystanders, targets and bullies themselves – have a role to play in building psychologically safe work spaces.

In Building Psychologically Safe Spaces, Ngao Motsei teaches us how to make sense of workplace bullying. She starts by removing the confusion around what, precisely, constitutes bullying in the workplace – a behaviour that is often difficult to define – before explaining the steps that can be taken to bullyproof your organisation: actions are outlined that are required of leaders, bystanders, targets and bullies. She includes first-hand accounts from both leaders (previously accused of abrasive bullying behaviour) and targets to shed light on how this phenomenon affects all involved.

Ngao’s in-depth work on the subject, along with her personal experiences, has shown her that just as a bully can be reformed, so a target can find healing. This book is a guide to help all parties do just that.

The past two decades were among the most prosperous in history, with over a billion people lifted out of extreme poverty. Then 2020 hit, and, along with it, the coronavirus pandemic. The effect on economies will be extreme. What can small businesses do to survive the Covid-19 crisis? Business coach and author Douglas Kruger provides actionable answers, with a list of 50 practical ways your business can survive – and even thrive – during this time of uncertainty.

Business survival entails a simple formula. You must achieve and maintain profits over costs. There are a remarkable number of creative things you can do to stay on the right side of this equation, provided you don’t lose your head. Do these things well and you’ll be able to keep your staff employed, continue to serve your customers, grow awareness of your brand, and even come out of this difficult period positioned for growth.

Right now, owners of small businesses need every smart-cut they can find. Virus-proof Your Small Business provides no fewer than 50, including how to manage and safeguard your cash flow; get your head around the size of the challenge and begin thinking in productive ways; cut costs without cutting employment; use different channels to deliver the same offering; ensure that those who supply you, and those you serve, stay open too.

An absolutely essential read for any small business owner in this challenging time.

Nolitha Fakude grew up as a shopkeeper’s daughter in the Eastern Cape, studied at the University of FortHare and then entered the workplace in 1990 as a graduate trainee at Woolworths. Subsequently, she has worked in very senior positions at some major blue-chip companies, including Woolworths, Nedbank and Sasol. She was also managing director and then president of the Black Management Forum (BMF).

Over a career spanning 29 years, Nolitha spearheaded programmes that ensure the development of women and marginalised communities in the workplace and society. A passionate advocate for diversity and inclusion, she has earned a well-deserved reputation as a corporate activist.

Nolitha is held in high regard within business circles and serves on numerous boards including the JSE Limited, Anglo American plc and Afrox Limited. Although Boardroom Dancing is her personal journey, it is also a lesson for South Africans committed to the transformation of boardrooms and the economy, and for women looking for role models as they climb corporate ladders and become thought-leaders

Nolitha Fakude was born in Cenyu a small village in the Eastern Cape outside Stutterheim and worked her way up from the shopfloor as a Graduate Trainee at Woolworths to become one of South Africa’s most respected and successful black business women. Nolitha is a humble leader who is widely respected as a pioneer who was at the forefront of transformation strategy, both within the companies she worked for and as a leader at the Black Management Forum where she worked with business, government and unions to drive change in South Africa.

A practical, step-by-step guide full of useful advice on how to get started on investing in the UK property market, from leveraging bank finance to finding investment grade properties from distance.

It gives practical advice on working with and finding contractors and project managers, as well as case studies of people that have invested with the guidance of WealthTrek. Plan B also offers insight into how the UK property market works - specifically on how to grow your investment portfolio through refinancing, and building your cashflow from day one through interest-only funding.

Before you take the leap into UK property investing, find out more from a team with years of experience.

Every now and then a book comes along that is both timely and remarkable, that integrates all aspects of life; from recognising one’s roots, developing a moral grounding, building from strong family foundations to follow a chosen path to reach one’s goals, and remaining humble when it all comes to pass.

Time and Chance is an account, in a variety of contrasting images, voices and experiences gained from travelling the world in pursuit of business, where LAZARUS ZIM, industrious Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (B-BBEE) enthusiast, recounts his journey to become one of South Africa’s business leaders, with several firsts, while navigating the political minefield – disclosing descriptions of behind-the-scenes intrigue and conspiracy – and his interactions with Heads of State in South Africa and around the globe.

The recounting of Zim’s extraordinary rise to success oscillates between hope, faith, ethics, and diligence as he lays bare his successes and failures, and the organic wisdom, knowledge, and wit that have framed his business acumen and moral grounding.

It is a poignant reminder of a black child’s quest to fulfil his purpose in which the writer dares everyone to dream, even in the face of hopelessness.

This riveting study shows how the intersection of technology and politics has shaped South African history since the 1960s.

It is impossible to understand South Africa’s energy crisis without knowing this history. Faeeza Ballim’s deeply researched book challenges many prevailing assumptions and beliefs made regarding the crisis.

The book highlights the importance of technology to our understanding of South African history and challenges the idea that the technological state corporations were proxies for the apartheid government. While a part of the broader national modernization project under apartheid, these corporations also set the stage for worker solidarity and trade union organization in the Waterberg and elsewhere in the country.

Faeeza Ballim argues that the state corporations, their technology, and their engineers enjoyed ambivalent relationships with the governments of their time. And in the democratic era, while Eskom has been caught up in the scourge of government corruption, it has retained a degree of organizational autonomy and offered a degree of resistance to those who were attempting further corrupt practices.

After state capture, South Africa is f*cked and not in a good place. The system is down so how do we reboot?

We aren’t the first country to find itself in a difficult spot so we can ask ourselves why have some countries been successful and others not so much? How can South Africa pick itself up to become a thriving state? Roy Havemann answers these questions in this engaging, accessible book and argues that right now we need to focus on six basics: Eskom, Education, the Environment, Exports, Equality and Ethics.

It’s time to stop raking over the coals of who is to blame for our problems and focus on the future, looking at how other countries have overcome challenges similar to ours and how we can practically implement a set of policies that will get South Africa back on track.

You’ll never think of flying in South Africa in the same way again.

This is an insider’s tale of the South African airline industry over the past thirty years, as told by Glenn Orsmond, and particularly the story of the dramatic collapse of Comair in 2022.

Orsmond, who was twice the CEO of Comair and the founder CEO of 1time, takes the reader on a wild ride through the ultracompetitive sector of low-cost airlines that boomed in this country after South African Airways’ stranglehold on the skies was loosened in the 1990s. Comair – which operated both Kulula and British Airways – and 1time were at the forefront of this new wave of airlines that saw domestic flying and tourism take off.

But after some incredible highs and lows, Comair crashed under Orsmond’s watch despite the company’s 75-year unblemished profit history. The pandemic’s impact, the grounding of aeroplanes after a questionable regulator investigation and poor management decisions all contributed to its downfall.

You can expect tales of industry legends and innovation but also of competitors trying to gut each other, battles between pilots and accountants, unions and bosses at loggerheads, and warfare between shareholders and directors in boardrooms.

What can be learned from black South Africans who achieved success before South Africa became a democracy in 1994? What are the challenges they faced, and how did they overcome them? And, today, how have South Africans benefited from the country’s democratic system of governance? These are the questions Phumlani M. Majozi explores and attempts to answer in Lessons from Past Heroes.

He traces black people’s success and political activity back to the early 1900s; successful men and women who spearheaded the struggle against the segregationist, colonialist government and devoted their lives to advancing the interests of their communities. Phumlani explores the careers, challenges, and successes of people such as Pixley ka Isaka Seme, John Langalibalele Dube, Sol Plaatje and Josiah Tshangana Gumede.

During the apartheid years, South Africa produced black men and women who overcame the odds to succeed in their fields of business, entertainment, science, and politics. They excelled in the face of an oppressive government system, and their stories should inspire every South African today. After exploring the history of South Africa, Phumlani delves into the present and the future; evaluating the challenges South Africans face and proposes solutions that can speed up their economic progress.

He argues that much of South Africa’s history has portrayed the majority as victims of the minority, and that the inspirational stories of those people who overcame adversity are not being told widely enough.

These stories must be told to inspire future generations.

If black South Africans could succeed in the pre-1994 era, what can stop them today? The answer is nothing, Phumlani writes.

This dynamic change management offering from a Robben Island freedom fighter-turned Berlin architect and a leading global change management expert is a how-to-guide for South African business and organisational leaders on how to manage diverse people in ways most beneficial for aims, that move both organisations and the country forward.

Luyanda and Klaus combine decades of professional knowledge and experience as individuals and as a team to provide critical insight into a changing world.

Nearly three decades after the dawn of democracy, South Africa has remained a country of ‘two agricultures’. On the one hand we have a subsistence, primarily non-commercial, black farming segment. On the other hand, however, we have a predominantly commercial and white farming sector that is well-resourced and has access to domestic and international trade networks.

These disparities can be traced back to South Africa’s painful history where, for decades, black farmers were on the margins of government support and also experienced land dispossession and livestock plunder.

A Country of Two Agricultures focuses less on history and more on the present and the future, explaining why these disparities have persisted in the democratic era, and what it will take to overcome them. It aims to contribute to a better understanding of the variety of agricultural forces, taking into account both questions of domestic political economy and external factors, as well as to bring to light new risks and opportunities.

Wandile Sihlobo offers insights into the role of agriculture in the South African economy from an agricultural economy perspective, and provides political economy insights that are rooted in the experiences of farming communities on the ground and right through the value chain.

Beyond insights on the realities this book offers the government, the private sector, and anyone interested in the betterment of the South African economy, tools to grapple with this duality, and proposes a framework for bolstering the black farming segment for growth and competitiveness – and ultimately food security.

The world is emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic, more fragmented and further away from the more equal and equitable iteration imagined in 2015 when the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were conceptualised. As we hurtle, at seemingly lightning speed, towards the 2030 deadline to achieve these goals, the urgency is palpable. Although we have certainly strayed further away from the targets, there is still time to act in order to ensure that we inch closer to this vision.

Tshilidzi Marwala paints a stark, and often grim, picture of our current context – one defined by monumental setbacks in the SDGs. Yet, as he carves out each developmental goal and its implications, it is apparent that there are tangible solutions that can be implemented, now. Tshilidzi’s assertion that now is the time to act is backed by intricate and actionable data with a simple mission statement: we must heal the future.

He offers a new narrative that addresses how we can translate the latent potential that exists through technology, innovation and new approaches to leadership and policy-making, to deal with, among others, poverty eradication, joblessness, an education system in crisis, declining economies and food insecurity.

Heal our World is a deep-dive into the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly relating to the African context, and looks toward securing a future in which our divisions are blurred, and our goals almost seem in reach again.

South Africa is facing an extraordinary ‘polycrisis’. The dimensions of this crisis include an energy collapse; a failing rail network; weak education outcomes; an interrupted water supply; and the effects of decades of endemic corruption that have brought much of government to a halt.

But the country also has incredible assets: a wealth of sought-after minerals; an enviable Constitution that protects rights and advocates social inclusion; an advanced financial and services sector; thriving agricultural and auto industries that compete with the best in the world; a prosecution service that is rapidly rebuilding; and, most of all, strong-willed people determined to make life better through hard work, entrepreneurship and hustling.

The choice is stark: we either build on the positives and take the country forward or we will be overwhelmed by the negatives and end up as another Zimbabwe or Venezuela. We have the people, the policies and the resources. What is missing is the political will to make the difficult choices that will save South Africa from disaster.

This book takes you on a journey that ends with one of three possible future scenarios: the Good, the Bad or the Ugly. Compiled by The Brenthurst Foundation and In Transformation Initiative, and workshopped with high-powered leaders in business and politics, the scenarios have stimulated intense public interest as the country grapples with its mounting problems.

The good news is that there is a clear road towards a positive future. It will take courageous leadership and smart thinking to get there, but the ‘Good’ scenario is tantalisingly within grasp.

In Brandalism, the follow-up to his bestselling, award-winning debut book The Best Dick, Mike Sharman delves into the (start)ups and downs associated with brand building and the need for business to dismantle, and vandalise its perceived, public-facing, persona.

The future of PR and influence, when – or if – to launch a new business as opposed to a division, raising capital, the impact of presentations, start-up school fees, and emphasis on a manifesto rather than purpose, are the aspects Mike obsesses over in this insightful read, wrapped in his trademark, comedic, copy.

Mike Sharman, the co-founder of the creative, digital agency Retroviral that has made more brands ‘go viral’, globally, than any other agency in Africa, uses his unique storytelling proposition to provide insight into 12 years of building a business from scratch, while elevating his clients to emotional, (commercial) cult status.

Life is short. Play naked!