© 2017 South Africa - The Good News
2017 # 2: SA in numbers – Infrastructure, Health and Technology – compared to the rest of the World:
Nathanael West “Numbers constitute the only universal language.”
Every year the Economist ‘Pocket World in Figures’ brings out a varied set of global rankings covering 190 countries. These range from fastest-growing economies to highest per capita consumption of marijuana to which countries imprison the most people.
And every year the measures are changed – somewhat! It makes for interesting reading!
by Steuart Pennington
The stats in red have been added this year. Some have been removed from last year, all have been updated for 2017.
(The Economist tends to rank the top 1-50 best and the bottom 1 – 50 worst (sometimes the range is less), very often SA in not placed in either, that’s what this newsletter will reflect, unless I can find out more via Google)
There are 230 countries in the world, only 190 are ‘serious enough’ to provide data, and only 80 have a population of more than 10 million.
So, in this three-part series I will:
- Firstly, cover the numbers: Geography, Population and Economy (June 21).
- Secondly, cover the numbers: Infrastructure, Health and Technology (June 27).
- Thirdly, cover the numbers: People, Crime and Environment (July 4).
- Fourthly, conclude with comments (July 11).
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By Ross Drakes, incoming president of The Entrepreneurs’ Organisation (EO)
South Africa has a unique and thriving entrepreneurial spirit and so often, the first time a person gets the taste for becoming an entrepreneur is when they are a child or student. Their perception of the world is not inhibited by why things cannot be done or why things cannot happen. There is a very true sense of just being able to get on with it.
While there is no silver bullet to solve youth unemployment, which accounts for about half of South Africa’s young people, but one area which certainly has the potential is entrepreneurship. How then do we unlock this potential?
One way is to remember the lessons learned from our youthful entrepreneurial selves which can be applied not only to businesses today but also as a means to inspire other young people wanting to start their own businesses.
As an example, myself and a friend of mine, Ed Martin used to make photocopies of a Garfield colouring-in book and sold the copied pages to our friends during school breaks. We made the photocopies at Ed’s mom’s doctor’s practice. We also offered our customers, at an additional fee, our Koki pens to colour in the pages. We were making massive profits until our supplier, Ed’s mom, cut us off from the photocopier and our business ground to a halt.
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This year’s Eco-Logic Awards, hosted by The Enviropaedia, was a celebration of the visionaries and innovators who are finding solutions to our most pressing environmental challenges. The Awards took place at the CSIR in Tshwane last night and honoured individuals and organisations who are contributing to a sustainable future. Pictured above is Charne Blignaut, winner of the Eco-Youth Award in her upcycled outfit made from instant cappuccino packets and soda can tabs at the glamorous event, which was a highlight of Sustainability Week.
In his opening address, Enviropaedia editor and host of the event, David Parry-Davies said, “For those who will be accepting these awards tonight, you are our very own eco-heroes who look at the environmental challenges in our world as opportunities to pioneer solutions and achieve sustainable growth. Your contributions are of paramount importance in developing the green economy and green jobs in our country and we honour you with this token of our appreciation.”
...[read more]
THIS WEEK'S FAST FACT
Youth
Out of school: In 2015 there were 565,000 children aged 7 to 18 not attending school. The most common reason cited, at 22%, is no money for fees, while a further 9% said it is because education is useless or not interesting. (Source: Eighty20.co.za)
